General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India (ओ डार्लिंग यह है इण्डिया)

Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India (ओ डार्लिंग यह है इण्डिया) is a 1995 Hindi-language satirical comedy directed by Ketan Mehta, in which a megalomaniacal gangster plots to kidnap the President of India, replace him with a lookalike, and sell the country at a public auction, while two strangers spend one night trying to stop him.¹^•² It stars Shah Rukh Khan as Hero and Deepa Sahi as Miss India, with Javed Jaffrey, Anupam Kher, and Amrish Puri in supporting roles.¹

Key fact	Detail
Release	11 August 1995, Hindi language, India¹
Director and writers	Directed by Ketan Mehta; story and dialogue by Ketan Mehta; screenplay by Deepa Sahi and Parvati Balagopalan³
Principal cast	Shah Rukh Khan (Hero), Deepa Sahi (Miss India), Javed Jaffrey (Prince), Anupam Kher (President of India / Nathuram), Amrish Puri (Don Quixote)⁴
Music	Ranjit Barot; lyrics by Ketan Mehta³
Production	Ketan Mehta Films Pvt. Ltd.³
Box office	India nett 17,775,000 rupees against a budget of 22,500,000 rupees; worldwide gross 32,160,000 rupees; classified a "Disaster" by Box Office India⁵
Audience rating	4.0/10 on IMDb from about 2,200 votes²

Spoilers

Plot

Don Quixote (Amrish Puri) is a gangster based in Mumbai whose dream is to take control of India and sell it at a well-publicized auction. To do this he recruits five men who all resemble the President of India and trains them to take over the office; he selects one, Nathuram, eliminates the other four, arranges the President's kidnapping, and installs Nathuram in his place, setting up an auction of India to the highest bidder.⁶

Into this conspiracy stumble the two leads. Hero (Shah Rukh Khan) is a penniless aspiring actor newly arrived in Mumbai; Miss India (Deepa Sahi) is the woman he meets and spends the night roaming the streets with.⁵ Each comes to know something about the other: Hero finds out that Miss India's father is an alcoholic hoping to push her into prostitution, and Miss India in turn learns that Hero suffers from a brain tumor.⁷ When the pair find out about Quixote's plan, they set out to save the President. Quixote's son Prince (Javed Jaffrey), who has set his sights on Miss India, attacks them; the two escape with his parachute and Prince falls to his death.⁸

Production and music

The film was produced by Ketan Mehta through his banner Ketan Mehta Films Pvt. Ltd., with Mehta also credited with the story, dialogue, and lyrics, Ranjit Barot composing the music, and W. B. Rao handling cinematography.³^•⁸ The song list includes the title track "Oh Darling Yeh Hai India" sung by Hema Sardesai, Shankar Mahadevan, and Raghubir Yadav, along with numbers performed by Jaaved Jaaferi, Vinod Rathod, Shweta Shetty, and Sudesh Bhosale.⁸ The large supporting cast includes Anupam Kher in the dual role of the President and his replacement Nathuram, plus Kader Khan, Paresh Rawal, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Tom Alter, Tinnu Anand, Tiku Talsania, and Sanjay Mishra.⁴^•³

Box office and reception

The film opened on about 100 screens and earned 2,200,000 rupees on its first day and 6,800,000 rupees over its first weekend.⁵ Against a reported budget of 22,500,000 rupees, it collected a total India nett gross of 17,775,000 rupees, an India gross of 29,600,000 rupees, and overseas gross of 80,000 US dollars, for a worldwide gross of 32,160,000 rupees on about 1,786,000 footfalls.⁵ Box Office India classifies the result as a "Disaster".⁵ Bollywood Hungama's figures differ, recording an India nett of 17.8 million (1.78 crore), a worldwide gross of 27.3 million (2.73 crore), and a verdict of "Average".⁹

Audience ratings have remained low: IMDb lists 4.0/10 from about 2,200 votes, and the film's Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes stands at 24%.²^•¹⁰ Viewer commentary on Rotten Tomatoes describes it as one of the strangest films some viewers have seen, noting Amrish Puri's villain as among his weirdest roles and the music as experimental.¹⁰

Availability

The film is distributed by Red Chillies Entertainment and has been available on Netflix, with rental and purchase options on the Apple TV Store; JustWatch lists a runtime of 167 minutes and a U age rating.¹^•⁴ Runtime listings vary across catalogs: Box Office India records 157 minutes, IMDb 2 hours 40 minutes, and JustWatch 167 minutes.⁵^•²^•⁴

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026