Om Shanti Om

Rachel Young

Farah Khan’s 2007 film Om Shanti Om is an outrageously funny, tongue-in-cheek tribute to the past 30 years of Bollywood cinema. Filled to the brim with parodies of popular movies, film stars, production companies, and Hindi film as a whole, and then topped off by an enjoyable storyline, this movie is an engrossing treat for audiences. However, there’s more to the film than its snappy plot and the special appearances of many of Bollywood’s famous movie stars. Hidden beneath the excitement, viewers can still find some of the staple messages that have appeared in Hindi films for the past fifty years.
Om Shanti Om begins with the introduction of Om, a ‘junior artist’ (he plays extras in all of his films and cannot seem to get a lead role), who lives in 1970s Bombay and is trying to become a movie star. His mother and friend Pappu are also actors (although his mother retired when she had Om) and they support him in everything. Om is head-over-heels in love with the famous movie star, Shanti Priya, but can never get close to her, as he is only a junior artist. One day on the set of one of her films, Shanti gets trapped among burning haystacks (a homage to the film Mother India), from which Om saves her. They soon strike up a friendship, and Om begins to think that she might love him too. After filming one day, Om follows Shanti as she storms off to her dressing room. Om hides in an adjoining room and overhears Shanti talking with the film’s producer, Mukesh. Om is shocked to learn that Shanti and Mukesh are secretly married and that Shanti is expecting a baby. Later, Om follows Mukesh and Shanti as they go to the set of their film, Om Shanti Om, where Mukesh starts a fire and locks Shanti inside to die. Om tries to save her, but in the ensuing struggle between himself and Mukesh’s men, and then an explosion from within the building, Om is thrown onto a road and hit by a car. At the hospital, the driver’s wife gives birth to a baby boy just as Om dies. Coincidentally, the driver is Rajesh Kapoor, a famous actor, and Om is reborn as the child (and renamed Om, oddly enough).
Thirty years later, Om has grown into the most famous actor of his day, able to make his own rules and run his films exactly the way he wants. Now calling himself ‘OK’ (for Om Kapoor), Om is haunted by images he doesn’t understand, such as a fear of fire and remembering an acceptance speech he made in his past life. Pappu realizes who OK is and goes to visit him, releasing all of Om old memories. OK returns to his past-life’s mother, and together with Pappu, they decide to get Mukesh back for Shanti’s murder.
OK contacts Mukesh and asks him to remake Om Shanti Om, and at the same time, OK finds an actress named Sandhiya (who is Shanti’s doppelganger) to play Shanti’s ghost. Filming begins at the old ruins where Shanti was burned to death, and Sandhiya appears spookily to Mukesh to scare him. After seeing Sandhiya bleed, Mukesh realizes that the whole thing was a set up and he confronts OK. At the same time, Sandhiya shows up to give her final reprimand to Mukesh. OK tries to tell her that Mukesh knows everything and to drop the act, but she’s really in character. As she curses Mukesh, a large chandelier falls and crushes Mukesh. The next moment, Sandy and Pappu rush into the room, revealing that Shanti’s ghost had actually been the woman in the room moments before, and now she has her peace.
There are several little messages tucked into this storyline. For example, when OK is reborn, he is a selfish, rich kid who has everything handed to him on a silver platter. As opposed to his hard working previous self, who was kind to everyone and had a heart of gold, OK is self-centered and rude. On top of that, OK refuses to show up to sets on time, won’t do double-takes, and practically takes over for the directors. Once he realizes who he is (or was), OK returns to his first mother and becomes a cooperative actor who cares about other people. There seems to be a message here that only famous people can be famous; that no one can become a movie star in Bollywood unless they have connections. (This contrasts to Shahrukh Khan himself, who seems to be one of the only examples of self-made famous actor) The movie might be trying to say that Bollywood is full of ‘old blood’, made up of actors who may not be the cream of the crop, but are famous through association. Perhaps the film is making a slight suggestion that Hindi cinema make an effort to establish new stars, although this seems odd in a film filled with famous movie stars from famous families, the exact type of actors the movie cuts down.
There is also some focus on female actors in Bollywood and the struggles they face dealing with marriage and having children. Om’s mother mentions at the beginning that she gave up her career in films when she became pregnant with Om, and Mukesh kills Shanti because he knows that once she has a baby, she won’t be able to land roles as a heroine in films. Shanti and Mukesh also discuss their hidden marriage, which must be kept a secret from the public because audiences won’t support a married female lead. These small points seem to suggest that women in Bollywood are unfairly treated and shouldn’t have to give up their careers when they get married, that in fact forcing female actors to behave in this certain way can lead to detrimental side effects in their personal lives. All in all, this film is really enjoyable, although I suggest that viewers find a list of all of the spoofs hidden within the movie; otherwise they may not understand much of the comedy.