Om Prakash Makhija is a Junior Artiste in Bollywood, who is infatuated with actress Shantipriya, and hopes to marry her someday. His hopes come to reality when he rescues her from a fire and they go on a date. Shortly thereafter he finds out that she is married to a film producer, Mukesh Mehra, and is expecting his child. He then watches in horror as Mukesh, after luring her in an abandoned studio, sets it afire. Om attempts to rescue her in vain, and he eventually is killed. 30 years later, Om is reborn as the only son of yesteryear Bollywood actor, Rajesh Kapoor, and is himself an actor. His memories start to return when he meets with his widowed mother, Bela, from his previous birth. He also meets with Mukesh and together they decide to make a movie 'Om Shanti Om'. Om then hires a look-alike of Shantipriya, and hopes to force a confession out of Mukesh - but things go awry and Om finds his life endangered once again.

Om Prakash is a junior artist and has dreams to become a hero overnight. Om's mother, Bela Makhija, inspires and encourages her son to become a success. He gets to meet Shanti Priya one day and finds out that she is very popular, after a few misunderstandings, Om finally falls in love with Shanti, but is unable to express it to her. He gets to attend her first film, Dreamy girl, by masquerading as the actor Manoj Kumar. He also saves her in a filming episode from an uncontrollable fire and both became good friends. Om asks her out on a date and she agrees. Om is ecstatic and plans a wonderful evening for her - using props and a film set and several backgrounds in a studio to woo her. And she finally attends but under the pretext of a friend. The following day, Om tries to talk to Shanti on the sets of a film but she looks very preoccupied. He follows her into a make up room,and overhears an argument with top producer Mukesh Mehra. He learns that she is married to him and is expecting his child. Om is shocked, and ends up leaving there, heartbroken. One night, Om notices Mukesh escorting Shanti to the set. He sees it catch fire and realizes that Shanti is trapped inside. Om trys to save Shanti, but is trapped and severely beaten by Mukesh's guard.