Om Ka Hari Review: Raghubir Yadav and Anshuman Jha Turn a Father-Son Journey Into an Emotional Family Drama

There are some relationships in Indian families that are difficult to explain.

A father may spend his entire life working for his son, worrying about his future and trying to protect him from making mistakes. And yet, somewhere between advice, expectations and comparisons, that same father can unknowingly become the person his son is most afraid of disappointing.

That complicated space between love and resentment is where Om Ka Hari finds its story.

Directed by Harish Vyas, the Hindi comedy-drama brings together Raghubir Yadav, Anshuman Jha, Soni Razdan, Ayesha Kapur, Samta Sudiksha and Shivani Tanksale in a story about a father and son whose relationship has accumulated years of frustration, disappointment and unspoken affection.

Released in theatres on September 18, 2026, the film begins in Bhopal and eventually takes its central characters toward Kashi, turning what initially appears to be a journey about death into something much more personal: a journey towards understanding.

And that is where Om Ka Hari becomes interesting.

It is not really a film about a dying father.

It is a film about a father who may have spent too much of his life trying to make his son into someone else.

Om Ka Hari Movie Review: What Is the Film About?

At the centre of Om Ka Hari is Hari Prasad Sharma, played by Raghubir Yadav.

Hari is a retired astrologer and a traditional father who believes that he knows what is best for his family.

His son Om, played by Anshuman Jha, has chosen a different life.

Om runs a salon instead of pursuing the kind of secure government job his father believes would give him respect and stability.

For Hari, this is not merely a career decision.

It becomes almost a personal failure.

The father cannot understand why his son would willingly choose a profession that, in his eyes, does not carry the status or security he imagined for him.

Om, meanwhile, has spent years carrying the emotional weight of his father’s disappointment.

Then Hari apparently suffers a heart attack and becomes convinced that he has only six days left to live.

He decides that he wants to spend those final days in Kashi.

And Om, despite everything that has happened between them, agrees to take him.

That decision sets the movie in motion.

What follows is not an action-packed road trip or an overly dramatic emotional journey.

Instead, Om Ka Hari slowly uses the physical journey to explore an emotional distance that has existed between father and son for years.

The official CBFC synopsis similarly describes Om taking Hari to Kashi, listening to his father’s thoughts along the way, and the events that eventually bring Om, Hari and Priya back together.

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Om Ka Hari Cast

The cast is arguably the biggest reason the film works.

Raghubir Yadav as Hari Prasad Sharma

Raghubir Yadav has played enough complicated middle-class Indian characters to know exactly how much is required here.

Hari is irritating.

He is stubborn.

He can be judgmental.

He thinks he knows everything.

But he is not a villain.

That distinction is important.

Yadav does not play Hari as an evil or heartless father. Instead, he plays him as a man who genuinely believes that everything he does is ultimately for his family.

That makes the character far more believable.

There is something particularly familiar about the way Hari tries to control his son’s future while convincing himself that he is simply being a responsible father.

And Yadav gets that contradiction beautifully.

Anshuman Jha as Om

Anshuman Jha has perhaps the more difficult role because Om has to carry years of frustration without becoming unlikeable.

Om is angry with his father.

He is tired of being told that his choices are wrong.

He wants independence.

But he also loves the man he is constantly frustrated with.

Jha handles those contradictions quietly.

He doesn’t need a dramatic breakdown every time Hari says something hurtful.

Sometimes a look is enough.

The India Today review also singled out Jha’s ability to convey the character’s anger, hurt and continuing respect for his father.

Soni Razdan

Soni Razdan brings warmth to the family dynamic.

Her presence also helps the film move beyond simply being a father-son story.

There is another important layer here: the emotional compromises women often make while managing difficult family relationships.

That aspect could arguably have been explored even more deeply.

Ayesha Kapur and the Supporting Cast

Ayesha Kapur, Samta Sudiksha and Shivani Tanksale add to the family environment and help establish that Hari’s expectations affect more than just Om.

The film’s family does feel like a family rather than a collection of characters created purely to move the plot forward.

That is an important strength.

Om Ka Hari Plot: A Father, A Son and a Journey to Kashi

The most interesting thing about the plot is that it starts with a fairly simple premise.

A father believes he is dying.

He wants to go to Kashi.

His son takes him.

But the film gradually changes what that journey means.

The trip becomes an opportunity for both men to confront years of resentment.

Hari has spent years believing that Om needs to change.

Om has spent years wishing his father would accept him as he is.

Neither man appears particularly good at saying what they actually feel.

And that is probably the most realistic thing about their relationship.

Indian families often have no shortage of love.

They sometimes have a shortage of conversations.

Om Ka Hari understands this.

The film’s best moments are therefore not the loud emotional scenes.

They are the quieter conversations.

The pauses.

The uncomfortable silences.

The small gestures.

The moments when Om is clearly irritated but still takes care of his father.

That is where the film finds its emotional credibility.

