Did you know that one of Bollywood’s marketing revolutions began with Om Shanti Om? Long before social media became the go-to platform for film promotions, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone’s 2007 blockbuster pioneered an aggressive television marketing campaign that went on to change the industry’s promotional playbook.
First Bollywood movie to do promotions on television
In her recent cooking vlog with Shreyas Talpade, Farah Khan revealed that Om Shanti Om was the first Bollywood movie to do promotions on television. Shreyas added, “Om Shanti Om was a textbook in marketing and PR.”
Farah said, “For the first time a Bollywood movie was promoted on television shows. We did the music launch… we did in Saregama because it was the number 1 show. Then Deepika and I went on Nach Baliye, Dance India Dance, and we also did a fashion show at Shopper’s Stop. I was pregnant at that time, and I used to lie to my doctor that I was lying in bed, and he would say I can see you on TV.”
About Om Shanti Om
Helmed by Farah and backed by Red Chillies Entertainment, Om Shanti Om is a romantic fantasy, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone in double roles, Arjun Rampal, Shreyas Talpade, and Kirron Kher. Spanning four odd decades, the story follows Om Prakash Makhija, an obscure 1970s actor in love with female superstar Shanti, who dies in a suspicious on-set fire that kills Shanti and is reincarnated 30 years later as the superstar Om Kapoor, determined to punish the person who ignited the blaze with the help of Shanti’s lookalike.
Produced on a budget of ₹40 crore, Om Shanti Om emerged as the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2007, collecting ₹78.25 crore net in India and ₹148.20 crore worldwide. The film’s soundtrack, featuring songs like Ajab Si, Dard-e-Disco and the title track, became hugely popular, while its star-studded “Deewangi Deewangi” song remains iconic. The film marked Deepika’s grand Bollywood debut, and she has now become one of the leading actors in Bollywood.
Apart from Om Shanti Om, Farah Khan and Shah Rukh have also given blockbusters like Main Hoon Na and Happy New Year together. Farah has now announced that she will be doing another movie with Shah Rukh. In one of her vlogs, the filmmaker confirmed that she will be starting her next directorial by the end of this year and revealed that she would do a film only with Shah Rukh Khan and no one else.