Om Shanti Om

Om Prakash Makhija is a poor extra in Hindi films who lives with his widowed mother Bela Makhija and close friend Pappu Master in a small chawl in Mumbai. He is in love with Shantipriya, a renowned, glamorous actress in the industry. Om often expresses his feelings before Shanti's film poster and desires to meet her. One night, he sneaks into the premiere of one of Shanti's films Dreamy Girl along with Pappu in disguise and makes an impression on her. Later that night, a drunk Om gives an emotional speech to Pappu and a group of kids as he dreams of becoming an actor.

Om and Pappu take small roles in movies at R.C. Studios, which is owned by Mukesh Mehra, a successful and charming, but egotistical film producer who discovered Shanti. While shooting one day, Shanti gets trapped in a fire that grows out of control. Risking his life, Om jumps into the flames and rescues her. Shanti is grateful and the two become friends. Om initially lies to Shanti that he is a popular Tamil film actor to impress her, but ultimately tells her the truth upon seeing her genuine fondness for him. Shanti and Om spend a happy evening together with Pappu's help, and she gifts him a snow globe.

Things take a turn when Om accidentally overhears a heated argument between Shanti and Mukesh; they have been married for two years but kept it secret for the sake of their careers. Shanti is livid when she learns Mukesh plans to marry the daughter of the main investor for his upcoming film, Om Shanti Om. She reveals to Mukesh that she is pregnant with his child, much to his seeming joy. Om is left heartbroken and avoids Shanti entirely.

Few days later, Mukesh takes Shanti to the future set of Om Shanti Om. He claims that they will cancel its production and instead have a grand wedding ceremony, making their marriage public. Om goes to meet Shanti for the last time, but is dejected upon seeing her with Mukesh. He leaves and throws away her snow globe in a fountain pond. In reality, Mukesh decides to kill Shanti and their unborn child to protect his career from scandal. He sets fire to the set and locks her inside. As Mukesh leaves, Om spots Shanti in the flames and attempts to rescue her but is severely beaten by Mukesh's guards. After they leave, Om manages to break into the set and finds Shanti, but is thrown out of the building by an explosion before he can reach her. The set burns down with Shanti in it.

On the street, Om is devastated upon witnessing the destruction and is accidentally hit by the car of renowned actor Rajesh Kapoor, whose pregnant wife Lovely is in labor. Rajesh brings Om along to the hospital, but he succumbs to his injuries and dies while still reminiscing about Shanti. Rajesh's assistant Nasser asks the surgeon to keep this a secret from Om's family. Moments later, Rajesh and Lovely are blessed with a baby boy, and they name him Om Kapoor.

30 years later, Om Kapoor (or O.K.) is a talented, yet arrogant superstar in Hindi films like his father. He is the reincarnation of Om Prakash Makhija and suffers from Pyrophobia. O.K. often comes across Bela, who believes him to be her son and desperately tries to convince him to come back home, but he dismisses her as crazy. An aged Pappu tries to make Bela understand that O.K. is someone else but she pays no heed to him.

O.K. and his assistant Anwar Sheikh drive to the abandoned R.C. Studios for of one of his films. Anwar explains the compound burnt down in a mysterious fire accident decades prior. O.K. recognizes the area and experiences flashbacks of his previous life, much to his confusion. He also finds Shanti's broken snow globe. That night, O.K. remembers the speech he had given to Pappu when he wins the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. As he delivers the same speech to the audience, Pappu watches it on TV and realizes that his friend was reborn as O.K.. During a grand party thrown for his success, O.K. meets Mukesh, who now works in Hollywood and wishes to make a film with him. O.K. remembers his previous life.

Later that night, Om has an emotional reunion with Bela and Pappu. The three plan to avenge Shanti's death by making Mukesh confess his crime.

