Om - The Beginning

‘Om’ was one film I was waiting to watch from a long time, since I had not watched the movie when it first got released. Though released 13 years ago in 1995, video and TV rights of the movie are still with movie makers. So you get to watch the movie only when it is showed in some theatre in Bangalore. I went to watch this movie on thursday in Pramod talkies, Vijayanagar. In the last 13 years it has been re-released 5 times and each time the response had been tremendous and critics call it a master piece. It is the film which gave new image to Kannada hero, Shivaraj Kumar and super star status to director Upendra. It also marked the emergence of Prema, who after this venture went on to become No.1 heroine in the Kannada film industry. Om literally was the beginning of an era. It was probably the first film in India to be based on underworld dons. After this only came the bollywood version of gangster movies like Satya, Company, Vaastav. The film was remade in all south Indian languages and also in Hindi as ‘Arjun Pandit’ with Sunny Deol taking up the lead role.

Picture Source - kannadaaudio.com

Plot: Movie begins with a journalist interviewing and publishing the stories of Bangalore gangsters presenting the circumstances which lead them to become so. ‘Om’, is a book which she authored and she gives it to three gangsters which tells the story of a gangster - Satya alias Satyamurthy(Shivaraj Kumar), coming from a poor family, is a soft spoken guy studying in a college. He is made fun of in the college and is a subject of constant humiliation. Madhuri(Prema) is being woed by a man whose brother is a gangster. Madhuri does not care and makes Satya fall in love with her. Unable to bear this, the man brings his brother to settle score with Satya. Madhuri turns to Satya, provokes him to take on the gangster. Satya in rage beats up the gang and Madhuri makes sure that Satya gets arrested by the police. Satya gets released and comes to know that Madhuri is taking revenge on him – circumstances had lead Satya to lie in the court to save his family, as result of which Madhuri’s brother gets convicted and commits suicide. Satya is not accepted in his house as well and the only door open to him is to join the underworld. But he still loves Madhuri even though she does not love him. In the latter part, Madhuri is faced with similar situation as of Satya and realizes her mistake and wants Satya to come out of underworld. But the underworld who Satya is a part refuses to leave him. Well that was story being read by three gangsters who realize that the last pages of the book 'Om' are missing and eager to know what happened to Satya in the end and meet the author. The journalist takes them to Satya, who had left underworld is now handicapped and runs a small hotel and is happy in his life. Film ends saying how one can never be happy as a gangster and the three gangsters promise to put down their arms as well. Songs: Songs are important ingredients of any film to become hit and Om had it in plenty, thanks to the lyrics by Upendra and music by Hamsalekha. If ‘Om brahmaananda omkaara’, ‘O Gulaabiye’, ‘Collegeu Kumaru’ became hit among the masses, ‘Mehabooba’ was for the front rows crowd. Dr.Rajkumar had lended his voice to songs ‘Om brahmaananda omkaara’ and ‘O Gulaabiye’, which even today sung in orchestras in Bangalore. To get the full lyrics of the all the all songs of Om click here. To listen to the songs of ‘Om’ click here(kannadaaudio.com).

Highlights: ‘Om’ can be easily judged as one of the best performances by Shivaraj Kumar. He had to don both roles – first as soft spoken guy and then as hard talking gangster. Dialogues are another factor which made film a hit. To hear the complete story of film ‘Om’ click this link of kannadaaudio.com. Another aspect which became talk of the town was its awesome screenplay. Of course, how one can forget the direction by Upendra? Upendra had presented the human side of gangsters and had sent a message in the movie.After ‘Om’, he directed ‘A’ and ‘Upendra’ and then put an end to his directorial ventures. Kannada film fans would like to see him wear the director’s cap soon. Uppi, are you listening?

Aftermath: Gangster movie trend which started with ‘Om’ still continues in Sandalwood. Numerous movies have come after ‘Om’ based on gangster theme, no movie tasted success as ‘Om’ did. The film which come close to ‘Om’ in success may be Shivaraj Kumar starrer, Prem directed ‘Jogi’. Since ‘Om’ was fresh in its theme it become a huge hit but the same theme is being overused and now every other hero introduced in Gandhinagar holds a macchu in his hand and most producers place their buck on gangster movies to make quick profit. This also had made Kannada film audience stop coming to theatres. But now with films like ‘Mungaaru Male’, ‘Gaalipata’, ‘Cyanide’, ‘Milana’ this has changed a bit. I wish that this machchu or gangster era in Gandhinagar would end soon.

Film Info :
Name : Om
Star cast : Shivaraj Kumar, Prema, Harish Rai, Shree Raksha

Director : Upendra
Music Director : Hamsalekha
Duration : About 2 hours and 30 minutes
First Release Year : 1995

Related Links:

Listen to Om Kannada Film Songs

Listen to Om Kannada Film Story

Om Kannada Film Song Lyrics