Om Shanti Om

Om Shanti Om
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Farah Khan
Produced by	Shahrukh Khan Gauri Khan
Written by	Farah Khan Mayur Puri Mushtaq Sheikh
Starring	Shahrukh Khan Deepika Padukone Kirron Kher Shreyas Talpade Arjun Rampal Yuvika Chaudhary
Music by	Songs: Vishal-Shekhar Background Score: Sandeep Chowta
Cinematography	V. Manikandan
Editing by	Shirish Kunder
Distributed by	Red Chillies Entertainment
Release date(s)	9 November 2007
Running time	169 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	35 crore (US$6.0 million)
Box office	149 crore (US$26 million) (worldwide)

Om Shanti Om is a Bollywood a romantic-reincarnation film directed and choreographed by Farah Khan. It stars Shahrukh Khan and debutant Deepika Padukone in the lead roles while Arjun Rampal, Shreyas Talpade, and Kirron Kher feature in supporting roles. More than forty-two well-known Bollywood stars appear in the course of the film, including thirty of them (not including the stars of the film) in one song alone. The film is set in the 1970s and 2000s; it pays tribute to, and pokes fun at the, Indian film industry of both these eras.

It is inspired by Rishi Kapoor's 1980 Bollywood film Karz and borrows many elements from it, including the title of the film which is named after one of the songs and for a brief moment, Rishi Kapoor can be seen dancing to the original song.

The film was released in 2000 prints worldwide making it the largest Indian cinematic release at the time. Om Shanti Om released on 9 November 2007 to mostly positive reviews from critics and record breaking box office collections. It grossed 149 crore (US$26 million) worldwide and thus became the highest-grossing Hindi film of all-time at the time of its release.

Plot

Om Prakash Makhija(Shah Rukh Khan) is a junior artist in the 1970s Bollywood film industry. He and his friend Pappu are trying to succeed as leading actors. Om's mother, Bela Makhija, herself a junior artist, inspires and encourages her son to succeed. He is in love with film actress Shanti Priya(Deepika Padukone). One evening, Om views the premiere of Shanti's film Dreamy Girl, posing as Manoj Kumar. Later that night, Om becomes drunk and describes his vision of himself as a famous, wealthy film star to Pappu and some local children.

While shooting of a film wherein Om is acting as a scene-extra, he notices Shanti trapped in the middle of a fire scene where the fire has escaped control. He saves her and they become friends. One day, he accidentally overhears the conversation between Shanti and Mukesh Mehra, a film producer. Om is brutally shocked to learn that Mukesh and Shanti had married in secret and that Shanti is about to have a baby. Mukesh Mehra promises to do something for Shanti.

One night, Om notices Mukesh escorting Shanti to the set of their soon-to-be-made film Om Shanti Om. Inside, Mukesh tells Shanti that he will cancel the film, reveal their marriage to the public, and have a grand wedding on the spectacular set. Shanti is pleased, while Om returns back, happy for her. However, now it is revealed that Mukesh has no intentions of fulfilling his promise. He traps Shanti on the set and sets it on fire.

Om sees the studio burning and attempts to rescue Shanti, but Mukesh's guards attack him, and he is badly injured. Om pursues despite this, and enters the burning building. He sees Shanti and runs towards her, but and explosion blasts him outside the building. Om is hit by a car owned by Rajesh Kapoor, a well-known actor who is taking his wife to the hospital as she is in labour. Rajesh takes Om too, but Om succumbs to his injuries in the hospital itself and dies. Moments later, a son is born to Lovely and Rajesh, who is named Om, and implied to be Om Prakash's reincarnation.

The film then cuts to Om Kapoor's adulthood. Nicknamed O.K., he is a popular movie star and lives an extravagant, luxurious life that Om Prakash dreamt of. He experiences pyrophobia and it is shown through some scenes that he subconsciously inherits Om Prakash's memories, as well as his appearance. When making a speech of acceptance for an award, O.K. unexpectedly recalls the drunken speech that Om Prakash had made to Pappu, and delivers the same to the assembly who have awarded him.

