25 years of gangster film ‘Om’

Released in 1995, the Upendra-directed Shivarajkumar-Prema film set the box office on fire and changed the way crime stories were told on screen

Kannada film ‘Om’, which hit the screens 25 years ago, ran for 200 days, and was subsequently re-released in the theatres a record 550 times. It was remade in Hindi,Tamil and Telugu.

Inspired by a real-life story, Upendra started writing the story of ‘Om’ in 1980. It took full shape in the early ‘90s. It starred Shivarajkumar and Prema, and told the story of how a studious boy’s obsessive love leads him into the world of crime.

“What happened in the life of a friend is what prompted me to write the story. I got an insight into the life of a don’s life through this friend,” recalls Upendra in an interview with ‘Showtime.’

He subsequently narrated the story to Dr Rajkumar. “I was apprehensive he might not accept the script. But he did. We got Shivarajkumar to play Sathya and it was produced under their family banner Poornima Enterprises,” says Upendra.

Hamsalekha composed the music and B C Gowrishankar was the director of photography.

“Shivarajkumar became the character and was open to trying out new things. He encouraged us a lot. He moulded into the character without much trouble,” says Upendra.

Real-life gangsters appeared in cameo roles in the film. “Getting their dates was tough and convincing them was a task altogether. Somehow, everything fell into place,” says Upendra.

Unique narrative

Actor Shivarajkumar says ‘Om’ was a big film for him. “I was thrilled when I heard the script. It stood out for its unique narration and promised to usher in a new style of filmmaking. I was eager to be a part of it. Working with real-life gangsters was a bit scary at first. But I realised they were committed to the film,” Shivarajkumar told Showtime.

‘Om’ set the pace for films about street crime. Such cult films don’t happen all the time. It became the talking point across the country. This is why it is still talked about even 25 years after it was made, he says.

Upendra had departed from the usual storytelling style. “The script had lots of twists and turns. The flashback narrated by a third person made it interesting. It was unheard of in those days,” he recalls.

Shivarajkumar and Upendra later worked together in ‘Preethse’ and ‘Lava Kusha’. “We want to work together again,” he says.

It is Upendra’s passion towards his craft that makes him a much sought-after director, says Shivarajkumar.

“When Upendra narrates a script, you notice that he has a writer, actor and a musician in him. He first becomes an actor and later a director. I could see all these roles come alive when he narrated the story to me,” says Shivarajkumar.

He also feels the characters Upendra writes have an organic feel. “You didn’t have to create something or make any extra effort to be that character. You are drawn to it and start to behave every bit like the character. Upendra’s preparation and foresight is admirable,” says Shivarajkumar.

‘It is inventive and disturbing’
Well-known film critic M K Raghavendra says ‘Om’ offered the middle class a peek into the murky world of gangsters

Upendra’s ‘Om’ formula lasted at least 15 years. It was one of the first films about underworld characters. It made actual gangsters (most of them subsequently murdered) appear as themselves and also presented their human side.

The sight of actual murderers is immensely attractive to peace-loving people. The film set off a whole new genre of films about urban gangsters, and included hits like ‘Jogi’ and ‘Duniya’.

‘Om’ is about a studious Brahmin youth who becomes a gangster because of what happens in his love life. The films that followed were about migrants to Bengaluru from other parts of Karnataka. They become gangsters when they face injustice.

‘Om’ is cruder than subsequent films and often difficult to accept, especially on account of its treatment of women, but it is more inventive.

Upendra is provocative and inventive but his films are disturbing, with the aggression of toilet graffiti. His films H2O and Upendra are also like that, but he has a satirical edge that is unmissable.

‘Om’ is sometimes sophisticated in its humour and sometimes unbearable for its rawness. He shows a woman grossly abused and then puts in a flashback to say that the woman deserved the ill-treatment or was complicit in it. That is a clever way of getting away with transgression. He shows all kinds of things and then puts in a sanctimonious moral resolution, negating everything he has shown.

I would associate the multiple releases of ‘Om’ more with the gangsters, subsequently liquidated, and less with the plot. Since most of are no more, the film is a record of them alive, probably the only accessible footage of what they were like. I would say that the film is close to Kannada TV shows like Crime Diary and Crime Story, which allow middle-class voyeuristic peeks into a life in the same milieu that cannot be theirs.