Revisiting Om Shanti Om, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone's cinematic extravaganza, 14 years since release

Om Shanti Om, Farah Khan’s cinematic extravaganza released with all pomp and fanfare that a film of such grand scope usually demands. Further, 2007 also showcased three of the most anticipated actor debuts of the year. Where Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s grand musical Saawariya would launch Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor, Farah Khan’s decade-spanning romance saga would see Deepika Padukone in a feature-length film for the first time. Hence, when Om Shanti Om, evidently the flashier of the two projects, hit the screens, the film went on to become the highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.

Much like Farah’s earlier directorial Main Hoon Na, Om Shanti Om hinged on fantasy and implausibility. The hero of the film, during the first half, plays a junior artiste who idolises a superstar. He is the everyman of the 70s, obsessed with film actors whose lives are shrouded in intrigue. Years before Fan, Om Shanti Om offered a glimpse into the fan and hero dynamic. Sure, it was reductive and cutesy. But the film never promised to be more than anything but a lighthearted comedy drama.

Cinephiles and fantasy aficionados may argue that even in fantasy, the world building is required to depend on certain ground rules pertaining to the specific world. Which is why, there is an eternal debate between fans of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter regarding the authenticity and relatability of their universes, however far-flung and imaginative. Om Shanti Om turns the clock several decades back, in 1977, to encapsulate the ostentatious, all-consuming Hindi film industry that had reached its zenith in terms of its reach and impact on viewers. It is during the same decade that Rajesh Khanna was dubbed the “first superstar of India” owing to his insurmountable popularity and the continuous success of his movies.

Farah, who also wrote the film, cast the indisputable superstar in the role of Om Prakash Makhija, the son of a junior artiste, who is yet to graduate to a role which requires him to do more than bellow “bhaago” during a fire sequence. His mother (played with affection and abject sincerity by Kirron Kher) was also a junior artiste in her prime. By casting a bonafide hero of 20th century Hindi cinema in the role, Farah established that the film was in fact, a parody of the world and the times she intended to depict. Only, Om Shanti Om ruefully fails to turn the gaze on itself to effectively address the various inequalities that the film industry has been accused of fostering.

Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone) is purportedly the “dreamy girl” of Hindi cinema in the 70s. Her face features on gigantic banners across Bombay, and the city palpitates with a collective frenzy every time her movie debuts in cinema halls. Shantipriya looks like a figment of one’s imagination. She smiles coyly, waves at gasping and sighing admirers, and naively cries for help when kidnapped. It helped that Om Shanti Om was Padukone’s first film, since the role required the actor to almost appear synthetic and detached from the world Om Prakash Makhija resides in. This is why every time Om and Shantipriya interact, they are always in a make-belief world — be it in Main Agar Kahoon, during the shooting of a dacoit scene or the fake scenario that Om conconts to convince Shantipriya that he is a big star in the South film industries.

The problem with Om Shanti Om is not that it doesn’t recognise the innate imbalance of the industry. Om is not just a desperate fan, he is also an artiste who is yet to get his due in films. His friend Pappu (a brilliant Shreyas Talpade) suggests he change his surname to something more commercially viable like a Kapoor. Only then can his career truly skyrocket

Yet, the reincarnation not only makes Om a veritable match for the film’s antagonist Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal), it does so by upgrading Om’s socio-economic status. Om Prakash Makhija is reborn as Om Kapoor, the son of a superstar, an entitled brat with every amenity at his disposal. Heck, his surname also lends him the life of fame and popularity he always craved for as a junior artiste. The only mark of previous life is a tattoo that is conveniently covered by the cuffs of his silk shirts and the lavish excesses of his cushy life. Similarly, that Shantipriya feels the need to get married after learning about her pregnancy is reflective of the era that dismissed its heroines as disposable props after their marriage. However, the film steers away from posing any commentary on the prevalent regressive mores of the industry. In one fell swoop, Shantipriya's plight to reduced to the now iconic phrase," ek chutki sindoor."

There is no denying that Om Shanti Om was cheeky in its outlandishness. This is especially evident in the second act, where SRK plays ‘Mohabbat Man’, a superhero whose superpower is protecting his paramours from dangerous situations; or perhaps a grease-painted man who gyrates around to the tune of Dard E Disco in the film where he plays a cripple. Actors like Akshay Kumar and Abhishek Bacchan play versions of their real-life persona — where one is a competitive money-spinner, and the other regurgitates the same cop role film after film — to hilarious effect. But the self-awareness is selective, since the film also hammers home that actors are made either through nepotism or desirability. Hence, while the film acknowledges that Sandy, the 21st century lookalike of Shantipriya, isn’t a professional actress, she is still cast for the part.

Om Shanti Om occasionally tips its hat to the Hindi film industry. The parade of stars who grace the film — from yesteryear artistes Dharmendra and Bindu, to contemporary megastars like Salman Khan and Kajol — is at once a tribute to the legacy of the industry and a reminder that Om Shanti Om in nothing but fan-service with whistle and clap inducing moments, cameos and dialogues. Beyond that though, Om Shanti Om fails to be as incisive or insightful as Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance. As the film completes 14 years of release, it perhaps warrants a repeat watch, just for its ability to make the audience suspend their disbelief for two hours. In case one wants a ringside view of the movie industry, perhaps Om Shanti Om will only fare as a 70-mm sized disappointment.