Pappu listens to O.K.'s speech on television and is convinced that his friend has returned. At a celebration of his award, O.K. is introduced by his father to Mukesh Mehra, who has been producing films in Hollywood for the last twenty five years. Upon seeing him, O.K. recalls everything. He later reunites with Bela and Pappu and conspires to avenge Shanti's death by making Mukesh confess his sin. O.K. convinces Mukesh to restart shooting of Om Shanti Om.

Pappu and O.K. start a hunt for a girl who can pass off as Shanti. The plan is to convince Mukesh that Shanti is haunting the set and scare him, so that he will confess. O.K. finds Sandhya aka Sandy, a complete doppelganger of Shanti. Sandy is accordingly trained and the plan is finally put into action. Throughout the film shooting, O.K. and his friends arrange incidents to remind Mukesh of his crime, mostly by giving him startling glimpses of Sandy.

However, Mukesh decides to go back to Hollywood. Realizing that Mukesh might try to make a run for it, O.K. tells him that the music launch is going to take place that night. Mukesh reluctantly stays, while O.K. has to make it look real to Mukesh. However, O.K.'s plan hits a snag when Mukesh examines the film reels and notices that something is wrong. During the music launch of the film, O.K. taunts Mukesh by revealing, through a song, the extent to which he knows the story of Shanti's death. Mukesh sees Sandy again, but this time he pursues her.

Sandy bleeds after being scratched, thus confirming Mukesh's suspicions that she was not Shanti's ghost. Just as Mukesh is about to walk out, the chandelier nearly collapses on him. After some time, it is revealed that the chandelier didn't fall down fully. O.K. and Mukesh confront each other with their knowledge of each other's actions. An emboldened Mukesh tells O.K. that the charade is over. Mukesh also tells him that to prove that Shanti was murdered, her dead body has to be recovered.

Here, Pappu who is listening to the conversation from the studio, tries to run to the set, but gets stuck in the studio itself. Meanwhile, O.K. sees Sandy making an entrance on the stage and confronting Mukesh. O.K. tries to stop her, but she ignores him, revealing that Mukesh came back after the fire extinguished naturally that night. She also tells him that she was still alive when he found her and buried her in the studio right under where the chandelier is facing now. Mukesh realizes that only Shanti could have known this and attacks her in panic.

O.K. enters in a scuffle with him, resulting in a fire on the studio. O.K. somehow fights his pyrophobia and shoots Mukesh in his leg. Just as he is about to kill Mukesh, Sandy stops him. She tells him that Mukesh will pay, but not through his hands. She looks at the chandelier, dangling precariously. The chandelier falls on Mukesh, killing him instantly. After looking at Sandy with confusion, the studio door opens forcefully. O.K. looks back to see Pappu, and Sandy.

O.K. finally recognizes that the figure who challenged Mukesh is actually the real Shanti Priya's ghost. This also explains some supernatural incidents that O.K. and his friends had not set up. O.K. raises his hand to wave at the love of his past life; among the flames, Shanti smiles at him, with a tear at her eye. Sandy then goes to Om, apologizing she didn't come to scare Mukesh. While Om hugs Sandy he looks at Shanti who goes up the stairs and disappears into the light and is gone forever. The ends credits come up as a film premiere.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Om Prakash Makhija / Om Kapoor
• Deepika Padukone as Shanti Priya / Sandya "Sandy"
• Arjun Rampal as Mukesh Mehra "Mike"
• Javed Sheikh as Rajesh Kapoor
• Asawari Joshi as Lovely Kapoor
• Shreyas Talpade as Pappu Master
• Kirron Kher as Bela Makhija
• Yuvika Chaudhary as Dolly
• Bindu Desai as Kamini
• Satish Shah as Film Director
• Shawar Ali as Shawar