Om Ka Hari Review: Does the Father-Son Relationship Feel Real?

Yes, and this is probably the film’s strongest quality.

Hari’s behaviour will frustrate many viewers because it is so recognisable.

He wants Om to have a government job.

He worries about what other people will think.

He compares his son’s choices with the conventional definition of success.

He interferes.

He gives unsolicited advice.

And he does all of it while believing he is helping.

That is what makes him interesting.

There is no easy villain here.

Hari is both the problem and, in his own way, a product of the generation that raised him.

He understands love primarily through responsibility.

Om wants love through acceptance.

Those are two completely different emotional languages.

And the movie spends most of its runtime trying to translate one language into the other.

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What Works in Om Ka Hari?

The Performances

This is easily the strongest department.

Raghubir Yadav and Anshuman Jha carry the film.

Their chemistry feels lived-in rather than manufactured.

The Times of India also highlighted the film’s performances and observations about family relationships as major positives, giving the movie three stars.

The Emotional Core

The father-son relationship gives the film a genuine reason to exist.

It isn’t simply a road movie.

The journey has emotional consequences.

The Generational Conflict

The movie understands a very familiar Indian problem.

Parents often measure success through security.

Children increasingly measure success through independence and personal fulfilment.

Neither side necessarily believes it is wrong.

That creates the conflict.

Kashi as More Than a Location

Using Varanasi/Kashi as the destination is not merely a travel decision.

It adds another layer to the story.

Hari thinks he is travelling toward death.

But the journey gradually becomes about life, family and what remains unsaid.

That symbolism works better when the film remains understated.

What Could Have Been Better?

This is where Om Ka Hari loses some of its potential.

The basic premise is stronger than the screenplay consistently manages to make it.

A father who believes he has six days left to live gives the writer an enormous emotional opportunity.

Imagine what could happen if someone genuinely believed they had only six days left.

Old secrets could come out.

Regrets could surface.

Relationships could change.

Questions about mortality could become unavoidable.

Om Ka Hari occasionally approaches that territory but does not always go deep enough.

The India Today review similarly described the film as flawed, pointing to the first half’s slower development and some side tracks that feel less organically connected to the central father-son story.

The first half in particular could have been tighter.

The conflict between Om and Hari is believable, but the film sometimes spends too much time establishing something the audience understands fairly quickly.

The supporting subplots also do not always receive enough space to become fully satisfying.

In other words, the movie has the emotional ingredients.

It just does not always cook them long enough.

Om Ka Hari and the Idea of Indian Fatherhood

This is where the film becomes more relevant than a conventional family drama.

Indian fathers from older generations were often expected to be providers first and emotional companions second.

The question was not always:

“Are you emotionally available to your child?”

It was more often:

“Are you providing for your child?”

Hari belongs to that world.

He thinks arranging a good career is love.

Making decisions for his children is love.

Protecting them from mistakes is love.

But Om does not necessarily experience those things as love.

He experiences them as control.

That difference is at the heart of Om Ka Hari.

And it is probably the reason many fathers and sons watching the film will recognise at least a small part of themselves in it.

Is Om Ka Hari a Comedy or an Emotional Drama?

It is both.

The film is officially classified as a Hindi comedy-drama, and the humour mainly comes from the characters and situations rather than from conventional comedy set pieces.

The comedy also prevents the movie from becoming relentlessly heavy.

Hari himself is often funny simply because of his personality.

That balance is important.

Without humour, the film could have become excessively sentimental.

With too much humour, the emotional relationship would have lost its credibility.

Om Ka Hari generally stays somewhere in between.

Om Ka Hari Music

The music comes from Rajieve Sarang, Paresh Pahuja and Achal Yadav, while the cinematography is by Rakesh Rawat and editing by Aasif Fayaz Pathan.

One particularly significant aspect of the film’s music is its connection to Asha Bhosle.

The film features “Ae Meri Zindagi, Tu Chhipi Hai Kahan”, described in recent coverage as Bhosle’s final playback song. She recorded it at the age of 90, and the song was released on her 93rd birthday.

That gives the soundtrack an emotional significance beyond the film itself.

Om Ka Hari vs Other Father-Son Movies

Indian cinema has produced countless father-son stories.

Some focus on rebellion.

Some focus on sacrifice.

Some focus on generational conflict.

Om Ka Hari takes a quieter route.

It is less interested in asking whether the father or son is right.

Instead, it asks why two people who clearly love each other have such difficulty expressing that love.

That makes it closer to a relationship drama than a conventional family entertainer.

The film is also more interested in emotional reconciliation than dramatic confrontation.

There is no easy transformation where Hari suddenly becomes the perfect father and Om suddenly becomes the perfect son.

That would have been far less believable.

My Personal View of Om Ka Hari

The easiest way to describe Om Ka Hari is this:

It is a simple film about a complicated relationship.

And its simplicity is both its strength and its weakness.

