"Shah Rukh Khan is cool & I love him" - Shakira

Famed director Farah Khan's latest film 'Om Shanti Om' starring Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be released from November 8 at Majestic Cinema, Colombo.

Based on reincarnation the story starts in 1977: a junior artiste Om Prakash Makhija (Shahrukh Khan) falls for Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone) an actress famed for her beauty.

Shooting of the film began in January 2007 at various locations in India. Over 30 of Bollywood's hottest stars like Karisma Kapoor, Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra, Shilpa Shetty, Tabu, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Urmila Matondkar, Rekha, Vidya Balan, Shabana Azmi and Juhi Chawla, are putting in guest appearances for a special song in the film.

The film was supposed to feature a dance scene of two-time Grammy Award-winning Colombian pop singer-songwriter Shakira which did not materialise due to date issues.

Director Farah had choreographed Shakira's 2006 MTV Music Video Awards performance and knew that she was a huge Bollywood fan.

The Latin Sensation who was in India before the film was shot said that there were many proposals for movies. "I don't know if it will work out, but it feels good to be approached by Bollywood," she had said. Speaking on Shah Rukh Khan she said, "Shah Rukh Khan is cool; I love him and have seen one of his movies."

The story, which spans several decades, is set in Bollywood of the 70s and focuses on Om (SRK) a humble junior artiste who falls in love with a Superstar(Deepika Padukone) but meets with an untimely demise shortly thereafter. He is, however, immediately reincarnated.

The story then moves to the present times and dwells on how Om, haunted by the memories of his past life and love, attempts to solve the mystery of his death and reunite with the love of his past life, a task complicated by the fact that his love, now much older than him, does not believe he is her lost love.

Om Shanti Om is all set to create another record of sorts by going in for an unheard of 2000 print (worldwide) release. This is the highest number of prints (including digital) for any Indian movie till date. The film's score and soundtrack are composed by the musical duo, Vishal-Shekhar with lyrics by renowned lyricist, Javed Akhtar while the composer was A.R.Rahman.

(Edited)
The Sunday Times - Sri Lanka