Special appearances during the song "Deewangi Deewangi" (in order of appearance)

Rani Mukerji Zayed Khan Vidya Balan Jeetendra Tusshar Kapoor Priyanka Chopra Shilpa Shetty Dharmendra Shabana Azmi Urmila Matondkar

Karisma Kapoor Arbaaz Khan Malaika Arora Khan Dino Morea Amrita Arora Juhi Chawla Aftab Shivdasani Tabu Govinda Mithun Chakraborty

Kajol Preity Zinta Bobby Deol Rekha Ritesh Deshmukh Salman Khan Saif Ali Khan Sanjay Dutt Lara Dutta Sunil Shetty

Other Cameo appearances throughout the film (in alphabetical order)

Abhishek Bachchan as himself Akshay Kumar as himself Ameesha Patel as Om Kapoor's heroine at Filmfare Awards Amitabh Bachchan as himself Arshad Warsi as himself Bappi Lahiri as himself Bipasha Basu as herself Chunky Pandey as himself Dhananjay Singh as himself Dia Mirza as Om Kapoor's heroine at Filmfare Awards. Farah Khan in the opening of the film. Feroz Khan as himself Gauri Khan as herself

Hrithik Roshan as himself Karan Johar as himself Soumya Seth as Audience Koena Mitra as herself Mayur Puri as the Gujarati director of Apahij Pyar. Rakesh Roshan as himself Rishi Kapoor as himself Shabana Azmi as herself Subhash Ghai as himself Vishal Dadlani as the director of Mohabbat Man, a superhero film. V. Manikandan as the director of Mind It, a parody of action films. Yash Chopra as himself Hubba Mar Sufi Lami as herself

Production

The film is based on reincarnation. Shooting of the film began in January 2007 at various locations in India. The film was released on 9 November 2007.

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. Om Shanti Om set another record for registered pre-advance booking of 18,000 tickets in a chain of theaters in national capital Delhi a couple of days before the advance booking was to start.

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, production and distribution company, had offered a record Rs.110 million for the rights to the Mumbai Circuit, easily surpassing the highest amount ever paid for the territory of Rs.85 million for Jaan-E-Mann.

A book, titled The Making of Om Shanti Om and written by Mushtaq Sheikh, has been released after the release of the film. The book gives an insight about the production and happenings behind the camera of the film.

Home Video Release

Om Shanti Om was released on a two disc DVD mastered from High Definition in Widescreen format on February 2008 . The second disc included a trivia game, bloopers, premiers, deleted scenes, interviews, trailers and teasers and the making of the film and songs. The DVD also included a signed poster of Shahrukh Khan and a 16-page booklet. The film was also released in Blu-Ray. Bollywood Hungama gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Soundtrack

Om Shanti Om
Album cover
Soundtrack album by Vishal-Shekhar
Released	18 September 2007 (India)
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	56:07
Label	T-Series
Producer	Shahrukh Khan & Gauri Khan
Vishal-Shekhar chronology
Cash (2007) Om Shanti Om (2007) Tashan (2008)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Bollywood Hungama
Planet Bollywood
Rediff.com

The film's songs were composed by the musical duo Vishal-Shekhar with lyrics by Javed Akhtar, whilst the background score was composed by Sandeep Chowta. Initially, A. R. Rahman was signed in to compose original songs and background score for the film. But the maestro opted out of this movie, as T-Series did not agree to share the copyrights of music with him and the lyricist. The soundtrack for the film released on 18 September 2007.

