Om Shanti Om :: Trivia

Farah Khan wanted singer Shakira to make a special appearance in this film by performing a song. Farah choreographed

Shakira's 2006 MTV Music Video Awards performance and knew that she was a huge Bollywood fan. Due to scheduling, Shakira was not able to participate in the film.

Farah Khan was originally going to make a film called "Happy New Year." The film was to be a romantic comedy set at New Year's Eve and would star Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Raveena Tandon, Amitabh Bachchan, Manisha Koirala, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan and Priyanka Chopra. However, due to the actors' scheduling conflicts, she scrapped the idea and chose another concept based on/inspired from various 1970s films.

Composer A.R. Rahman was meant to compose the songs for this film, but had to decline due to other commitments.

The title of the film is taken from a 1970s-style disco song in Subhash Ghai's Karz (1980). Ghai himself makes an appearance in this film.

Shahrukh Khan's character Om Prakash Makhija is named after 1970s actor Om Prakash.

Shanti's film is called "Dreamy Girl," after Dream Girl (1977), the 1970s hit that took Hema Malini to super-stardom (and also landed her with her iconic nickname of Dream Girl).

The yesteryear cars used in the film originally belonged to Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini.

The song "Dard-E-Disco" was originally to be shot with only Shakira, but her upcoming concert tours rendered her unavailable. Then Farah Khan recalled a promise Shahrukh Khan made to her when shooting the song "Jiye Jale" in Dil Se.. (1998): that if he would show his abs for another film, it would be for a film she was directing. She called upon his promise, and he shot for the song.

It was director Farah Khan's desire to bring Sanjay Dutt, Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan together on screen for the first time ever. However, Aamir Khan was unable to shoot for the film, since he was busy shooting his film Taare Zameen Par (2007).

Dev Anand was approached to make an appearance in the film, but he made it clear that he does not believe in blink-and-miss special appearances.

Vishal-Shekhar have done the music for Om Shanti Om. The grapevine has it that Farah had wanted A R Rahman to score the music, but when the latter asked for a 33 per cent share in the profits, she settled for Vishal-Shekhar.

Om Shanti Om is similar to the Hollywood film Chances Are, where the leading man is reborn. He goes in search of his ladylove, who has grown old, and already forgotten about her past.

Om Shanti Om will release on the same day as Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya: November 9. There were rumours that Bhansali met Shah Rukh Khan and requested him to change the release date of Om Shanti Om, but Farah was adamant on the date.

Shreyas Talpade was initially roped in to do a small part in the film. But as the film shooting progressed, Shah Rukh Khan and Shreyas improvised with their dialogues. As a result Shreyas's role got expanded.

Farah is known for her temper on the sets. But those who work with her say she scolds only when one commits mistakes. Otherwise, she is very sweet. She treats all her actors in the same manner. Even her favourite actor Shah Rukh Khan got a scolding from her!

Model Yuvika Chaudhary has a cameo in the movie (she plays an actress). Yuvika has done many

commercials like Ponds, Rupa with Sanjay Dutt, Innova with Aamir Khan, Kotex and many more. But it was her Thumbs Ups ad with Kunal Kapoor that got Farah's eye. She was also a contestant in Zee Cinestar Ki Khoj and has starred in the serial Astitva Ek Prem Kahani.

At one time, Shah Rukh Khan was reportedly upset with Farah when the trailers of Om Shanti Om were not shown during the screening of her brother's (Sajid Khan) film Heyy Babyy. It was also rumoured that her husband Shirish Kunder was upset with Shah Rukh when the star turned down a role in his next directorial Joker. The role then went to Akshay Kumar.