As has become the norm with festivities, The Big Indian Consumer gets pelted with choices by every MNC worth its salt - and though, still a pretty much indigenious industry, Bollywood has left no stops barred to corner its share of the pie in the form of Saawariya, the SLB omnibus and Om Shanti Om, the potboiler from the Farah Khan - SRK firm.
So, what's the dope - is it worth it ? Actually much like the US sub-prime meltdown, its a story of too much hoopla over nothing - both Saawariya and OSO don't stand more than an average chance if it was a normal time of the year - but just because of Diwali, they might actually end-up being money-spinners of some repute.
So, as it transpired, I was fated to watch the 1st day 1st show of Saawariya on Friday, and trust me, I was back on the street after 20 minutes. In a sheer waste of crores of money, opulent, magnamanious sets stand like a soar thumb over a debris of a story. Infact, its so painful, it will end up giving you headaches and if you still want to sit through, I would advise you to contribute to the sale of an aspirin or maybe two. A gloomy sojourn into nowhere, this was a long time coming as SLB continues diving down the RGV path post-Khamoshi (I am only hoping Black was not a glitch but the regular order) - infact SLB should be caned bare-derriered in the sun for a waste of this magnitude when Indian Cinema is finally waking up to its rightful place in World history.
So, after much trepidation, I went to watch OSO today - and I must admit, I actually had fun. OSO is a brilliant good-natured spoof on Bollywood of today as well as 70's and its tackily brilliant, but then Farah and SRK got too intelligent for their own good. I don't know what went through their combined intellects :-), but what could be a brilliant comic feel-good drama was given the shape of a supernatural reincarnatory cinema with a supposed sting in the tale and therein was the lost plot. As Barney (of How I met your mother ?) would say, and then Ossumness was replaced by sheer boredom - and you almost say, What a waste ? but for the brilliantly picturised songs and then after Saawariya, you could probably even end up liking Mithun Da's 1990's body of work :P. This one is fultoo timepass, watch it if you really want to types :).
Will post a travelogue in my next !
Adios and take care !
Ranjan
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