Om Shanti Om Movie Review

The smash hit Om Shanti Om oozes glitz and glamour. From the plot that is all about stardom to the 42 guest star appearances, Om Shanti Om is a Bollywood film extravaganza. There are some interesting features in the film that make it unique. One is how it incorporates horror movie themes near the end of the film along with the techniques used to create them. The most memorable aspect of Om Shanti Om, also the reason it became such a hit, is how it critiques Bollywood within a Bollywood movie. It is overall a fun movie. It stays away from controversial topics or social justice and really just focuses on entertainment value.

There are very few Hindi movies that are out an out horror flicks. They don’t do particularly well at the box office. Om Shanti Om uses horror themes creatively and ultimately benefits the movie’s appeal. Although the backbone storyline of the film does not support a truly diabolical horror theme that leaves audiences paranoid for days, the small effects meant to be scary were effective. The scene where Sandy appears as Shanti’s in a movie clip that OK and Mukhesh are watching is one example. Although it was a simple play to get audiences to jump a little, it worked! I found myself actually startled at Sandy’s expression and wondering where else she might pop up. In addition, there was an impressive plot twist at the very end of the film where the girl we think is Sandy acting as Shanti actually turns out to be Shanti’s ghost. Hindi movies are all fairly predictable, which is why I did not expect the ending that I saw. I predicted that the movie would carry out the plot it had set up where Sandy tricks Mukhesh into confessing. I was pleasantly surprised when the plot deviated from the most obvious ending and actually had creative finish.

Om Shanti Om is largely a playful critique of Bollywood cinema today. There is a lot of humor and inside jokes that entertain any Bollywood movie fan. Om Shanti Om could be one long skit of the Film Fare awards. In fact, the movie even ventures to the Film Fare awards and features many top rung Bollywood movie stars. Audiences can play “spot the star” during the song “Deewangi Deewangi” much like they do in any award ceremony. Many people watch the film itself, or just that song, to catch a glimpse of all the stars they have not seen acting in a long time.

This film does not have the moral lesson behind it like many of the other films we have watched. The plot is more superficial and highly unrealistic. All of the formulaic qualities present in Hindi films are also present in this film without any attempt to break these conventions, either. The aim of the movie is clearly to let the audience just have fun rather than teach them a new lesson.

For me, Om Shanti Om was a comic relief. It is really the type of Hindi movie I’ve grown up watching; there is hardly any substance in the plot but the humor and bedazzling quality of the whole film makes it a good watch anyway.

Maisha Mir

Om Shanti Om

Farah Khan has directed many amazing movies since she began her career, but I think Om Shanti Om (2007) has been one of her better works. It is a smooth combination of almost every emotion possible, a classic example of Bollywood’s famous “navras” theme. This movie does not address any serious social or political issues; instead, it focuses on the stereotypical Hindi cinema and its famous actors over the years.
The storyline of this movie is both unoriginal and very new. Although not an exact copy, the story is based off of the 1980 movie Karz (Subhash Ghai), in which a woman kills her husband after acquiring his wealth. This man comes back as a famous singer, and the rest of the story is very similar to the second half of Om Shanti Om. In my opinion, this older version of the story was not as cheesy and dramatic as the newer version is. It does not include the incredibly unbelievable plot twist of a man being born with the same exact name and face as the man he was in his previous life. This, I thought, was the weak point of Om Shanti Om. However, the originality of the film made up for this; making fun of Indian movies at the same time as conforming to their standards is not an easy feat, but these aspects put together made for an excellent film. What made it better was the fact that, the more you know about Bollywood, the more sense the movie makes.
The actors in the movie were the strongest point, in my opinion. Not only did “King Khan” (SRK) play two roles in the film, but actress Deepika Padukone made a debut and exceeded everyone’s expectations with her flawless performance and great on-screen chemistry with Shah Rukh. Along with these two, there were countless movie stars that made an appearance in the movie. For some, this was simply a publicity technique; for others, it was their chance to come back after disappearing from Bollywood for years. For example, during the song sequence right after Om Kapoor wins the Best Actor award ("Deewangi Deewangi"), a few old actors such as Dharmendra and Rekha did a small dance as a tribute to their own years spent in Bollywood. Also during this song, many of today's most popular actors did their own parts in the dance to contribute to Hindi cinema's increasing talent and their devoted fans. I thought this song was exciting for this reason, and I also really enjoyed the other songs in the movie; almost every one of them had colorful and fun dances to make them even better. A big contribution to this film's success was the innovative idea of making Om and Shanti seem as old as they are supposed to be by putting SRK and Deepika into scenes from multiple old movies. This was creative and new for Inda, and it gave the movie a new dimension.
For the reasons stated above, Om Shanti Om was able to appeal to both young and older audiences. Other than a little bit of controversy over the ethics of disrespecting old Bollywood actors (such as Manoj Kumar), this movie was an overall success. It was an old story renewed and made somewhat "modern" while still sticking to the roots of Bollywood culture. Although its drama aspect was over the top in some parts, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to anyone who is willing to test their knowledge of Hindi cinema.