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Ajab Si"	KK	4:03
2.	"Dard-e-Disco"	Sukhwinder Singh, Caralisa Monteiro, Nisha, Marianne	4:31
3.	"Deewangi Deewangi"	Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Rahul Saxena	5:54
4.	"Main Agar Kahoon"	Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal	5:10
5.	"Jag Soona Soona Lage"	Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Richa Sharma	5:31
6.	"Dhoom Taana"	Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Shreya Ghoshal	6:15
7.	"Dastaan-E-Om Shanti Om"	Shaan	7:08
8.	"Dard-e-Disco (Remix)"	Sukhwinder Singh, Caralisa Monteiro, Nisha, Marianne	4:38
9.	"Deewangi Deewangi (Rainbow Mix)"	Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Rahul Saxena	4:48
10.	"Om Shanti Om (Medley Mix)"	Sukhwinder Singh, Caralisa Monteiro, Nisha, Marianne, Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Rahul Saxena, Abhijeet Bhattacharya	6:06
11.	"Dastaan-E-Om Shanti Om (Dark Mix)"	Shaan	6:21
12.	"Om Shanti Om (Instrumental)"		0:58

Box office

India

Om Shanti Om opened across 878 cinemas and had grossed around Rs. 656,500,000 in its two week record-breaking run in India. Om Shanti Om nett grossed(after deducting entertainment tax) 79.42 crore (US$14 million) in India. It was declared a Blockbuster in the domestic market.

Overseas

The film's worldwide gross stands at 149 crore (US$26 million)

Reception

Reviews

Om Shanti Om received mostly positive reviews from critics. Taran Adarsh from Bollywood hungama gave the movie a 4 out 5 star rating stating "This Diwali, have a blast! (...) At the box-office, the film will set new records in days to come and has the power to emerge one of the biggest hits of SRK's career." Hindustan Times's Khalid Mohamed gave the film 4/5 saying that the film is "A must for masala movie lovers.." Tajpal Rathore of BBC gave it 4 out of 5 stars and stated, "Both a homage to and parody of Bollywood, this cinematic feast delivered straight from the heart of the film industry will have you glued to your seats till the end." Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India gave 3.5 of 5 stars stating the film is a total paisa vasool and a true tribute to Karz (1980). Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave 3 and half stars and stated, "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. You'd do well to breathe in the filmi fumes, lift your own collar-tips upwards, and leave sense out of the equation. More cameos are written in than dialogues, so sit back and play spot-the-celeb. Or watch the Khan have a blast on screen." 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." AOL India's Noyon Jyoti Parasara gave the movie 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 run away hit." Rajeev Mansad of CNN-IBN give Om Shanti Om 3 out of 5 stars, stated "A special mention must be made for the film’s excellent dialogue which so cleverly incorporates Bollywood’s oldest clichés into these characters' everyday parlance." Sudish Kamnath of The Hindu stated, "Om Shanti Om is a light-hearted tribute to Hindi cinema the way we know it and love it, in spite of its flaws, improvisation and implausibility. [...]That apart, the movie is a hell of a party, a bits-and-pieces blockbuster strung together with a series of laughs, songs and dances. SRK shows us why he's the rock star of our times." SearchIndia.com gave the movie the thumbs-down stating that "A dispiritingly commonplace theme of reincarnation packaged in a disjointed, tracing-paper-thin plot with ho-hum performances by the lead actors renders a mediocre movie that only addled fans of Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan would love."

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Om Shanti Om a rating of 83%, based upon 6 reviews (5 fresh and 1 rotten).

Controversy

Manoj Kumar's complaints

Om Shanti Om landed into controversy with veteran actor Manoj Kumar, for showing his body double in a bad taste. Offended by the sequence, Kumar planned to sue the makers of Om Shanti Om. 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?”. Kumar also alleged that Shahrukh Khan is communal. Later, in a press conference, Shahrukh Khan and director Farah Khan accepted their mistake and apologized for the matter." 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] was 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." 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."

In 2008, 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.

Alleged plagiarism

On 7 August 2008, before its television release, scriptwriter Ajay Monga, who has written scripts for Madhur Bhandarkar's Corporate (2006) and Fashion (2008), 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... I then took the script to Red Chillies in 2006. Shah Rukh was shooting in Malaysia at that time, so the script was emailed to him, but they never got back to me. It was only when I saw the film that I realized that it was entirely based on my script." 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.

