It’s been 10 years since the release of Om Shanti Om and director Farah Khan took a trip down the memory lane and opened up about all things that happened while making the film and a whole lot of other interesting facts in an interview with journalist Anupama Chopra.
Farah Khan said that she first noted the story for Om Shanti Om in a diary when she was handling the choreography for Bombay Dreams, a musical about a boy from the slums becoming a superstar.
Deepika’s character, Shanti Priya, was modelled on Hema Malini in the 1970s. Farah recalls that Deepika’s screen test was terrible to the point that they thought her diction was so bad that they had to turn the sound off. But she was so taken by Deepika’s beauty that she decided to cast her anyway and dub her sound in selected scenes. They even held auditions for the role of Deepika’s voice because they didn’t want a familiar voice for a new face.
Farah was pregnant at the time of the shooting of that film and when the iconic “Dard-E-Disco” was being shot, she would throw up every time Shah Rukh Khan took his shirt off for the song. However, she clarified that that was her pregnancy sickness and not her reaction to Shah Rukh Khan.
Arjun Rampal initially refused the film because he thought that his character was “too evil”. However, Farah Khan and Shah Rukh both cornered him in a bathroom at Shah Rukh’s New Year’s Eve party to convince him to be a part of the movie.
Farah fondly remembered that the song “Deewangi Deewangi” featured a total of 31 Bollywood stars and there were many more, including Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Saira Banu and Aamir Khan, who were asked to be part of the song but they could not make it.
The song was shot over six days, wherein six people would come at a time to shoot their parts and leave.
All the actresses who featured in the song were allowed to keep their Manish Malhotra outfits from the shoot. And every celeb who took their time out for the song was given a hamper with many gifts, including a Blackberry phone and a Tag Heuer watch.
Farah also added that several scenes were shot spontaneously without a script. For example, one of the scenes was shot during the Filmfare Awards which were taking place that year.
Last but not the least, here are some behind the scenes from the film which Farah shared on her social media.
The 1 that started it all! Thank u @iamsrk 4 taking off ur shirt n making millions happy!!?#10YearsOfOSO pic.twitter.com/lZXAemAGlM
— Farah Khan (@TheFarahKhan) November 9, 2017
Another rare pic of me n @rampalarjun trying out his “ old look”.. looks handsome either ways?#10yearsofOSO pic.twitter.com/xgGio1SwN4
— Farah Khan (@TheFarahKhan) November 9, 2017
Last of the throwback pics.thank u @karanjohar @ManishMalhotra @KirronKherBJP Manikandan,sabu cyril n Malaika.”mohabbat man 2 the rescue! pic.twitter.com/dvuB5Lv2VM
— Farah Khan (@TheFarahKhan) November 9, 2017
#10yearsofOSO.. going to post sm serious throwback pics.. thank u for the lov n sorry in advance
A post shared by Farah Khan Kunder (@farahkhankunder) on Nov 8, 2017 at 9:42pm PST