'Om Shanti Om': When Farah had 'enough' of SRK-Shreyas's improvisations
What's the story
The timeless camaraderie of Shah Rukh Khan and Shreyas Talpade in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om remains unforgettable.
Amid the film's many highlights, the heartfelt and humorous exchanges between Om and his ever-loyal Pappu stood out, effortlessly stealing the show.
Talpade recently revealed that their on-screen magic was partly due to extensive improvisation, much to the chagrin of Farah, who found their spontaneous creativity both delightful and annoying!
Improvisations
'From day one, I was very nervous...working with Shah Rukh'
Talpade—who was cast as Pappu after Farah admired his performance in the 2006 film Dor—confessed to Lehren about his initial nervousness working with SRK.
He stated, "From day one, I was very nervous, you know, working with Shah and how is he going to feel because I come from a school where we improvise a lot."
"So, I was thinking of quite a few things to improvise, but I said I don't know how Shah is going to react."
Creative collaboration
Much to Talpade's surprise, SRK helped in improvisations
Despite his initial apprehension, Talpade decided to share his improvisation ideas with the Jawan actor.
The actor revealed, "I spoke with him and he was so happy with the whole thing."
He further added that Khan, known for his wit, contributed even more to their creative process.
"And then, of course, he is so witty himself, he came up with 10 things," Talpade detailed.
Director's intervention
However, someone was irked by Talpade and SRK!
The constant improvisations by Talpade and Khan eventually led to Farah's annoyance.
Talpade revealed that the director had to step in during one of their scenes.
He shared, "So, through the day, we kept improvising and, you know, playing around, and that chemistry started building to the point where I remember in the evening there's one scene that we were shooting and Farah finally came, and said, 'Enough, enough of improvisations, just say whatever is written in the damn script.'"
About the film
Meanwhile, here's more about the film
Om Shanti Om, which marked Deepika Padukone's Bollywood debut, was made on a reported budget of around ₹40 crore.
Against this budget, the film went on to gross over ₹150 crore. As the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2007, it also won a National Award.
The romantic drama featured Arjun Rampal in a pivotal role. You can revisit the film on Netflix.