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.

Another allegation of plagiarism came from Rinki Bhattacharya, daughter of late Bimal Roy, who directed Madhumati. 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.

Awards

National Film Awards

Won

2008 - National Film Award for Best Art Direction - Sabu Cyril

Filmfare Awards

Won

• Best Female Debut - Deepika Padukone
• Best Special Effects - Red Chillies VFX

Nominated

• Best Actor - Shah Rukh Khan
• Best Actress - Deepika Padukone
• Best Director - Farah Khan
• Best Film - Red Chillies Entertainment
• Best Supporting Actor - Shreyas Talpade
• Best Music - Vishal-Shekhar
• Best Lyrics - Javed Akhtar for Main Agar Kahoon
• Best Lyrics - Vishal Dadlani for Aankhon Mein Teri
• Best male Playback Singer - K.K. for Aankhon Mein Teri
• Best male Playback Singer - Sonu Nigam for Main Agar Kahoon

Star Screen Awards

Won

• Best Newcomer Female - Deepika Padukone
• Best Choreographer - Farah Khan
• Jodi No. 1 - Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone
• Best Special Effects - Red Chillies VFX

Nominated

• Best Film
• Best Actor in a Negative Role - Arjun Rampal
• Best Director - Farah Khan
• Best Playback Singer Male - K.K. for Aankhon Mein Teri
• Best Background Music - Vishal-Shekhar
• Best Art Direction - Sabu Cyril

Stardust Awards

Won

• Dream Director Award - Farah Khan
• Best Actor in a Negative role - Arjun Rampal
• Breakthrough performance Male - Shreyas Talpade

Zee Cine Awards

Won

• Best Actor in a Negative Role - Arjun Rampal
• Best Female Debut - Deepika Padukone
• Best Choreography - Farah Khan
• Best Costumes - Manish Malhotra, Karan Johar and Sanjiv Mulchandani
• Best Visual Effects - Red Chillies VFX

Nominated

• Best Film
• Best Actor Male - Shah Rukh Khan
• Best Actor Female - Deepika Padukone
• Best Director - Farah Khan
• Best Actor In A Supporting Role Male - Shreyas Talpade
• Most Popular Track Of The Year - Dard-E-Disco
• Best Playback Singer Male - KK for Aankhon Mein Teri
• Best Playback Singer Male - Sonu Nigam for Main Agar Kahoon
• Best Lyrics - Main Agar Kahoon
• Best Music - Vishal-Shekhar

IIFA Awards

Won

• Best Art Direction - Sabu Cyril
• Best Makeup - Bharat-Dorris, Ravi Indulkar and Namrata Soni
• Best Debutant Female - Deepika Padukone
• Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar
• Best Costume Design - Manish Malhotra, Karan Johar and Sanjiv Mulchandani
• Best Special Effects - Red Chillies VFX

Nominated

• Best Picture
• Performance in a Leading Role Female - Deepika Padukone
• Performance in a Negative Role - Arjun Rampal
• Playback Singer Male - K.K. for Aankhon Mein Teri Om

Asian Film Awards

Won

• Best Composer - Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani

Nominated

• Best Actress - Deepika Padukone

Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Nominated

• Best Feature Film

Annual Central European Bollywood Award

Won

• Best Film
• Best Director - Farah Khan
• Best breakthrough role Female - Deepika Padukone
• Best Costume Design - Manish Malhotra, Karan Johar and Sanjiv Mulchandani
• Best Special Effects - Red Chillies VFX
• Best Art Direction - Sabu Cyril
• Best Music - Vishal-Shekhar
• Best Playback Singer Male - Sonu Nigam for Main Agar Kahoon

External links

• Om Shanti Om
• Om Shanti Om at the Internet Movie Database
• Om Shanti Om at Rotten Tomatoes
• Om Shanti Om at Box Office Mojo
• Om Shanti Om at AllRovi