Shivarajkumar Was Not First Choice For Upendra's Om?

Om is a cult movie in Kannada cinema. The movie, directed by Real Star Upendra was made on a budget of Rs 70 lakhs. The movie was rereleased around 650 times. And in the year 2015 Om was re-released in 100 theatres. So the Sandalwood movie created a lot of records back then.

Based on the underworld mafia subject, Om was not meant to be a feature film. We hear that Uppi drew inspiration from the Telugu movie Siva which was a cult hit. However, the story of Om had to be completely changed to avoid plagiarism charges. So Om became a fresh script in itself.

The movie starred Shivarajkumar and Prema in lead roles. The songs were a super hit. On the other hand, the buzz is that the very first song marking the entry of Shivanna in the movie Hey Dinakara did not exist in the original script. However, Upendra is said to have added it at the behest of Shivarajkumar's father late actor Dr Rajkumar.

And guess what? Shivanna was not the first choice to play the lead in Upendra's Om. If a report doing the rounds is anything to go by, then Upendra had Kumar Govind (of Shh fame) in mind when he wrote the script. However, character artiste Honnavalli Krishna is said to have taken Uppi to Dr Rajkumar's house for script narration. So when Annavru loved the script and immediately gave an advance of Rs 5000 to the upcoming director, Uppi's joy knew no bounds.

And the prospect of directing an actor like Shivanna who he idolised was a dream come true for Upendra. So that's how Shivanna landed the role that was written for Kumar Govind. However, those who have watched the movie will agree that nobody could have pulled off the role like the hattrick hero. Upendra's Om was a blockbuster and set a new benchmark for Kannada filmmakers.