Om Shanti Om

Om Shanti Om is a 2007 Bollywood film directed and choreographed by Farah Khan. It stars Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles as the protagonists while Shreyas Talpade, Arjun Rampal, and Kirron Kher feature in supporting roles. Arjun Rampal is the Big Bad in the movie. More than forty two well-known Bollywood stars appear in the course of the film, including thirty of them (not including the stars of the film) in one song alone.

Protagonist Om Prakash Makhija (Shahrukh Khan) is a junior artist in the 1970s film industry. He and his friend Pappu (Shreyas Talpade) are trying to succeed as leading actors. Om's mother, Bela Makhija (Kirron Kher), herself a junior artist, inspires and encourages her son to become a success. He is in love with the film actress Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone), whom he eventually befriends after saving her from a fire in set. He tries to confess his feelings to her, but he gets overwhelmed by Shanti true kindness and decides to wait for a better chance.

One day, Om tries to talk to Shanti on the set of a film, but is almost ignored. He follows her into a dressing-room, where he, unseen except by the viewer, overhears her argument with the film's producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal) about a recent promise of Mukesh's to marry a businessman's daughter in return for funding of a film. It is here revealed that Shanti is secretly married to Mukesh, and that Shanti is pregnant with Mukesh's child. Mukesh insists that his relationship with Shanti be kept secret, arguing that its revelation will spoil his plans; but Shanti demands that they marry in public. Mukesh relents when she reveals her pregnancy. Om leaves, disappointed, and remains miserable for some days.

Unfortunately for Shanti, Mukesh really doesn't want to stay married to her, so to dispose of her he stages a "tragic accident" by tricking her to visit the soundstage of their latest film, only to trap her there and torch the place. Om, the only witness to this, tries to rescue Shanti, but he is impeded to do so, first by Mukesh's goons, and then by the set exploding. The explosion sends him to the nearby road, where he is run-over by Rajesh and Lovely Kapoor, a couple of film stars in the way to the hospital because of their baby impeding birth. They bring the poor man with them to receive medical attention, but as Lovely gives birth to a son, Om finally succumbs to his injuries

The story jumps 30 years, and introduces us to Om Kapoor, nicknamed OK, the son of the Kapoors and the reincarnation of Om Prakash. OK is a popular (albeit bratty) actor, who has the superstar life the late Om wanted for him. OK, however, has strange experiences, like suffering pyrophobia despite never having bad experiences with fire and experiencing déjà-vus in several occasions, all of them being actually echoes of his past incarnation. A chance encounter with Mukesh (now a Hollywood producer) during a wrap party makes OK's recover all of Om memories. Furious with the realization that neither Om or Shantipriya deaths received justice, OK reunites with Bela and Pappu to plan their revenge.

Tropes used in Om Shanti Om include:

  • Actor Allusion: Almost all the actors featured in Deewangi Deewangi use signature dance moves from their most popular movies.
  • Adam Westing: Anyone who is not a fictional character.
  • All-Star Cast: The cameos. Dear god, the cameos.
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber: Inspired the second part of the movie.
  • Bad Bad Acting: The audition montage.
  • Big No: Om Prakash's mom shouts a big "Nehi!" when he wants to change his name.
  • Birth-Death Juxtaposition: When Om dies in the hospital, a mother gives birth in the next room. The baby turns out to be Om reincarnated.
  • Creator Cameo: Farah Khan is the woman who fights with Om Prakash at the beginning of the movie. Lampshaded:

Farah Khan: Hey, who do you think you are, the star of the movie?
Om Prakash: Well, who do you think you are, the director?