Om convinces Mukesh to resume the filming of Om Shanti Om at the same ruined R.C. Studios. He auditions actresses to find Shanti's look-alike but in vain. However, Om ends up coming across Sandhya aka Sandy, a ditzy, but devoted fan of his who is an exact doppelgänger of Shanti. He hires Sandy without revealing his plan but gets angry when she struggles to act properly. On Pappu's advice, Om reveals the truth to Sandy, who promises to help him.

At the inaugural ceremony of the Om Shanti Om set, Om introduces Mukesh to Dolly, who will be playing the heroine. Bela scares Mukesh in the disguise of an old witch, and Om and Pappu try to light Shanti's photograph on fire to remind him of his crime. Although the setup doesn't work, the photograph is supernaturally lit by fire, which disturbs Mukesh and confuses Om and Pappu. Mukesh is more horrified when he's lured into a make-up room by "Dolly", only to find Sandy dressed as Shanti. He decides to return to the US after seeing Shanti in the footage of Om Shanti Om. Om gets him to stay, but is forced to speed up his plan.

Mukesh gets suspicious when he finds film reels of Sandy in Om Shanti Om. During the music launch, in the form of a masquerade ball, Om performs the story of Shanti's life, indirectly warning Mukesh he knows the truth. However, Sandy ends up revealing her ruse after cutting her arm in front of Mukesh, revealing she isn't a ghost. Mukesh chases her but is knocked unconscious by a falling chandelier.

After Mukesh regains consciousness in the empty studio, Om confronts him over Shanti's murder. Mukesh has caught on to the plan, taunting that neither Om or his "duplicate Shanti" can convict him since there is no proof. Pappu and Anwar then try to stop Sandy from going to the scene, but are trapped by a jammed door. Sandy confronts Mukesh, despite Om urging her to leave. She reveals that after the fire died down, Mukesh returned to the set and found Shanti was still breathing, but he buried her alive under the chandelier; Shanti's corpse will be found there, which is proof of her murder for the court. Mukesh is shocked at how she knows this and attempts to shoot her but Om attacks him. During their fight, a fire breaks out on the set again but Om conquers his fear to defeat Mukesh. Sandy stops Om from killing Mukesh, who is crushed by the falling chandelier.

Shortly after, Pappu, Anwar, and Sandy arrive. Om realizes the woman with him is the real Shanti's ghost, who was also responsible for the unexplained aids in his plan. With her death now avenged, Om and Shanti bid each other a tearful goodbye, and he reunites with Sandy while Shanti runs up the stairs and disappears.

The film ends with all its cast and crew approaching the set of Om Shanti Om and the credits roll.

• Subhash Ghai
• Rishi Kapoor
• Akshay Kumar
• Abhishek Bachchan
• Satish Shah as Partho Roy (film director)
• Karan Johar
• Aarti Gupta Surendranath
• Malaika Arora Khan (Om Kapoor's heroine in Mohabbat Man)

(in alphabetical order)

• Amitabh Bachchan
• Ameesha Patel (Om Kapoor's heroine in Phir Bhi Dil Hai N.R.I.)
• Bipasha Basu
• Bappi Lahiri
• Chunky Pandey
• Dia Mirza (Om Kapoor's heroine in Main Bhi Hoon Na)
• Feroz Khan
• Hrithik Roshan
• Karisma Kapoor
• Koena Mitra
• Preity Zinta
• Rakesh Roshan
• Rani Mukerjee
• Sanjay Dutt
• Sanjay Kapoor (uncredited)
• Shabana Azmi
• Yash Chopra

• Rani Mukerji
• Zayed Khan
• Vidya Balan
• Jeetendra
• Tusshar Kapoor
• Priyanka Chopra
• Shilpa Shetty
• Dharmendra
• Shabana Azmi
• Urmila Matondkar
• Karishma Kapoor
• Arbaaz Khan
• Malaika Arora
• Dino Morea
• Amrita Arora
• Juhi Chawla
• Aftab Shivdasani
• Tabu
• Govinda
• Mithun Chakraborty
• Kajol
• Bobby Deol
• Preity Zinta
• Rekha
• Riteish Deshmukh
• Salman Khan
• Saif Ali Khan
• Sanjay Dutt
• Lara Dutta
• Suniel Shetty

