Om, stylized as ॐ, is a 1995 Indian Kannada-language action crime film written and directed by Upendra.

The film stars Shiva Rajkumar and Prema with Srishanthi, G. V. Shivanand, Sadhu Kokila in supporting roles with real-life gangsters - Bekkina Kannu Rajendra, Tanveer, Korangu Krishna and Jedaralli Krishnappa - portraying the role of gangsters in a small but important portion of the movie.

It remains a cult classic film in Kannada cinema[9] with a dedicated fan following among audience owing to its re-release every two weeks.

[12] On the occasion of completion of 25 years, Upendra had revealed that the core plot of the movie was based on a real-life person - Purshi who was his brother's friend.

[16] Shashi is a journalist who interviews underworld gangsters and provides a book titled ॐ, which is written by her and request them to read.

In the book, Shashi, who was interviewing about the Bangalore Underworld learns about a gangster named Satyamurthy "Satya" Shastri, who has been forcing a college student named Madhuri "Madhu" to love him by day, but is also involved in oil smuggling activities by Oil Raja at night.

Satya stabs Kutty, but manages to survive despite being severely injured and also kills Oil Raja at his mansion, where his wife Maria becomes the eyewitness.

Madhu testifies that Satya hacked the brothers for personal vengeance where he is tortured in police custody, but is granted bail by Ponna's boss Jayaraj.

At the hospital, Satya tells the gangsters to finish him, and he also promises Madhu that he will lead a life free from the underworld.

After making the promise, Satya's leg is chopped and Madhu's face is half-burnt by the acid thrown by one of the goons.

It is revealed that Shashi brought them to Satya, who is a changed man, running a dhaba and leading a happy life with Madhu and his children.

[18] He began working as a dialogue writer and songwriter in Kannada cinema during the time, and the first half of the 1990s saw him direct two films, Tharle Nan Maga (1992) and Shhh!

Alongside, he developed the storyline and wrote a screenplay with the plot taking sequences of flashback, which he said "took another form" at the end of completion.

[17] Having given the film a working title as Satya, Upendra initially decided to cast Kumar Govind as the eponymous lead, who he had previously collaborated with, in Shhh!.

Impressed by the story narrated by Upendra in a span of ten minutes using newspaper cuttings of oil mafia to elaborate on the subject, Rajkumar gave the go-ahead and Shiva was signed as the male lead.

Speaking on casting him, Upendra said he was drawn by Shiva's "powerful brownish-shaded eyes" and wanted to "make full use of it".

[22] B. C. Gowrishankar who handled cinematography used a warm, yellow tone and employed filters throughout the film to diffuse the violence and the colour of the blood.

H. D. Kumaraswamy bought the rights to distribute the film for the Mysore area and made a small fortune.

[37][38][23] Rediff in its review of Darshan starrer Shastri (2005) called it "poor imitation of the trendsetting Kannada film, Om".

[39] Murali Mohan who worked as an assistant in Om made his directorial debut with Santha (2007) which had a similar plot.