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.

Om Shanti Om

Uday Reddy

India is known for its flamboyance and glamour, something that certainly transfers over to Indian Cinema. Released in 2007 throughout the world, Om Shanti Om was a tremendously successful film both in India and abroad. Even in the United States, it was greatly popular while only opening in a select amount of theaters. Directed by Farah Khan and produced by Gauri khan, Om Shanti Om served as a parody on many of the quintessential stereotypes of Indian cinema. It was not a hostile film, as most of the stars being parodied actually appear in the film itself. It served to pay tribute and respect to the “Bollywood Greats” that laid the foundation for modern Indian cinema. Om Shanti Om is an excellent melodramatic-comedy that plays on all of the stereotypes we love to hate about Bollywood.
Om Shanti Om starts out by introducing the main character, Om Prakash Makhija (Shahrukh Khan), a struggling actor in Bombay during the 1970’s film boom. He and his friend Pappu (Shreyas Talpade) both are aspiring to become big stars in Bollywood. Pappu, knowing that Om is very much in love with the accress Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone), swindles his way into getting tickets for her new movie Dreamy Girl. The movie turns out to just be scenes from old movies, combined and re-marketed as a new one. Never-the-less, Om is overwhelmed by the on-screen images and soon begins fantasizing himself in the movie; dreaming that it is he that Shanti desires. Not wanting to accept reality, he proceeds to get intoxicated and rambles to Pappu and some local street kids about how he is going to one day become a huge star. While perusing his dream of stardom, Om finds himself on the same set as Shanti. To his luck, a fire breaks out endangering Shanti and the opportunity to become a hero presents itself to Om. After a moment of shock, he leaps into action and pulls her out of the fire’s reach. He playfully tries to seem like a big-shot but the nervousness of being around her leads to him becoming truthful. They become friendly, but the next time they meet he is shrugged off. He follows Shanti to her dressing room and learns the dark secret of the movie.
Shanti is actually married to the producer of the movie, Mukesh Mehra, and is pregnant with his child. Mukesh is a very seedy businessman, and must appear to be married to another woman to promote his new movie, Om Shanti Om. We learn that the marriage between Shanti and Mukesh is a secret, and Shanti demands that it be revealed to the public. Mukesh refuses, and Shanti reveals to him that she is pregnant with his child. Overhearing all of this, Om’s heart is naturally crushed. He finds that his love is trapped in a relationship with a scoundrel, and pregnant with his child.
He spends many days anguishing in this new revelation and one night notices Shanti and Mukesh going to the set of his new movie. We see Mukesh telling Shanti that he will honor all of her wishes and his duty as a Hindustani by declaring their marriage in public, cancelling the movie, and having a very grand and flamboyant wedding. His affection turns to anger though, and he ends up furious with Shanti. He blames all of his recent problems on her and in a fit of rage sets fire to the set, imprisoning her inside. He leaves her to die, with his men are guarding the set. Om rushes in to try and save her but is stopped by Mukesh’s goons. The set finally explodes, jettisoning Om into the street where he is hit by a passing car. As it turns out, this passing car is owned by Rajesh Kapoor, a well known actor. He is taking his pregnant wife to the hospital, and Om is rushed there as well. Unfortunately, Om dies of his injuries just before Kapoor’s son is born. The boy is named Om.
The film then shifts to the newly born Om’s early life. He is seen to be the re-incarnation of the original Om, but better. The new Om, or Om 2.0, is a successful actor living in luxury in modern day India. But whereas Om 1.0 had heart, the new Om is cast as the shallow and uncaring modern day Indian actor. Going by the nick-name “OK”, Om Kapoor constantly has flashbacks of the old Om, so much so that it affects his public actions. The movies shifts to a modern day film awards ceremony, where the movie shows its parody shift. The actors, nominated for the “Best Actor” award, are mostly cliché performances and OK’s films, being nominated for two movies, are basically the same thing. The movie finishes after OK, starring in a much older Mukesh’s comeback to cinema, manages to trick him into confessing. They re-make Om Shanti Om, where many “incarnations” of actors is seen, and they come up with the idea of tricking Mukesh into thinking he is seeing the ghost of Shanti. It somehow works despite their terrible coordination, until Mukesh sees that the ghost Shanti is not actually a ghost. He is knocked over by a falling chandelier. In a final twist, the real ghost Shanti appears revealing that she did not actually die in the fire, but that Mukesh returned to the set and buried her beneath a fallen chandelier. In a predictable twist of irony, Mukesh is killed in the same spot in the exact same way, by a falling chandelier.
Om Shanti Om’s songs are both comedic and honoring of the songs that have impacted so many lives both in India and abroad. I really liked all of the songs, they were very funny and entertaining. Most other song and dance scenes got boring and repetitive but the ones in this film were fresh and entertaining.
In the film, SRK was obviously cast to play a double role, as Om and OK. The first half of the film sets the groundwork for which the second half is based, and OK is blatantly shown to be the re-incarnation of Om. Pappu and Om’s Mom pretty much knew, and were confirmed after OK suggests they team up to show Mukesh’s true nature. OK displays many twitches and characteristics of the old Om.
Om Shanti Om embraces all of the stereotypes that we see in the movie, which is why I think it’s such a great film. Throughout the film, significant nods are made toward reoccurring Bollywood themes and ideas. There are many sneak appearances of Bollywoods most famous actors and the songs that incorporate everyone are really nice. The film is definitely a parody of traditional Indian cinema stereotypes, but not in a hostile way. Shah Rukh Khan, the star of the film, makes fun of himself during the awards ceremony and many of the actors that were parodied in the movie actually appear in the song and dance sequences. I, for one, really enjoyed this film. It served as a sort of “end credits” for this Hindi cinema class because so many of the actors and actresses that we have studied over the course of the semester are paid tribute to, or appear in this film. Om Shanti Om was a fantastic film to end the semester with.

