'Om Shanti Shanti Shanti' Movie Review

'Om Shanti Shanti Shanti' Movie Review

Cast: Tharun Bhascker, Eesha Rebba, Brahmaji, Brahmanandam, Surabhi Prabhavathi, Sivannarayana, Rohini Noni and others

Music: J. Krish

Cinematography: Deepak Yeragara

Producers: Srujan Yarrabolu, Aditya Pitti

Story: Vipin Das, Nasheed

Screenplay - Direction: Sajeev

After impressing the audience with the film "PelliL Choopulu", Tarun Bhaskar pivoted to acting and impressed. Now, he has turned the leading man with "Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi", a remake of the superhit Malayalam film "Jaya Jaya Jaya Jayahe", which features Eesha Rebba as the female lead. As the film hit cinemas today, let's have a look at how it worked.

STORY:

Short-tempered Omkar Naidu (Tarun Bhaskar) runs a fishery farm and tanks in the Godavari region. He gets married to Prashanthi (Eesha Rebba), who has high hopes for her future. While everything goes well in the initial days, slowly Omkar showcases his true self, physically assaulting Prashanthi even for trivial reasons. He wouldn’t allow her to continue her studies. After bearing with his assault for a while, she rebels, and what she has done thereafter, while Omkar plans to continue his dominance, forms the rest of the story.

NARRATIVE-ANALYSIS:

These are the days when the public is losing interest in remakes. That too, when audiences are catching up with films that got terrific response from other languages as well on the OTTs, even those who didn't watch the original movies are also taking remakes lightly. At this juncture, when the original Malayalam film is available with a Telugu dubbed audio track, they have not only remade the popular film, but also publicised that this is a remake. Probably, they are confident that they have done far better magic than the original. While nativising the original Malayali story to that of the Godavari region and the people around, and adding dialogues that make it sound more local, and recreating some of the magical episodes from the original are good, the entertainment factor never engaged beyond a certain level. Newly added scenes and changes made to the story haven't given enough high. The film mostly looks like a timepass one, rather than an impactful experience.

Even if we keep the original film aside, Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi has a simple story of a male-chauvinistic boy marrying a girl who has huge self-respect, and how the wife answers the husband who induces suffering into her life, is the core. The major highlight episode of the film is the shock the wife gives to her husband at a crucial point in time. The whole first half of the film has entertaining, funny dialogues in Godavari dialect, in the backdrop of the fish-tank business. Both the hero's attack on the heroine and her counter-attack are also effective. More than all, the fight sequence between the two worked out well.

However, the narrative slows down after that point. With no twists in the story and the slow-paced narration, the second half turned into a borefest. Even the climax scenes are not gripping, though average. For people who don’t know the story, it might click a bit. The shock factor induced by one-particular episode in the original lost its impact, because the audience knows what that shock is. That's the reason no amount of changes made to the original plot might appeal to the audience who watched the original. Otherwise, the film serves as moderate fun and time-pass.

ACTORS:

When it comes to performances in Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi, almost every actor clicked. Everyone did justice to the role they played. Though we can’t compare the original movie's male lead, Basil Joseph, Tarun Bhaskar adopted some fun attributes to the role, which worked. He succeeded in making the audience laugh with his funny banter. Though he's known for his Telangana accent, his Godavari accent in the movie never felt forced.

Shining in the other important role of the movie is Eesha Rebba. Though she portrayed the role with subtlety, she amazed in the sequences that stood as highlights for the film. Brahmaji, as the hero's uncle, delivered the laugh club in Godavari slang punch dialogues. Surabhi Subhashini as the hero's mother, the actress who did the sister role, and the actors as his other family members were all impressive. Comedian Brahmanandam, who’s been seen in Judge roles these days, once again impressed in the same role. Actress Rohini is adequate.

TECHNICIANS:

When it comes to technicalities, Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi feels okayish. The short songs composed by J Krish are fun to watch, while his background score is also good. Deepak Yeragera's cinematography is also good, while the production quality achieved in a limited budget is appealing. Without spoiling the essence of the original, director Sajeev effectively narrated the film. The way he crafted the Godavari backdrop into the original is good. However, those who have watched the original might not have had a better experience. For those who didn't watch the original, the film will be moderately good. Slow narration is a drawback to some extent.

Finally: Om Shanti Shanti Shanti... Somewhat entertaining film!

Rating - 2.5/5