Om Shanti Om is as old as my kids now, says Farah Khan

Farah Khan directed Om Shanti Om (OSO), which released in 2007. In July this year, Farah was in Japan to attend the premiere of the Japanese musical adaptation of her 2007 release by the same name. The film also marked the debut of Deepika Padukone in Bollywood and she was paired alongside Shah Rukh Khan in this quintessential, larger than life commercial potboiler – a genre Farah thinks doesn’t get its due.

“To make a big commercial movie that does well and is universally loved by everybody and also survives the test of time is not easy. People look down on commercial blockbusters when in fact, it is easy to make a small film that pleases four critics. It is difficult to please a million people. That attitude needs to change – that if it’s entertaining and fun and bigthen it is not any good. That can’t be,” she says.

Talking about her film, she reminisces, “OSO was a good commercial movie. It had the scale, it was a period film and it had fabulous actors. These are the kind of films I love making. I haven’t sold my soul to make them because this is my soul. I am just being true to myself,” she says.

While there are lots of anecdotes that she clearly remembers, she narrates a memorable one. “I remember very clearly when we shot Deepika’s first shot. Her first dialogue in Bollywood was “Kutte kamine, bhagwan ke liye mujhe chhod de.” I had told her that one day when she becomes a big star, she would remember that this was the first line she ever spoke (laughs).”

While the film was being shot, Farah was pregnant and when the film was premiering across the world, she couldn’t attend any of them as she was in her final trimester. “Om Shanti Om is as old as my kids now. I was pregnant when I was doing the second schedule for the film so the film is about four months older than my kids.”

She also reveals her plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the film. “I was planning to have a reunion dinner but Shah Rukh is not available that day as he is shooting all night. So when he is free, I will get everyone together because we cannot have this without him. And I will make sure my daughters (Anya and Diva) watch the film this time.”