  • Crowd Song: Obviously since it's Bollywood.
  • Death by Looking Up: Mukesh.
  • Do Not Call Me Paul: Mukesh insists on being called Mike, because that's what they call him in Hollywood. Om Kapoor then insist in Mukesh calling him OK as it is how his fans call him.
  • Dramatic Irony: turns out Om was right all the time about how a different name could have give him more success as an actor.
  • Dream Sequence: How OK convinces the director to change the planned scene to the Dar De Disco number.
  • Engineered Public Confession: OK's plan to get Mukesh arrested for Shanti's murder. It fails when Mukesh notices that the Shanti "ghost" he's chasing accidentally cuts herself and bleeds, clueing him that he's being set up.
  • Falling Chandelier of Doom: Mukesh suffers this fate in the end. Everyone in the theatre celebrated.
  • Fan Girl: Sandhya for OK. Omi for Shantipriya.
  • Fan Nickname: Om Kapoor's fans call him OK. He begins to call himself that too
  • Fan Service: Major example: OK in "Dard E Disco" (Usually an Item number has an Item Girl. This one has an Item Guy instead.)
  • Flashback Echo: Triggered by the discovery of the old movie studios.
  • Gratuitous English
  • Hey, It's That Guy!: Especially during the Filmfare Awards and the after-party.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Mukesh.
  • Item number: parodied and lampshaded. Om Kapoor and the director of his movie have a discussion where OK forces the director to change the scene he is supposed to act for a disco dance number of this nature. Sure enough, immediately cues said musical number. Albeit in this case, this number has a reason of existence beside mere Fan Service, since serves as a setup to show OK's pyrophobia for the first time.
  • Large Ham: Om Prakash and OK are pretty much this, Hilariously, OK's brand of chewing scenery is better appreciated.
  • Love At First Sight: Om towards Shanti
  • Masquerade Ball: Dastaan-E-Om Shanti Om.
  • Meet Cute: Shanti's sari gets caught on Om's bracelet.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Rajesh and Lovely Kapoor are probably parodies of Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan.
    • Om Prakash and Pappu sneak in a movie theatre, pretending to be Manoj Kumar by imitating his trademark pose of covering his face with his hand. The "real" Manoj later arrives, showing his ID with him covering his face. The actual Manoj Kumar, however, didn't like the parody, and actually complained about it (with legal action even, on amount of "defamation") when the movie was released.
  • Orange-Blue Contrast: in most of the song Dard E Disco. (beautiful colors.)
  • Oscar Bait: Parodied when OK has to play a blind deaf mute with no legs or arms. Sure, critics will love it but his fans will be bored.
  • Parody Names: All the movies shown at the Filmfare Awards, especially Phir Bhi Dil Hai NRI.
  • Posthumous Character: Shanti.
  • Red Herring: The movie makes you think that Sandy is Shanti's reincarnation. Turns out, Shanti never reincarnated, as she becomes a vengeful ghost delivering Karmic Death.
  • Red String of Fate: Literally. Bela ties a red string around her son's wrist for luck, and it leads to his Meet Cute.
  • Reincarnation: Om is reincarnated and looks exactly like he did in his previous life - complete with his tattoo becoming some sort of birthmark.
  • Rescue Romance: Om and Shanti.
  • Self-Deprecation: The actors in the movie are pretty much making fun of themselves.
  • The Seventies: The first half of the movie.
  • Shirtless Scene: OK gets this a lot. Hence, SRK's page image.
  • Shout-Out: Too many to count, especially in the musical numbers.
  • Smug Snake: Mukesh is a real dick.
  • Something Only They Would Say: Bela maintains that OK is her dear Omi born back. Pappu doesn't believe her until watching the awards ceremony he hears OK say word by word the same acceptance discourse Om improvised in front of him so many years ago.
  • Spoiled Brat: Om Kapoor, though it gets better once he remembers his past life.
  • Stage Mom: Kamini.
  • Title Drop: During the "Deewangi Deewangi" number
  • Underwear of Power: All the superheroes of the Mohabbat Man movie.
  • Unusual Euphemism: Oh, what the fish!
  • Wag the Director: When OK doesn't like the scene he's supposed to play, he makes the director change it for a disco dance number.
    • There is also an inversion. It's stated early that OK never does a second take on any scene because he is allegedly Just That Good. So, when he ask the same director of the film above mentioned to have him film a second take because he feels he can do it better, it's treated as OK finally humbling down and growing as a person and an actor.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Rajesh Kapoor.
  • The Western: Or more precisely, the Masala Western.
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Seriously, the name.
    • It could also refer to How Om is the one who actually reincarnated, but Shanti actually doesn't. Om to Shanti then back to Om again.
  • Whole-Plot Reference: OK's plot to get Mukesh to confess is similar to Hamlet's Play Within A Play. The whole film, and specially the second part and the finale, actually reference the plots of classic reincarnation films Kars and Madhumati
  • Why Did It Have To Be Fire?: OK, no thanks to his previous life's attempt to save Shanti from a burning set.


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