Om Shanti Om

About the film

Om Shanti Om (transl. and released internationally as Peace Be With You) is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language Romantic fantasy action 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 Om's 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.

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.

Production

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 70s—such 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.

Music

The film score was composed by Sandeep Chowta while the original songs featured in Om Shanti Om were composed by the duo Vishal–Shekhar with lyrics by Javed Akhtar, Kumaar and Vishal Dadlani. One song was composed by Pyarelal of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo. The vocals are provided by KK, Sukhwinder Singh, Marianne, Nisha, Caralisa Monteiro, Shaan, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan, Rahul Saxena, Sonu Nigam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Richa Sharma, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, DJ Aqeel, DJ G, Kiran Karnath, Jackie V, Nikhil Chinapa, DJ Nawed and Zoheb. Trade reports predicted the album to be commercially successful even before its release. The soundtrack album of Om Shanti Om was released on 18 September 2007 on CD, and was the highest-selling music album of the year in India, with sales of around 2 million units.

Key details