Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer Om Shanti Om was the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2007 and became immortal in the hearts and minds of all cinema lovers. In a recent interview with Sidharth Kannan, Shreyas Talpade who played SRK’s friend in the movie shared how the duo brainstormed a promotional strategy for the movie.
Shreyas revealed that despite being told to take up only lead roles, he agreed to sign Om Shanti Om only because he wished to work with Shah Rukh Khan and director Farah Khan.
When Shah Rukh Khan and Shreyas Talpade sat in a bathroom to brainstorm Om Shanti Om’s promotional strategy
The Poster Boys actor said that SRK wanted the movie to be the biggest movie of the year and wanted to do anything for it. Every now and then, the Don actor used to come up with some promotional ideas at odd hours including once when he thought of something just before the movie’s London premiere.
Shreyas detailed, “The way he promoted the movie was a huge learning experience for me. We were sitting in a washroom together in a London hotel room. And the premiere was in the evening. And Shah Rukh was still coming up with ideas. He said, ‘You and I will dance on the red carpet and attract as many people as possible’.”
Talpade said that Khan never takes his stardom for granted and despite knowing that people will surely show up for his premiere, he still wanted to do anything and everything till the last second so that he could attract as many people as he could. The 48-year-old said, “Everything that he did during the course of those promotions was phenomenal. He was sitting on the pot, I was sitting on the tub. We were waiting for Deepika’s interview to get over.”
When Shah Rukh Khan chose to play his day himself rather than leaving it to his PR
In the same interview, Shreyas shared that just a night before the premiere night, SRK knocked on his hotel room. While the former was lost wondering why he was here, Khan told him, “Baahar hi khade rakhega (Won’t you invite me inside)?”.
Revealing that SRK then discussed the entire next day with him, Shreyas shared, “He had the entire chart, from when we’d have breakfast to when we’d leave for the press conference. Shah Rukh Khan was doing that at 11 in the night for his film, in London. Someone from his PR team could’ve explained this, but he did it himself.”
Shreyas said that Shah Rukh Khan’s best thing is that he isn’t an insecure actor nor does he mind giving good punches to his co-stars. Talpade added, “He knows who he is, and what he is capable of. He doesn’t care if you steal the limelight from him, or land a few extra punches.”
Wondering what Shah Rukh told Shreyas after the first day of Om Shanti Om’s shoot? He told Talpade, “I had a lot of fun after a long time. I went home and told Gauri how much fun I had with you”.
For the unversed, Om Shanti Om which was made on a mere budget of Rs 40 crores had grossed over Rs 150 crore globally. This masala movie also starred Kirron Kher and Arjun Rampal in pivotal roles.
