Om Shanti Om
Tuesday, August 19
Doors at 8pm; film starts at 8:30pm
Free
No matter how weird Bollywood films get — and weird they do get — you can typically rely on them to remain fairly earnest. You might enjoy them with a hefty dose of irony, but the filmmakers believe in what they are making. They believe. Sure, they know what they are doing is often silly, but they like silly, because silly is fun.
Om Shanti Om, the final film in our summer Bollywood series, upsets this understanding. A Bollywood film about the Bollywood film industry, it keeps you guessing as to what is parody and what is, simply, all in good fun. When Om overhears scandalous secrets while eavesdropping through an air vent, is that parody? When reincarnation is introduced into the plot, is that parody? And when Shahrukh Khan pops out in a dance number as a sweaty, shirtless construction worker (during a song whose lyrics include the line, “My heart is filled with the pain of disco” no less) is that parody? We don’t know, but we’re not sure it matters because, either way, it’s AWESOME.
Mind it!
