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Videos of fans dancing to songs from Shah Rukh Khan’s 18-year-old film Om Shanti Om during its re-release have been going viral. While audiences are celebrating the nostalgia, few remember that director Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan pulled off an almost impossible feat back in 2007 — getting 31 Bollywood actors to feature in the film’s iconic song “Deewangi Deewangi”. In an old interaction, Farah shared details of how she and her team managed to convince so many stars to appear in the song — a process that involved personal visits and a Rs 1 lakh gift hamper for each celebrity.
Speaking to Film Companion, Farah recalled, “We had more to come but some didn’t land up. Fardeen Khan got arrested at Dubai airport when he was coming to shoot for us. Aamir Khan refused to come. Dev Anand Sahab told me ‘I don’t do cameos’ and hats off to him, he doesn’t do cameos.”
She continued, “Shah Rukh was responsible to get two people – Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu. I am still waiting for them to come. He told me that he would go to their house to pick them up. I waited for 5–6 days, but I couldn’t extend the set anymore.”
While Shah Rukh Khan recreated something similar recently in his son Aryan Khan’s debut show The B**ds of Bollywood, featuring several Bollywood stars in cameos, the show still couldn’t recreate the same magic that Om Shanti Om’s “Deewangi” song had. Reflecting on that, Farah said, “That song was probably the last time the film industry seemed like one big happy family. I had divided six people per day, and people would just come, give their shot, and hang around on set to see others’ shots.”
Sharing a fun behind-the-scenes moment, she revealed, “The scene where Salman jumps during Dharamji’s shoot wasn’t planned at all. He had finished his shoot four hours ago and was standing behind the camera when we were taking Dharamji’s shot, and he just jumped in. Then Saif Ali Khan jumped too — all that was improv.”
Farah also explained the lengths they went to in order to get all the stars to agree. “It wasn’t just a phone call. I had to go and meet them. Manish Malhotra was a big help because all the heroines were happy that he was doing all the clothes, and they got to take them home.”
She added, “Along with this, Shah Rukh had given them all a very fancy gift hamper, which included a Tag Heuer watch, a BlackBerry mobile and other things. Everybody got a Rs 1 lakh ka hamper. So they got to take their clothes home, got a gift hamper, and Mickey Contractor did their makeup. They had a good time shooting the song. Shabana Azmi herself called me and said I am coming.”
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