Things That Bang

I loved Shah Rukh Khan’s bad acting in the movie Om Shanti Om He acted as himself, over-dramatic and ugly as hell. The abs did nothing to make the crow look any prettier or more suave, but then again I’ve always loved un-tameable creatures like SRK. (I’m being snarky; I love the dude but hate his lack of acting abilities.)

Sure, Mr Makhija, in the first half of the movie, was an awesome 70’s hero, all swagger and larger than life but the reincarnated ‘Web 2.0 successful Bollywood actor’ Om was anything but ‘down there’ with us. He couldn’t pull off the cool dude swagger that Abhishek and Hrithik wear so easily. It’s a generation thing. They are the dawgs of globalization whereas Shah Rukh belongs in the 90’s discotheque Cindy Lauper generation.

Deepika Padukone, the female lead was even more disappointing. Despite her scrawny zero-sized figure, fabulous teeth and St. Bernard eyes she was entirely forgettable despite the fact that the entire movie was centered around her character. She reminded me of Hema Malini’s scrawny daughter Esha Deol but let me be fair - Esha still has more camera presence in her little pinkie than Deepika Padukone.

Even if we blame the disintegration of the movie after the interval on the childish script, one cannot help but wonder whether between all the mockery and honoring of Bollywood, was there really any worthwhile acting?

Surprisingly the side characters such as Arjun Rampal, Kiran Kher and Shreyas Talpade provided the much required relief from all the over-acting we had to put up from the two lead actors. True to their characters, the actors proved their mettle even in their limited roles.

Those who liked the movie insist that OSO is intended as light-hearted comedy and I agree - it is so light and frivolous that it lacked any substance. Though it was seemingly made to honor a whole bunch of movies and even re-did a Polish movie scene with Akshay Kumar shooting from his crotch but it didn’t quite make it to the level that people like Tarantino have done with such flair.

This is where we go back to the concept of comedy. There is subtle comedy and then there is slapstick comedy. Expecting people to put up with three hours of harsh overzealous acting could wear down the nerves of any hardened ardent Bollywood fan.

There are actors that live the character in front of the camera and then there are those who continue to act like amateurs. Take Mehmood for example. He was the king of comedy; even his most exaggerated roles were very funny and others like Keshtu Mukerjee, Asrani and even Johnny Walker were legendary comedians who made slapstick comedy funny.

Sanjeev Kapoor in his movie Naya Din Nayi Raat where he did nine different roles was a masterpiece and one cannot forget Utpal Dutt where the Uree Baba term may probably have come from.

To compare Shah Rukh Khan to any of the Bollywood giants of yesteryear may not be fair but when one makes nostalgic movies about days gone by, comparisons are inevitable and unfortunately Shah Rukh Khan fell short despite his hilarious ‘Mind it’ and ‘Uree- Baba ‘ takes.