Om Shanti Om

Kaely Mayes
May 1, 2010
Hindi 2441

Om Shanti Om

Om Shanti Om, 2007, was only the second film produced by Farah Khan and validated her position as a leading director in the industry. This tribute to the Hindi cinema industry is ornate production of sly spoof of Bollywood’s inhabitants, and as a homage to the films of past, present and future. This ridiculously funny comedy combined with moving melodrama come together to create an unforgettable film. The only negative to this film is that due to its many “inside” jokes, someone who is not familiar with Bollywood would not thoroughly enjoy this film. Yet, for those who are familiar with Bollywood films and their actors, this movie is hilarious. This parody is similar to the idea of Roasts in Hollywood. A Roast is when Hollywood wants to honor an actor, especially comedians, by having a show on TV where the “Roastee” has many of his close friends and other celebrities bash on him. While these can get fairly vicious at times it is still a huge honor to be chosen for this event. This movie shows the same concept of making-fun of Bollywood as an honor.

Om is your average young actor looking for the big times as a hero, but until then he struggles as a Junior Artist hoping to be noticed. It is made light that even his parents who were once Junior Artists and still failed to become famous, but that doesn’t stop the dream and even makes to strengthen Om’s purpose. He is joined in his aspiration by his friend/partner-in-crime Pappu and his dream to marry his imaginary girlfriend, actress Shanti Priya. At the premiere of Shanti’s new film Om gets his chance to meet his true love, after his shirt sleeve gets caught on her outfit, and get her attention, when after sneaking in with Pappu and starts to dance in the middle of the theater only to be chased out by security. He is once again lucky to meet Shanti on the set of her next film when a scene goes out of control and she is stuck in a sea of fire. Once Om realizes that no one is trying to save her he himself jumps into the fire and ends up rescuing her. Om’s luck turns for the better when he meets up with her on another set and she agrees to go to dinner with Om. They have a beautiful and romantic night and Om thins that she is now his, but that does not last very long. The next day when he tries to talk to her she ignores him and so he follows her to see what the problem is. He ends up finding her arguing in a room with her producer, Mukesh Mehra, over the fact she doesn’t want to keep their marriage a secret anymore, especially now that she is pregnant. Mukesh is upset because he has a new film lined up ,Om Shanti Om, and that he needs to be publicly engaged to another woman for funding, he can’t afford to let the engagement go. Om is devastated, but being the amazingly sweet guy he is says that he is ok with it, due to the fact that if she is happy he is happy. One night while Om is wandering around the studio premises he stumbles upon Shanti and Mukesh on one of the sets. Mukesh starts to gush about how he loves Shanti and wants to finally tell the world about them, but everything is not as it seems when Mukesh explains his real reason to be out there. Mukesh doesn’t want anything to get in his way of becoming a famous and rich director, especially not some pregnant wife, and he proceeds to light the set of the new film Om Shanti Om on fire and lock her in. Om tries desperately to save Shanti, but just as he gets to her he is thrown through the window and is then run over by a car. Om dies shortly thereafter in the hospital and the set that Shanti is trapped in explodes. There is a small miracle in work though, as Om was hit by famous actor Kapoor and as Om dies, Kapoor wife gives birth to a son. It is then shown that Kapoor’s new son is the reincarnation of Om; even so much as to take on not only the same physical features, but the same name. The only difference between the two is that the new Om, called OK by his fans, is a spoiled movie star. During the filming of a new film of OK’s, he is taken to the set which is the old burned down studio and he starts to have flashbacks to Om’s past. OK does not know what is going on with him, but during the after party of an Awards night, he is bombarded with all the memories surrounding his previous death. Then to rub salt in the newly opened wounds, Mukesh walks into the room after 20 years producing in Hollywood. When OK finds out that Mukesh is producing his next film Ok has the idea to get Mukesh to confess to his crimes, so he suggests that they re-do Om Shanti Om. Mukesh refuses at first to do the film again, but Ok manages to convince Mukesh to produce it. OK then enlists the help of Pappu and Om’s mother, the two had a suspicion that OK was Om all along, and they come up with a devious plot to get revenge. After holding auditions for the part of Shanti, they find Sandyha who is practically a double of Shanti. The time has come for revenge, Ok and everyone sets up an elaborate scheme to use Sandhya to play the ghost of Shanti to scare Mukesh into spilling his secret. It starts working and Mukesh is terrified enough to try and run away, but Ok stops him by asking Mukesh to stay for only a couple more days. Once more they create an elaborate set, which is the exact copy of the one that burned down, and Ok sets up a song sequence called Daastaan-e-om Shanti Om, in which Ok tells the tale of Shanti’s demise at the hands of Mukesh. The song coupled with glimpses of “Shanti” starts to work and Mukesh starts to get scared. Everything goes as planned until Mukesh sees that “Shanti” can bleed and thus uncovers the plot against him, but he is in for a surprise when the chandelier swings down on top of him, knocking him unconscious. When he comes to, Ok is waiting and reveals that he knows what Mukesh did, yet it back fires when Mukesh also reveals he knows about the ploy to get him to talk. It is a surprise when “Shanti” appears as according to plan and is taken back when “Shanti” tells about what happened after the fire tore the building down, when Mukesh came back to make sure she was dead. Yet, when Mukesh came back he found her still alive, so he proceeded to strangle her and bury her under the chandelier. After the revelation, Ok is surprised once again when the chandelier falls again, this time all the way on top of Mukesh, successfully killing him. As Ok watches “Shanti” he is taken back when Pappu and Sandhya run into the room, thus Ok realizes that the woman before was the actual ghost of Shanti.

This film uses many scenes of past films and present characters to show the underlying theme of recycling and repeating storylines in Bollywood films. For example, in the scene where Om rescues Shanti from the out of control set fire is a parallel to Nargis, of Mother India, and her very own fire disaster. Just as Om saves Shanti by jumping into the fire, Sunil Dutt also jumped into the fire to save Nargis. It also uses double meanings to show how the Bollywood industry is full of reoccurring themes. This is accomplished by using references to show that what is going on now has been used before. An example would be during the song Dhoom Tana when Farah Khan uses superimposed shots of previous films and of Shanti singing and dancing. Then to switch in Om as the past males, using it as more of a dream sequence. Another example would be during the award ceremony when they are showing the clips for best male actor and both of OK's films are shown to be the exact same theme, just different names. It is also making fun of how not only does OK play the smame roles, but Shahruhk Khan also plays the same roles over and over again.


This film is a must see for any Bollywood fan!!!