I liked the fact that the movie does not try to turn Hari into a monster.

It would have been very easy to make the father a stereotypical controlling Indian parent and then give Om a predictable liberation arc.

Instead, the movie allows Hari to remain frustrating and affectionate at the same time.

That feels closer to real families.

I also liked Anshuman Jha’s performance because Om never completely stops being a son.

Even when he is angry, he still cares.

Even when he wants distance, he still shows up.

That contradiction is probably the most emotionally convincing part of the film.

But I also wanted more from the screenplay.

The six-day premise could have produced a much more powerful examination of regret, mortality and fatherhood.

The movie reaches toward those ideas but sometimes settles for a softer emotional payoff.

So no, I wouldn’t call Om Ka Hari a perfect family drama.

But I would call it a sincere one.

And sincerity counts for a lot in a film like this.

Om Ka Hari Rating

My Rating: 3.5/5

Story: 3.5/5

Acting: 4/5

Direction: 3.5/5

Writing: 3/5

Emotional Impact: 3.5/5

Music: 3/5

Entertainment Value: 3.5/5

Overall: 3.5/5

The strongest reason to watch it is the acting.

The biggest limitation is that the screenplay occasionally feels less ambitious than the premise deserves.

Should You Watch Om Ka Hari?

If you enjoy emotional Hindi family dramas, father-son stories or movies built around relationships rather than spectacle, Om Ka Hari is worth considering.

If you are expecting a fast-paced comedy or a highly dramatic road movie, this may feel slower than expected.

The film works best when you allow it to breathe.

It is about conversations.

Old frustrations.

Family expectations.

And the uncomfortable truth that sometimes people realise how much they love someone only after spending years failing to tell them.

That makes Om Ka Hari particularly relevant for viewers who have experienced the complicated relationship between an Indian parent and an adult child.

Om Ka Hari Frequently Asked Questions

What is Om Ka Hari about?

Om Ka Hari is a Hindi comedy-drama about the complicated relationship between a father, Hari Prasad Sharma, and his son, Om. After Hari believes he has only a few days left to live, he decides to travel to Kashi, and Om accompanies him. Their journey gradually forces them to confront years of emotional distance.

Who directed Om Ka Hari?

Om Ka Hari is directed by Harish Vyas, who also receives writing credits for the film.

Who is in the Om Ka Hari cast?

The main cast includes Raghubir Yadav, Anshuman Jha, Soni Razdan, Ayesha Kapur, Samta Sudiksha and Shivani Tanksale.

When was Om Ka Hari released?

Om Ka Hari was released in Indian theatres on September 18, 2026.

What is the genre of Om Ka Hari?

Om Ka Hari is a Hindi comedy-drama/family drama centred on a father-son relationship.

Where was Om Ka Hari filmed?

The film begins in Bhopal and its story eventually moves to Varanasi/Kashi. IMDb also lists Bhopal among the filming locations.

Is Om Ka Hari based on a true story?

There is no indication in the currently available official information that Om Ka Hari is based on a specific true story. It is presented as a fictional family drama about a father and son.

Is Om Ka Hari a family movie?

It is a family-oriented drama and has received a UA certification in India. The Central Board of Film Certification lists the film as UA 13+.

Is Om Ka Hari available on OTT?

As of its theatrical release on September 18, 2026, an OTT platform and streaming release date had not been officially announced.

Is Om Ka Hari worth watching?

If you enjoy character-driven Hindi movies about family relationships, father-son conflict and emotional reconciliation, the film has several strong performances and an engaging central relationship. Its slower pacing and uneven writing may not work equally well for every viewer.

Who gives the best performance in Om Ka Hari?

Raghubir Yadav and Anshuman Jha are the film’s central strengths. Their father-son chemistry gives the movie much of its emotional weight, while Soni Razdan adds warmth to the family dynamic.

Is Om Ka Hari better than typical Bollywood family dramas?

The film takes a relatively understated approach to its father-son story rather than relying entirely on melodrama. Whether that works for an individual viewer will depend largely on their preference for slower, character-driven storytelling.

Final Verdict

Om Ka Hari is not a loud film.

It doesn’t need a huge twist.

It doesn’t need a superstar.

And it doesn’t try to turn an ordinary family relationship into something artificially extraordinary.

Instead, it asks a surprisingly difficult question:

What happens when a father realises that providing for his son was never the same thing as understanding him?

Raghubir Yadav gives Hari the right combination of irritation, humour and vulnerability.

Anshuman Jha gives Om the frustration of a son who has spent too long trying to earn his father’s approval.

And somewhere between Bhopal and Kashi, the film finds its emotional centre.

It is uneven.

It could have gone deeper.

Some subplots could have been tighter.

But when it works, Om Ka Hari feels uncomfortably familiar.

And perhaps that is its biggest strength.

Because sometimes the hardest thing to say to your father is not “I love you.”

It is simply:

“I wish you had understood me.”