Upala KBR (DNA; May 11, 2017)

Farah Khan will be flying to Japan in July to celebrate with the all-female musical theater troupe, Takarazuka Revue (established in 1913) in Japan as they perform to the Japanese stage version of Om Shanti Om (Oomu Shanti Oomu — Koisuru Rinne). The troupe is known for Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals, and stories adapted from Japanese folktales.

Prakash Makhija/Om Kapoor (Shah Rukh Khan) is played by Kurenai Yuzuro, while Shantipriya/Sandhya is (Deepika Padukone) played by Kisaki Airi and Mukesh ‘Mike’ Mehra (Arjun Rampal) have been played by Rei Makoto. The Japanese version of Om Shanti Om, directed by Koyanagi Naoko has earlier been shown from January 13-15 this year at the Tokyo International Forum.

OSO had released in Japan in 2012 with Japanese subtitles and is still running there in select theatres. Takarazuka Revue bought the rights of OSO from Red Chillies and converted the film into a musical play in Japan.

Says Farah, “They invited me to come for the opening night and speak to the audience on July 22. They came to India and jammed with me. They wanted to know where the costumes were made, so I took them to meet the designers. They bought a lot of fabric. It will be nice to see how they adapt the film into a musical play. OSO has transcended cultural barriers and has become international today. I never realised that the Japanese would love it so much.”