Om Shanti Om

An Indian film set in two periods. The first part is in the 1970s. Om works as an extra on film sets. He runs in crowd scenes, stands in the background and believes he will be a star one day. He is in love from a distance with Shantipriya, a famous actress of the time. One night a fire breaks out on a set and it ends Om's life. The second part is thirty years later. Om has been born again; this time he is the son of a large producer and a star from birth. But he begins to remember things from his old life. From there the film becomes a narrative of settling accounts. Om makes a plan to bring out what happened, and the plan proceeds in the form of a film shoot. The most entertaining thing about it is its references to Indian cinema: the posters of the 1970s, the arrangement of a set, the methods of shooting and the acting style of the period are all imitated. In one song a great number of well known actors appear briefly. Shah Rukh Khan plays Om and Deepika Padukone plays Shantipriya; it is her first large film. Arjun Rampal and Shreyas Talpade are in the cast. Farah Khan directed. It was among the most watched Indian films of its year. Exactly right for anyone who likes Indian cinema and films about cinema. For a viewer looking for realism, the film is built entirely on exaggeration and does not hide it.