Om Ka Hari Review: Raghubir Yadav & Anshuman Jha Are The Only Saving Grace In This 'Been There, Seen That’ Slice Of Life Film

Director - Harish Vyas

Cast: Anshuman Jha, Raghubir Yadav, Soni Razdan, Ayesha Kapur, Samta Sudiksha, Shivani Tanksale, Jagat Rawat.

Where: In theatres

Rating: 2.5*

There have been many films based on love-hate-angry-emotional relationship between a father and son. Testimony to the same stands in the form of Shakti, Udaan, Wake Up Sid! And others. This week’s release Om Ka Hari also walks in the same territory. Will the divine blessings of ‘Om’ and ‘Hari’ bless the film at the box office or will the audiences walk away in a ‘Hari’… we mean... hurry, let’s find out!

The film starts off with a day in the life of Hari Prasad Sharma (Raghuvir Yadav), who is convinced that he has only six days to live after he ‘survives’ a suspected heart attack. That’s when he decides to spend his last days (on earth) in the holy town of Varanasi. For this, he takes estranged son Om (Anshuman Jha) along with him. Thereafter starts an untold conversation between both of them, which results in something.

Whether the result of this trip is magic or tragic forms the rest of the film.

Actors' performance

Even though the film stars Anshuman Jha, the veteran actor Raghubir Yadav towers over the former. After all, this is what years of experience does to an actor. While Yadav owns almost every frame he appears in, Anshuman Jha who, despite looking the part, still leaves room for improvement, esp. in the emotional scenes. Veteran actress Soni Razdan seems to struggle a bit (at places) with her dialogues and the respective emotions. Other actors like Samta Sudiksha and Shivani Tanksale do justice to their respective roles.

Amid all of them, there is Ayesha Kapur- the very actress who set the silver screen on fire with her stellar performance in the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Black. Just as when one thought that she will be pulling up yet another stellar and endearing act in this film, she hardly leaves an impression on the audience.

Direction, Music and Aesthetics

The film’s director Harish Vyas (who has made films like I Am Alone, So Are You, Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain and Desi), tries his hand yet again on the silver screen hoping to strike gold. Even though he manages to stir the desired emotions through the film, despite having the ‘tried and tested’ formula genre, the film leaves a big room for improvement.

While the film’s music (Rajive Sarang, Paresh Pahuja, Achal Yadal) hardly has any recall moments, the film’s cinematography (Rakesh Rawat) is decent, just like the film’s editing (Aaisf Pathan).

FPJ verdict

Even though the film deals with a ‘been there, seen that’ genre, the film hardly remains with you once it ends. You can easily skip the film and relish that time enjoying Ganeshotsav’s modaks.