In 2002, Farah Khan worked as a choreographer for the musical Bombay Dreams in London, which she felt presented a "clichéd and outdated version" of the Indian film industry.[7] She thought that the musical would not be successful if released in India.[7] She instead thought of a new story, writing her initial thoughts about the subject on Andrew Lloyd Webber's letterhead while staying in his house.[8] Later in 2006, Farah began to work on her next project, which was tentatively titled Happy New Year. Amid speculations that Shah Rukh Khan would star in Happy New Year, the actor rejected the first draft of the film, upon which Farah's husband and editor Shirish Kunder reminded her of the story she had conceived while in London.[9] Happy New Year, which was to mark Deepika Padukone's Hindi debut, was put on hiatus and revived more than 8 years later under the same title.[10]

Farah completed writing the first script of Om Shanti Om within two weeks.[9] She set the first half in the 1970s as she felt the Hindi films made during that period were much more influential than those made in other periods, particularly the 1980s, which she felt was a period when "the worst movies were made". She also included many references to the 1970s, which were also prevalent in films of that time. She said, "Everything in the first half is about the 70s—such as the mother who overacts, mouthing clichéd dialogues. Then there are cabarets, badminton and other stuff popular during that era."[7] Shah Rukh's costumes were designed by Karan Johar, while Manish Malhotra designed Padukone's costumes. The rest of the cast had their costumes designed by Sanjeev Mulchandani.[11]

In addition to directing the film, Farah co-wrote the story with Mayur Puri and Mushtaq Shiekh. She was also the film's choreographer. Puri wrote the screenplay and dialogues.[12] He completed the writing process in two months and rewrote the film's second half.[13] Puri created the screenplay by writing his natural reaction to the characters as scenarios. He knew that despite being part of a crowd, junior artists do not want to be recognised as such, ruins their chances of landing a leading role in future. This was used in a sequence involving Shah Rukh and Talpade, who play junior artists. Puri blended different genres together in Om Shanti Om, which he felt was challenging. He used his personal memories from childhood for creating the 1970s.[14] Shirish Kunder was the editor, while V. Manikandan was the cinematographer.[12]

Sabu Cyril was the film's production designer. Sabu was first offered the Mani Ratnam-directed Guru (2007) at a time when Om Shanti Om was being planned, but ultimately chosen the latter due to his earlier commitment to Farah for her future project.[15] Farah used two particular dialogues in the film: "When you want something badly, the whole universe conspires to give to you" and "In the end everything will be ok and if its not ok its not the end". These were used as Khan felt that it reflected her philosophy in her life.[16] Farah stated that the film's opening scene was her most favourite in it.[17] In 2008, Puri felt his most favourite dialogue from the ones he wrote would be the Filmfare Awards speech.[14] The film's title derives from the eponymous song from the film Karz (1980).[18] Om is a Hindu mantra; Om Shanti Om roughly translates to "Peace Be With You".[19][20]

The film opens with the grandeur shot of the most famous songs of Karz that is Om Shanti Om featuring Rishi Kapoor and SRK as a junior film artist standing in the crowd.[21]

Deepika Padukone plays the love interest of Shah Rukh Khan's character in her Hindi film debut.

