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Its a song-and-dance number, and Im hardly alone in my fondness for it.
What is it about SRK?
Nowhere is this self-awareness more evident than inOm Shanti Om.
In an early scene, hes in the cheap seats at the premiere of her movie.
Against the muted colors of the remastered film, Padukone as Shanti Priya shines with a hyperalive splendor.
The serenade is interrupted by Om Kapoors daydreaming.
Suddenly, we are in his fantasy its he who is the hero.
WithOm Shanti Om,he pulls off an uncanny complexity.
His movements are slightly too much, desperate.
But that vulnerability is laced with a cool self-assurance.
He seduces as he pleads.
Is it Om Kapoor we see?
Or Shah Rukh Khan in his greatest performance yet?
The superstar, pretending to be the opposite?
Is she in control, or is he?
She is the VIP on set; he is the peon … or?
His face flickers with a mix of disbelief and certitude; her eyes are on him.
Khan is Muslim, his wife Hindu.
Rebirth, that supremely Hindu narrative gear, check.
Khan plays both a wannabe and, eventually, a superstar.
He ends the movie, one could say, as himself.
Padukone is now the upstart.
All is right, in a sense, or at least, all is possible.
Khans 360-degree abilities help make it so.
Khan is unique in how he transmits this complexity.
That movie explicitly dealt with religious strife, with its buoyant envisioning of Indo-Pak relations.
But in the cocoon ofOm Shanti Oms Bollywood, subversions are subtler.
In fact, its a marker of his canniness and intensity as an Indian public figure.
Or maybe thats too crass an interpretation.
InThe Inner Life of Shah Rukh Khan,we see him on his off-hours, the politesse slightly loosened.
A later scene shows him at home with his wife and kids at an altar set up for Diwali.
Im not a great follower of religion, he continues.
In the Khan household, we learn, Eid, Diwali, and Christmas are all celebrated.
Once more, Padukone and Khan only have eyes for each other.
Business as usual for Bollywood.
Khan appears in his latest incarnation grizzled with a goatee, an elder statesman returned to the screen.
The notorious bit arrives at the end.
His own claims to Indian identity, as an out Muslim star, as well.
Padukones tangerine sari ofDhoom Tanaagainst his Om Kapoor never inspired rebuke.
