The story starts off in the 70’s where Shah Rukh plays Om Prakash Makhija, an aspiring junior artiste from a family of junior artistes, survived by his mother played by Kiron Kher, who dreams of making it big one day. His friend played by Shreyas Talpade is another junior artiste who encourages him all the way. His dream girl happens to be the leading heroine of Hindi films Shanti Priya played by Deepika Padukone, hinting that the era was dominated by heroines from the south. He is madly in love with her and believes he can marry her someday when he makes it big in films. A chance to save her from the fire on one of the shooting spots impresses Shanti who develops a soft spot for Om, reason enough for Om to believe she too is in love with him only to discover later that she is already married to producer Mukesh Mehra, played by Arjun Rampal. An interesting turn of events leads to Mukesh defiantly turning down Shanti’s request to officially accept their marriage. Om is witness to the gory incident when Mukesh decides to eliminate Shanti when he discovers she is pregnant, that could jeopardize his plans to marry another big producer’s daughter. Om is killed in the process and so does Shanti who is burnt down in the sets of her film Om Shanti Om, Mukesh’s dream project. Om dies after being admitted to the hospital after being run over by the then star Rakesh Kapoor’s car, on his way to the hospital for his wife’s biopsy. He dies there at the same instant when Rakesh Kapoor is blessed with a child.

Indian films have something called the ‘Interval Block’ woven into the screenplay that defines the twist of the movie and is usually positioned midway through the movie. Here Farah seems to have placed it such that it happens during one-third of the movie showing the 70’s in all its glory taking a dig at the stars of those times and their flamboyant lifestyles. She carries off this with style and is entertaining to say the least with songs blending well with the narrative. The remaining two-thirds of the movie set in the present seems to lose its way and even defies logic towards the end, not that it is perfectly logical earlier but at least there is a semblance of things in the earlier third. Nevertheless it is a totally entertaining fare. Masala Hindi films don’t need a better definition than this one. A definitely better outing for Farah Khan this time around where her directorial skills supersede the choreographer in her.

Deepika Padukone clearly is the show stealer with her looks to die for and the ease with which she shoulders two completely different roles. Her lessons at the Anupam Kher acting studio seem to have helped her a great deal. Shreyas Talpade as Om‘s friend is at his best and so is Kiron Kher as Om’s melodramatic junior artiste mother. Arjun Rampal seems to have finally discovered the actor in him and shoulders the role of a cold producer convincingly.

Technically the film impresses with good cinematography by Manikandan and appealing sets by Sabu Cyril. Dialogues are amusing and the line where he says ‘Abhi Picture Bakhi hai’ is repeated so often that it ends up as a reminder for the audience that the picture isn’t over yet. Songs are well choreographed and ‘Aankhon Mein Teri…’ and ‘Om Shanti Om…’ numbers are a visual treat. Background score by Sandeep Chowta plays an important role in elevating the mood of the movie.