Shah Rukh was cast as the lead; he gained six packs for a song sequence.[22] He felt Om Shanti Om was a "happy film".[23]

Farah was advised by Malaika Arora to cast Padukone as the female lead, who was suggested by Wendell Rodricks, under whom Padukone was working.[24] She was cast without a screen test.[25] Khan felt that she was "a beautiful, classic Indian beauty" who fit the role of an actor of the 1970s.[7] She was excited at the prospect of working with Shah Rukh and said, "I've grown up watching [Shah Rukh] and always admired him so much. To get to work with him ... is quite wonderful. It was also fantastic that Farah showed faith in my talent and cast me opposite him."[26]

In preparation for her role, Padukone watched several films of actresses Helen and Hema Malini to study their body language.[27] Her character was modelled after Malini and nicknamed Dreamy Girl after her the latter's nickname as Dream Girl.[28] Rampal was approached by both Khan and Shah Rukh at the latter's New Year's Eve party. Rampal was initially reluctant to do the role as he felt it was "too evil" for someone like him. With persuasion from Shah Rukh, he agreed. Rampal wore a mustache in the film which was suggested by Shah Rukh.[9] Shreyas Talpade played a supporting role as the best friend of Khan's character. After the release of Iqbal (2005) and completing the filming of Dor, Talpade, who attended the same gym as Khan, was called for a narration of what would be Om Shanti Om. He agreed to do the role.[29]

Kirron Kher, Bindu and Javed Sheikh also appear in the film.[30] 31 Bollywood film actors appeared in cameo appearances for the song "Deewangi Deewangi". Other actors were also supposed to play cameos, including Fardeen Khan, who was arrested in Dubai over a drug case. Dev Anand refused as he always played lead roles in his career. Madhuri Dixit refused due to the promotional activities of Aaja Nachle (2007). Ajay Devgn refused due to his friend Arjun Rampal playing the villainous role in the film. Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu didn't appear in the song, despite plans to include them. Amitabh Bachchan refused due to his son Abhishek Bachchan's wedding to Aishwarya Rai, while Aamir Khan refused due to Taare Zameen Par (2007) on his pending editing. Farah had wanted the three Khans to appear together in a film. Rekha, who appears in the song, carried out 2 days of rehearsal for it. All those who appeared for the song received gifts, including a Blackberry phone and a Tag Heuer watch.[9] A further red carpet scene featuring a number of actors making guest appearances, including R. Madhavan and Farhan Akhtar as well as Prem Chopra, Shakti Kapoor and Vidhu Vinod Chopra was deleted from the film.[31]

Om Shanti Om was made on a budget of ₹40 crore.[2] The first scene to be filmed was one where Talpade's character tells Shah Rukh's character that he will be a hero; Shah Rukh was an hour late for filming.[29] Farah was pregnant with triplets while filming and experienced difficulties while shooting, she would constantly vomit while directing the film.[32] The film was shot entirely in sync sound; Farah dismissed rumours of Padukone's voice being dubbed.[33] In 2015, however, Mona Ghosh Shetty admitted to have dubbed for Padukone in the film.[34] The fake fight scene involving a stuffed tiger was inspired by a similar scene in the film Tarzan 303.[9] Old cars owned by actors Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini were used for filming for authenticity.[35]

A number of references to real life was also filmed, including a scene in which Om rescues Shanti from a fire, which was a spoof of Sunil Dutt rescuing Nargis from a fire on the sets of Mother India (1957). For a shot involving a Filmfare Awards ceremony, Khan stood on the red carpet of an actual Filmfare Award ceremony and requested actors to dictate dialogues as she stated. The song "Deewangi Deewangi" was shot over a period of six days.[9] The song "Dhoom Taana" has digitally altered guest appearances, which included Sunil Dutt from Amrapali (1966), Rajesh Khanna from Sachaa Jhutha (1970) and Jeetendra from Jay Vejay (1977).[36] Farah wanted to film Shakira for filming a special appearance had made her commit a few days for the role. Due to the uncertainty of her dates, the idea was scrapped.[35]

In February 2007, a filming schedule was completed in Film City. It was then reported that filming would move outdoors after Shah Rukh completed filming for Kaun Banega Crorepati.[37] In October 2007, Abhishek Bachchan finished filming for his cameo appearance; he shot between 10 and 2 in the night for his screen time of about one and a half minutes.[38] Filming of the last sequence and the end-credit song was done in Film City.[39] Farah continued the tradition of featuring an end-credits song beginning with Main Hoon Na (2004).[40]

