Top 100 Bollywood Movies Of All Time: No.28 - 6 Times Farah Khan's "Om Shanti Om" Pays Tribute To Hindi Cinema

Being one of the most successful films of Farah Khan, Om Shanti Om impressively recreated Bollywood's most iconic period. The romantic melodrama also marked the grand debut of Deepika Padukone on the silver screen and let her charm our socks off.

12 years after the release, Om Shanti Om has stood the test of time by ranking 28th out of Top 100 Bollywood Movies Of All Time and here are what the film has pay homage to Hindi cinema. 

The Reincarnation Plot

Using reincarnation as its main plot, the Shah Rukh Khan - Deepika Padukone starrer is strongly related to several Bollywood classics including Bimal Roy’s Madhumati (1958), Shakti Samanta’s Mehbooba (1976), and Subhash Ghai’s Karz (1980). The movie also mentioned Karz in the climax. 

Ode to Mother India

Sunil Dutt got married to Nargis after saving her from a fire on the set of Mother India. Om Shanti Om was inspired by the story as Deepika’s character was also killed in a fire and Om (Shah Rukh Khan) risked his life to rescue her.

The Manmohan Desai Touch

While the king of commercial Hindi cinema Manmohan Desai claimed that he never believed in logic, Om Shanti Om shared the same thought with a wheelchair hero who is still able to groove to disco songs.

The Dreamy Girl

It was the old world charm inside Deepika that cast a spell on Farah Khan and made her the female lead of the film. Her character was introduced as Dreamy Girl to pay tribute to Hema Malini, the veteran actress who was titled ‘the Dream Girl of Hindi cinema’ in the 1970s.

Tiger Fight

Farah Khan revealed in an interview that the fake fight scene featuring Shah Rukh Khan fighting a stuffed tiger was inspired by a similar scene in the film Tarzan 303 (1970) which starred freestyle wrestler Chandgi Ram in the lead role.

The Multi-starrer Song

As Om Shanti Om was produced under the banner of Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, the actor-producer strike a chord with the audience by roping 31 stars for the song Deewangi Deewangi. In fact, Manmohan Desai did a similar thing to his film Naseeb (1981) with a star-studded song John Johnny Janardan.

With the above significant reasons, there is no doubt that Om Shanti Om deserves to be one of the Top 100 Bollywood Movies Of All Time which not only stands out as an independent magnum opus but also a remarkable to classics Hindi movies.