Notwithstanding the rave reviews about ‘Om Shanti Om’, the movie is an ‘old wine in a new bottle’ Although Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan did a commendable job making the movie a national craze, there is hardly anything new in this celluloid flick. With all the publicity and the media hype over ‘Om Shanti Om’, it still remained a mediocre story with overwhelming frills and sets.  

The movie, based on the good old days of Bollywood in the 1970s, has nothing that is new for Indian theatres, but it definitely something unknown to the present generation and what better gift they could have during the Diwali.

The film opens with a reference to the 70s film ‘Karz’ as the then heartthrob Rishi Kapoor is seen dancing around chanting "Om Shanti Om". The scene introduces Om Prakash Makhija (Shah Rukh Khan), a junior artiste who dreams of making it big in Bollywood some day.

Although the first half of the movie is interesting with gorgeous Shanti (Deepika Padukone) stealing Om’s heart and all, it often becomes ridiculous, as there is no straight storyline. However, Shah Rukh does a good job in odd costumes and a little over-acting.

This half, however, has many funny moments, including a parody of South Indian cinema, references from old Bollywood and Shah Rukh Khan's youthful and impassive character made for some very entertaining scenes. The movie also innocently mocks some of the biggest stars of the yesteryears, including Rajesh Khanna and Manoj Kumar.

Debutante Deepika Padukone is undoubtedly the main attraction of ‘Om Shanti Om’. Deepika’s restrained, graceful and confident performance as both Shantipriya the 70s heroine in the first half and her look-alike Sandy in the second half can be called an important reason behind the movie’s success. Interestingly, in some scenes

Padukone bears striking resemblances to Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra. Taking over from a seasoned Shah Rukh Khan and also putting him to shade is no mean task, but Deepika has done both with élan. Here is a new star on Bollywood horizon.

Already a week has passed since the release of "Om Shanti Om" and it is still running to packed theatres across India. No doubt, analysts say the popularity of Bollywood's most bankable actor will see the film set new records in box office collections.

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