Om Shanti Om was produced by Shah Rukh's wife Gauri Khan under their Red Chillies Entertainment banner. While Marching Ants handled the publicity design, Gauri was the presenter. Shyam Kaushal, Amar Shetty and Shah Rukh were the action directors.[12] The film's final reel length was 4013.94 ft (1223.45 m).[12]

Om Shanti Om created a record of sorts by going in for an unheard of 2000 prints (worldwide) release. This was the highest number of prints (including digital) for any Indian movie at the time of its release.[53]

Om Shanti Om set another record for registered pre-advance booking of 18,000 tickets in a chain of theatres in Delhi a few days before the advance booking was to start.[54] A special screening was conducted for Bollywood actors.[55] Red Chillies Entertainment had reportedly sold the world rights for the film to Eros International for an amount between Rs. 720–750 million. Baba Films, a production and distribution company, had offered a record Rs. 110 million for the rights to the Mumbai Circuit, surpassing the highest amount ever paid for the territory. As a marketing strategy, Amul advertised Shah Rukh.[56]

In the United Kingdom, the film was watched by 750,000 viewers on Channel 4 in 2010. This made it the year's most-watched foreign-language film on UK television, above the Japanese anime film Spirited Away and German animated film The Little Polar Bear.[57]

Manoj Kumar planned to sue the makers of Om Shanti Om for showing his body double in bad taste.[58] Kumar added, "Are the Mumbai police so stupid that they can't recognise Manoj Kumar and lathicharge him in the '70s when he was a star?".[59] Later, in a press conference, Shahrukh Khan and director Farah Khan accepted their mistake and apologised for the matter.[60] Farah Khan even offered to cut the scene which Manoj Kumar felt was hurtful, but Kumar refused on grounds that, as Farah had stated, "I [Farah Khan] am like his daughter. He said, 'Betiyaan maafi nahi maangti' (Daughters don't ask for forgiveness). I told him that he could've called me and scolded me."[60] Later, Kumar said that though this incident was hurtful to him, he wishes to forgive, ignore, and move on, saying that he prefers to "see Ram in everyone and ignore the Ravana."[61]

Before the film's television premiere on Sony TV, Manoj Kumar filed for a stay on the television release, at civil court in Mumbai. On 8 August 2008, he won permanent injunction on the scenes in Om Shanti Om that lampooned him. The court ordered the producers and Sony Entertainment Television, to edit the Manoj Kumar look-alike scenes before showing the film on the channel on 10 August 2008. It also ordered that the film could not be shown in any media—TV, DVD or Internet—without the scene being deleted.[62][63]

On 7 August 2008, before its television release, scriptwriter Ajay Monga moved the Bombay High Court alleging that the basic storyline of the film was lifted from a film script he had emailed to Shah Rukh Khan in 2006. According to the petition, "Monga, along with one more writer Hemant Hegde, had registered the script with the Cine Writers Association (CWA) in September 2005. In January 2008, Cine Writers Association (CWA) rejected Monga's appeal at a special Executive Committee meeting. Thereafter, he approached the court to stay the film's screening on television. Though, on 6 August the court rejected Monga's plea for seeking a stay on the television telecast, it directed all the respondents including Shahrukh Khan, Farah Khan, Red Chillies Entertainment, Gauri Khan (director Red Chillies) and film's co-writer Mushtaq Sheikh, to file their say by the next hearing on 29 September 2008.[64][65] In November 2008, the Film Writers' association sent a communication to Red Chillies and Ajay Monga that it had found similarities in Om Shanti Om and Monga's script. The similarities were more than mere coincidences according to Sooni Taraporewala who chaired a special committee that has investigated the case on behalf of the Film Writers' association.[66]

Another allegation of plagiarism came from Rinki Bhattacharya, daughter of late Bimal Roy, who directed Madhumati (1958). She threatened legal action against Red Chillies Entertainment and the producer-director of Om Shanti Om, as she felt that the film's second half was similar to Madhumati, also a rebirth saga.[64][67]

