Om Shanti Om (transl. and released internationally as Peace Be With You) is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language masala film written and directed by Farah Khan, co-written by Mayur Puri and Mushtaq Shiekh, and produced by Gauri Khan under Red Chillies Entertainment. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone (in her Hindi film debut), Arjun Rampal, Shreyas Talpade, Kirron Kher. Spanning four odd decades, the narrative follows Om Prakash Makhija, an obscure 1970s actor in love with female superstar Shanti, who dies in a suspicious on-set fire that kills Shanti and is reincarnated 30 years later as the superstar Om Kapoor, determined to punish the person who ignited the blaze with the help of Shanti's lookalike.
Farah Khan began development for the film while directing the musical Bombay Dreams (2002), and it began production after its leads were cast. The film's title is borrowed from a song from Subhash Ghai's thriller Karz (1980), which also features in the opening credits. Om Shanti Oms soundtrack was composed by Vishal–Shekhar, with the lyrics written by Javed Akhtar, Vishal Dadlani, and Kumaar. The background score was composed by Sandeep Chowta. The film is notable for its cameo appearances from Indian film celebrities.
Produced on a budget of , Om Shanti Om emerged as the highest grossing Hindi film of 2007 and the then-highest grossing Hindi film of all time. The soundtrack was also critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-selling album of the year in India. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its story, direction, cast performances, production design, and soundtrack. Om Shanti Om received a leading 13 nominations at the 53rd Filmfare Awards, winning for Best Female Debut (Padukone) and Best Special Effects.
Plot In 1977, Om Prakash "Omi" Makhija, a junior artist in Mumbai, dreams of becoming a renowned actor. He lives with his widowed mother, Bela, and his friend Pappu Master in a small chawl. Omi adores the glamorous superstar actress Shantipriya, often expressing his feelings in front of her film poster. One night, he and Pappu sneak into the premiere of Shanti's film, Dreamy Girl, in disguise, making a memorable impression on her. Later, Omi, inebriated, gives a heartfelt acceptance speech to Pappu and local children, pretending to have won an award.
Omi and Pappu land minor roles at R.C. Studios, owned by the egotistical producer Mukesh Mehra, who also launched Shanti's career. During a shoot, Shanti gets trapped in a fire but is rescued by Omi. The two become friends, and although Omi initially lies about being a Tamil film star to impress her, he eventually confesses the truth. Shanti grows close to Omi, and with Pappu's help, they share a memorable evening date together at the studio.
Omi overhears a heated argument between Shanti and Mukesh, revealing that they are secretly married. Shanti is furious when she learns that Mukesh plans to marry the daughter of the distributor for his upcoming film, Om Shanti Om. She reveals to Mukesh that she is pregnant with his child, which seems to please him. Heartbroken, Omi avoids Shanti.
One night, Mukesh takes Shanti to the future set of Om Shanti Om, claiming he will cancel the film and have a grand wedding there to make their marriage public. Omi visits Shanti but is devastated to see her with Mukesh; he leaves without either noticing. However, once Omi leaves, Mukesh reveals his true colours to Shanti, confessing that his actual plan is to kill her and their unborn child to avoid any impedance in his career as a producer. He lights up the set on fire and locks Shanti inside. Despite his attempts to rescue her after Mukesh leaves, Omi gets beaten by Mukesh's guards and is thrown out by an explosion by the time he can get to Shanti. The set burns down with Shanti inside. Omi is later struck by the car of actor Rajesh Kapoor, whose wife Lovely is in labor. Rajesh brings Omi to the hospital, but he dies from his injuries, while Rajesh and Lovely welcome a baby boy named Om Kapoor.
30 years later, Om Kapoor aka O. K., now a successful yet arrogant actor, suffers from pyrophobia and frequently encounters Bela, who believes him to be her son. He dismisses her as delusional, and Pappu, now old, tries to explain the truth, but Bela remains unconvinced.
While shooting at the abandoned R.C. Studios, O.K. experiences vivid flashbacks of Omi trying to rescue Shanti and later unwittingly delivers Omi's old drunken speech at a Filmfare Awards event. Pappu watches him on TV and realizes that Omi has reincarnated as Om Kapoor. At a party celebrating his victory, O.K. meets Mukesh, now known as Mike, who proposes a film collaboration; an introduction to him causes O.K. to fully remember his previous life. Om finally reunites with Bela and Pappu at the old chawl, and together with Om's assistant Anwar, they plan to expose Mukesh's crimes.
O.K. resumes filming Om Shanti Om at the old studio after convincing Mukesh to revive the project, and after many failed auditions of other actresses, hires Sandhya "Sandy" Bansal, an aspiring actress who is an exact doppelgänger of Shanti and a huge fangirl of Om. Pappu and Bela start training her to behave exactly like Shanti. Om initially hides his plan but later reveals the truth to Sandy, who promises to help him. At the film's inauguration, Bela, disguised as a witch, and Sandy, disguised as Shanti's ghost, try to scare Mukesh into confessing. Despite a fake inauguration plan gone wrong, a photograph of Shanti inexplicably catches fire, unsettling Mukesh and confusing Om and Pappu.
During a masquerade ball for the film's music launch, Om indirectly hints at Mukesh's guilt through Shanti's story. However, Sandy accidentally reveals her ruse by injuring herself, proving she is not a ghost. Mukesh, suspicious of the film reels, chases Sandy but is knocked out by a chandelier. When he regains consciousness, O.K. confronts him in the empty venue about Shanti's murder. Mukesh mocks O.K., claiming there is no proof and revealing he knows Sandy is not Shanti. Sandy then appears, disclosing that Mukesh had buried Shanti alive under the chandelier after discovering she had survived the initial fire. She even foretells that Shanti's body will be found, which will be proof of murder for the court. Both Om and Mukesh are perturbed at how deeply she knows Shanti's tragic story; in the confrontation that follows, Om finally overcomes his pyrophobia and defeats Mukesh, who is crushed to death by the falling chandelier.
Pappu and Anwar arrive with the real Sandy. Om then realizes that the woman with him is actually 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; Shanti's spirit disappears, having attained peace, while Om embraces Sandy.
Cast
Cameo appearances
Special appearances in the "Deewangi Deewangi" song (in order of appearance)
Special appearances in the "Dhoom Taana" song Sunil Dutt as himself Rajesh Khanna as himself Jeetendra as himself
Production Development 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. She thought that the musical would not be successful if released in India. 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. 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. 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.
Farah completed writing the first script of Om Shanti Om within two weeks. 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 70ssuch as the mother who overacts, mouthing clichéd dialogues. Then there are cabarets, badminton and other stuff popular during that era." 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.
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. He completed the writing process in two months and rewrote the film's second half. 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. Shirish Kunder was the editor, while V. Manikandan was the cinematographer.
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. 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. Farah stated that the film's opening scene was her most favourite in it. In 2008, Puri felt his most favourite dialogue from the ones he wrote would be the Filmfare Awards speech. The film's title derives from the eponymous song from the film Karz (1980). Om is a Hindu mantra; Om Shanti Om roughly translates to "Peace Be With You".
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.
Casting
Shah Rukh was cast as the lead; he worked hard on his physique for a song sequence. He felt Om Shanti Om was a "happy film".
Farah was advised by Malaika Arora to cast Padukone as the female lead, who was suggested by Wendell Rodricks, under whom Padukone was working. She was cast without a screen test. Khan felt that she was "a beautiful, classic Indian beauty" who fit the role of an actor of the 1970s. 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."