Om Shanti Om

Mark Wiebers

Om Shanti Om

Om Shanti Om (2007) was one of the years smash hits with a successful soundtrack. Traveling in India during it’s release it was impossible to miss. The songs were being played in what seemed like every galli, ricksha, dukan and radio. The bright movie posters with Deepika and India’s beloved Shah Rukh Khan were plastered everywhere. The magnetite of the movie produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s wife Gouri Khan was impossible to miss. Knowing little Hindi, I went and saw the film but did not understand what all the fuss was about. The aesthetics and music were outstanding but I did not get something. Three years later I watched Om Shanti Om again after increasing my knowledge of Hindi and Bollywood, but this time I saw the light. The film is packed full of numerous absurdities, jokes and insights into the industry past and present. This review is about discussing some of those inside (almost all Indian viewers) attributes and parts I liked about the movie.

Shah Rukh Khan has a double role in the film. First he is a poor junior artist named Om Prakash Makhija trying to make in the film industry. He inspires to make it big and says that if you want something enough then the universe will provide it. He then is hit by a car and dies, only to be reborn into a well to do Bollywood industrialist family. Shah Rukh Khan in his later incarnation is named Om Kapoor. This is ironic three levels. First, the Kapoor family in reality is actual one of the Bollywood industrialists and pass on the acting tradition to their children. In Om Shanti Om through reincarnation Shah Rukh Khan goes from rags to riches through two lifetimes. The second irony is that Shah Rukh Khan in real life is one of the only actors to make it big in Bollywood, who is not from a established family. Third, in reality it only took Shah Rukh Khan one lifetime to reach the top of stardom.

In Om Shanti Om there were many cameos that was pretty much the who’s who in Bollywood. During the dance sequence to the films title track, the group of Bollywood stardom seem to have a wonderful time. There is actors, producers and directors alike that all join and dance during the number. This scene especially is an example of the feel good flavor of most of the film.

Comic relief in this feel is seen throughout the film. My favorite comedic scene when Om Prakash is shooting his movies as a junior artist. These scenes make fun of two elements in Bollywood. First, Shah Rukh Khan’s acting is above and beyond the normal exaggeration seen in Bollywood film. The effects of him flying through the air were also what some my refer to as “cheesy” as flys through the air. This whole time a hippi is saying wow what acting, wow what flying and so on. The hippi repeated this for almost every overemphasis move Om Prakash made. Second, it pokes fun at the smaller film industry such as the B industry and other Indian languages cinema. This is done by the showing the ridicules nature and topics of the film. The next topic is irony in randomness in Bollywood film.

When Om Kapoor goes into the studio for the first time he is late and lax. Then to make the movie he is acting more exciting and appealing, he says we need a disco number. The director does not understand but magically a modern disco number is pulled off. The dance sequence to Dard De Disco is a smash hit, but in Om Shanti Om and the movie being filmed in Om Shanti Om, there is no relevance. Yet this is another irony that Om Shanti Om pokes fun of Bollywood. Thus, the film craft fully makes fun of itself.

As mentioned above there are so many inside references in this movie to mention in this review. But the thing that makes Om Shanti Om so brilliant is that it has the ability to make fun of the some of the ironies in the industry. The film produced by Gouri Khan (Shah Ruhk’s) wife was truly a film made by an insider made for the insider with knowledge about Bollywood.