Om Shanti Om opened across 1100 cinemas in 3000 prints worldwide.[68] The film's net gross (after deducting entertainment tax) was ₹794 million (US$19.2 million) in India.[69] The film collected $2.62 million in the United Kingdom, $3.6 million in North America,[70] and $3.93 million collectively from the rest of the world, which resulted in total overseas collections of $10,150,000,[2][71] the fourth largest of all time as of 2010.[71] As a result of these collections, a worldwide gross of ₹150 crore (US$36.28 million) was accumulated.[72]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 19 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.21/10.[73]

Om Shanti Om was received positively by Indian film critics.[74][75][76] Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave it four stars out of five and writes, "Om Shanti Om is Bollywood masala in its truest form and also, at its best" but notes, "the second half could've been crisper".[77] Khalid Mohamed of Hindustan Times gave the film four stars out of five and appreciated the performances, observing how Rampal is "consistently first-rate as the suave villain" while Padukone is "fantastic, so surprisingly assured that you marvel at her poised debut". He notes that "the enterprise belongs to Shah Rukh Khan, who tackles comedy, high drama and action with his signature style—spontaneous and intuitively intelligent. Six-pack or no-packs, he's the entertainer of the year in this valentine to the movies."[78]

Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave the film three and a half stars out of five and writes, "Farah Khan's re-birth saga literally makes an art of retro and paints the seventies pop culture in Andy Warholish strokes". She called it an "unabashed tribute" to Karz.[79] Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave it three and a half stars out of five and applauded the performances of Shah Rukh, Padukone and Talpade. He writes, "Om Shanti Om is an exultant, heady, joyous film reveling in Bollywood, and as at most parties where the bubbly flows free, there is much silly giggling and tremendous immaturity." He criticised the dialogues and excessive cameos in the film.[80]

Rajeev Masand of News18 gave the film three stars out of five and writes, "Unpretentious and completely transparent in its intentions, Om Shanti Om is an entertainer in the true sense of the word, mixing up genre elements like comedy, drama, action and emotion to create a heady broth of Manmohan Desai-style exaggerated entertainment." He compliments the dialogues "which so cleverly incorporates Bollywood's oldest clichés into these characters' everyday parlance."[81] A commentator for Indo-Asian News Service felt that Shah Rukh's acting was repetitive and writes, "He needs to curtail his unwarranted superstar mannerisms even in a total masala film like Om Shanti Om", while complimenting the performances of Padukone, Rampal and Talpade.[75]

Sudish Kamnath of The Hindu stated that the film is "an unabashed celebration of willing suspension of disbelief, calling it a "light-hearted tribute to Hindi cinema the way we know it and love it". He praised the performances of Shah Rukh, Padukone and Talpade, while criticising Rampal and Kher. He also praised the various spoofs, especially the ones directed at Manoj Kumar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Abhishek Bachchan.[82] Writing for SantaBanta.com, Subhash K. Jha gave it one star out of five and criticised the spoofs "which keeps swinging from homage to imitation with infuriating artifice", writing, "The mood is one of patronizing and condescension rather than genuine admiration for an era that's gone with the wind".[83]

Tajpal Rathore of BBC gave it 4 out of 5 stars as well and stated, "Both a homage to and parody of Hindi Films, this cinematic feast delivered straight from the heart of the film industry will have you glued to your seats till the end."[84] Mark Medley of National Post gave 3 stars and stated, "The film is a mess for all the right reasons; elements of comedy, drama, romance, action and the supernatural are packed in. But really, the plot is just a vehicle to get from one song-and-dance number to the next."[85] AOL gave the film 3 out of 5 stars stating, "The movie consists of all the elements that are essentially called the 'navratnas' of Indian cinema – from joy to grief to romance to revenge. And she mixes these well to cook up a potboiler, which is sure to be a runaway hit."[86]