Om Shanti Om (2007)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Farah Khan

Writers:

Farah Khan (screenplay)
Farah Khan (story)

Release Date:

7 November 2007 (Belgium)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

He was a junior artiste. She was a star. For some dreams, one lifetime is not enough.

Plot:

In the 1970s, Om, an aspiring actor, is murdered, but is immediately reincarnated into the present day. He attempts to discover the mystery of his demise and find Shanti, the love of his previous life.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Fire | Friend | Bollywood | Love

Awards:

3 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Shahrukh Khan	...	Om Prakash Makhija / Om 'OK' R. Kapoor
Arjun Rampal	...	Mukesh 'Mike' Mehra
Kiron Kher	...	Bela Makhija (as Kirron Kher)
Shreyas Talpade	...	Pappu Master
Deepika Padukone	...	Shantipriya / Sandhya 'Sany'
Bindu	...	Kamini
Javed Sheikh	...	Rajesh Kapoor (as Jawed Sheikh)
Satish Shah	...	Partho Roy - Film Producer
Nitish Pandey	...	Anwar
Yuvika Chaudhry	...	Dolly
Shawar Ali	...	Shawar (as Shawar Ali Khan)
Asawari Joshi	...	Mrs. Rajesh Kapoor (as Asavari Joshi)
Nassar Abdulla	...	Nasser - Rajesh's assistant
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sev Anand	...	Dev Anand
Amrita Arora	...	Herself
Malaika Arora	...	Herself (as Malaika Arora Khan)
Shabana Azmi	...	Herself
Abhishek Bachchan	...	Himself
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Himself
Vidya Balan	...	Herself
Bipasha Basu	...	Herself
Mithun Chakraborty	...	Himself
Suresh Chatwal	...	Suresh - Junior Artiste
Juhi Chawla	...	Herself
Priyanka Chopra	...	Herself
Yash Chopra	...	Himself
Sabu Cyril	...	Film Doctor
Vishal Dadlani	...	Himself
Bobby Deol	...	Himself
Ritesh Deshmukh	...	Himself (as Ritiesh Deshmukh)
Dhananjay	...	Dharmendra
Dharmendra	...	Himself
Kanika Dhillon	...	Film Heroine
Dominic	...	Govinda Ahuja
Lara Dutta	...	Herself
Sanjay Dutt	...	Himself
Sunil Dutt	...	Appearance in song
Subhash Ghai	...	Himself
Govinda	...	Himself
Jeetendra	...	Himself
Karan Johar	...	Himself
Kajol	...	Herself
Nakul Kamte	...	Makhija
Karisma Kapoor	...	Herself
Rishi Kapoor	...	Himself
Sanjay Kapoor	...	Himself
Tusshar Kapoor	...	Himself
Arbaaz Khan	...	Himself
Farah Khan	...	Agressive Junior Artiste / Herself
Feroz Khan	...	Himself
Mahesh Khanna	...	Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna	...	Appearance in song
Saif Ali Khan	...	Himself
Salman Khan	...	Himself
Zayed Khan	...	Himself
Akshay Kumar	...	Himself
Nagesh Kumar	...	Shatrughan Sinha / Rajesh Khanna
Bappi Lahiri	...	Himself
Manikandan	...	Film Director
Urmila Matondkar	...	Herself (as Urmila)
Diya Mirza	...	Herself (as Dia Mirza)
Koena Mitra	...	Herself
Mohan	...	Mithun Chakraborty
Dino Morea	...	Himself
Rani Mukherjee	...	Herself
Sanjeev Mulchandani	...	Film Villain
Chunky Pandey	...	Himself (as Chunkey Pandey)
Amisha Patel	...	Herself
Raman	...	Ricky Sandhu
Rekha	...	Herself
Hrithik Roshan	...	Himself
Rakesh Roshan	...	Himself
Salim	...	Manoj Kumar
Samapika	...	Wannebe Shantipriya
Mushtaq Sheikh	...	Roadside sleeper
Shilpa Shetty	...	Herself
Sunil Shetty	...	Himself (as Suniel Shetty)
Aftab Shivdasani	...	Himself
Tabu	...	Herself
Vishwajeet	...	Prem Chopta
Preity Zinta	...	Herself

Runtime:

162 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:12A | UK:12A | Singapore:PG | Australia:G | USA:PG-13 | India:UA | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Film City, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

Red Chillies Entertainment

Trivia:

Composer A.R. Rahman was meant to compose the songs for this film, but declined due to disagreement on song composing royalty writes. So the producers looked for another music director, and finally the music duo Vishal-Shekhar got the part.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the scene where Om and his mother are looking at the moon through the window, the camera starts rising. In the background, you can see a crew member standing behind Khan and Kher, stepping back to avoid getting into the field.

Quotes:

Om Kapoor: Call me OK, everyone in Bollywood does.

Movie Connections:

References Kopps (2003)

Soundtrack:

Dastaan-E-Om Shanti Om

Get Some Popcorn & Prepare for Some Spicy Entertainment

'Might wanna include some fresh drinks with that. That's what 'Om Shanti Om' provides in a huge dose. No not the fresh drinks, but the entertainment. I had seen Farah Khan's last flick 'Main Hoon Na' and didn't like it but 'Om Shanti Om' for me was very enjoyable. I liked it's colourfulness and its not taking itself seriously. In short, it's a spoof of Bollywood.

The main plot itself is cleverly inspired by 'Madhumati' and 'Karz' and further you'll see situations that mock Hindi films of the 70s and Hindi films of today. There are numerous famous actors who make fun of themselves. The Filmfare sequence with Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, The Bachchans, Shabana Azmi were all lol hilarious. There are several such moments which make you feel as if you're under the influence of Novocain (I mean that in a good way).

The songs are of the hummable and foot-tapping kind, most of them spectacularly picturized. I liked how the 'Deewangee' song was filmed as it included most of my favorite actresses like Shabana Azmi, Juhi Chawla, Urmila Matondkar, Tabu, Kajol, Shilpa Shetty, Rani Mukherji etc. Tabu certainly looked the best of the lot. She was drop-dead hot. Of course there was also the funny sequence where Shahrukh danced with Mithun Chokroborty. However, the song may have been a little too long and perhaps Farah could have cropped it out a little by not including some bad actors. Oh well, she probably didn't want to be rude.

Shahrukh Khan is very good as the Oms. One might argue that he overacted in the second half but, in my opinion, he was merely spoofing himself and other Bollywood actors. Kirron Kher too is a treat to watch and she provides some of the LOL moments e.g. when she's spoofing the 70s Bollywood mom or as the 'crazy witch' who saw a ghost. Shreyas Talpade, though cast in a supporting role, holds his own and does nothing short of a great job. Arjun Rampal impresses as the evil villain. I was wondering what happened to this actor after delivering an amazing performance in 'Moksha' and now it's good to see that he's back in form. 'Hope he doesn't get typecast as he plays the bad guy very well. Deepika Padukone is a decent débutante. I liked her as Shantipriya (she looks great in the traditional Indian outfits than the Western stuff) but as Sandy she didn't impress me much (she didn't have much to do anyway).

Farah Khan and Shahrukh Khan probably had a lot of fun in the making and they've certainly made something for all of us to enjoy. This is one of the better 'masala' films to emerge from Hindi Cinema in recent times. As long as you're not expecting any serious film that will alter your life and go see it with the intention to have fun, you won't be disappointed.