Sydney Blach

Film Review #5

May 3, 2010

Om Shanti Om

Om Shanti Om, a Farah Khan film, was released in 2007. The film is a story packed full of drama, excitement, and above all humor and satire. At the start of the movie the audience is introduced to Om (Shah Ruhk Khan), an aspiring film hero living in Bombay as a B-film, “junior actor.” On top of the dream to become a hero (not just a film-star and not just famous, but a hero) Om dreams of marrying the mega-star Shantipriya, commonly referred to as Shanti. Recalling a famous Bollywood moment, Shanti is trapped in a burning field of hay while on set filming a new movie, just like Nargis was trapped while filming Mother India. Remembering that after she was rescued from the fire Nargis married her hero, Om acts as the hero and leaps into the fire to rescue Shanti. Though the love in this case is one sided, Om and Shanti become good friends. There is a connection between the two, allowing for the thought that maybe one day the two would surpass a mere friendship. This is all turned upside-down however when the audience get to overhear, thanks to Om's spying, a conversation between Shanti and her unexpected husband, Mukesh, a corrupt film director who is producing the film Om Shanti Om. Shanti reveals to Mukesh that she is aware of his relationship with another woman, and that she is pregnant with his child. Shanti is seen begging Mukesh to reveal to the public his relationship with her, but Mukesh refuses using the excuse that “No one will fund a married heroine's film” and that he will marry her in front of everyone after the debut of his huge debut film. As it turns out, Mukesh is the corrupt jerk he seems to be and misleads Shanti into believing that he has planned and elaborate wedding for them at the set of his film. This proves to be a con when he sets the place on fire, locking Shanti inside. Om is a witness to all of this and attempts to save Shanti from the fire once again, but this times is beat and killed by the Mukesh's comrades that he sent to make sure Shanti doesn't survive. While attempting to find help, Om is hit by the car of the famous Kapoor, who is on the way to the hospital as his wife is in labor. At the same instant the Kapoor baby is born, Om dies, and Kapoor decides to name his new baby son, “Om.”

Fast forward about twenty-five years and the audience is introduced to Om Kapoor, the very famous movie star, who goes by the name “OK.” It is here that the comedic relief of the film is introduced. Many comments about Bollywood are made such as the mother as an overly dramatic character, Shah Ruhk as the same character in every film, the fact that you have to be a Kapoor or a Bacchan to be an A-list actor rather than a B, and the ridiculous stories that are written by directors.

Om, as well as the audience realize that Om Kapoor is a reincarnation of the old Om when OK's dad has a party for him to celebrate his winning of the film-fare award. Here he is introduced to “Mike” and told that “Mike” is a largely successful Hollywood director and would like to work with OK. The trick is that “Mike” is actually Mukesh. When Om realizes this, he has a recollection of all the events from his past life, of Shanti, and of his family. He then reconnects with his family, and schemes up a master plan to get back at Mukesh and avenge the death of Shanti.

In order to do so, he searches for a Shanti look-alike, finding Sandy, and tells Mike he has the perfect place for the set of the film they will make together. He takes Mike to the burnt down set of Om Shanti Om and immediately starts playing with Mike's head, using Sandy to make him believe he is seeing the ghost of Shanti. As the film is wrapped up the master plan is set into place, though none of Om's plans actually work out. Instead, there is a divine intervention and Shanti really does appear as a ghost, killing Mukesh under the chandelier that he claimed he would marry Shanti under but instead buried her dead body underneath.

Om Shanti Om

Sabrina Lee
Laura Brueck
Review #5
May 3rd, 2010
Om Shanti Om
A film that debuted to wild success not just due to the presence of Shahruku Kahn, but almost every major star in Hindi cinema, Om Shanti Om is one of the more interesting and certainly fun films of the selection in the semester. The first time in Hindi films there is a ghost takes place in this film as far as anyone in the class seemed able to figure out, this seemed like a hint of western influence, but Shanti's ghost also followed a slightly trite plot one might find in the west. That fact took away some of the interest in the character of the ghost, given she plays a very small part during the beginning and only shows up later to help the hero who got to be reincarnated finish off the evil producer. Some conventions of Bollywood films are broken, such as women being vengeful and taking out their spite in a murderous form, but this seems all tied to our old friend the evil influence of the west and America which shows in how OK later acts, and how the producer always behaves so wickedly in the tie to his western and apparently evil counterparts that are never seen. The only way the west is shown tends to be through OK and his backup dancers, and the two bald men he seems to own as bodyguards. How camp the movie is in this case happens to be half the fun especially when they are filming the fake movie that OK stars in as a cripple that somehow starts to dance in the middle. The songs were enjoyable, and the one following the Filmfare awards simply seemed like a fun excuse to get as many stars as possible together to enjoy themselves and make sort of a party for the industry as a spectacle. The end of the film has no wedding, there is no real love story after the main characters die, as OK has a singular mind, but it still feels like a very large rip on the Hindi film experience as seen by the people who make the world's biggest film industry possible.