OMG – Oh My God!

OMG – Oh My God!
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Umesh Shukla[1]
Written by	Umesh Shukla Saumya Joshi Bhavesh Mandalia
Based on	"Kanji Virrudh Kanji"[2] The Man Who Sued God
Produced by	B.K. Modi Vikram Malhotra
Starring	Paresh Rawal Akshay Kumar Mithun Chakraborty
Cinematography	Sethu Sriram
Edited by	Tushar Shivan Rajesh Panchal
Music by	Score: Amar Mohile Songs: Himesh Reshammiya Sachin-Jigar Meet Bros. Anjjan
Production companies	Grazing Goat Pictures Wave Cinemas Spice Studios
Distributed by	Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Release date	28 September 2012 (2012-09-28)
Running time	130 minutes[3]
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹200 million [4]
Box office	₹1.22 billion [5]

OMG – Oh My God! is a 2012 Indian Hindi language satirical comedy-drama film written and directed by Umesh Shukla, inspired by and officially remade from the 2001 Australian film The Man Who Sued God, and produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, S Spice Studios, Grazing Goat Pictures and Playtime Creations. The storyline is based on a Gujarati stage-play entitled Kanji Virudh Kanji, originally written by co-writer Saumya Joshi, with Bhavesh Mandalia as an additional co-writer. The film features Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar in the lead roles, along with Mithun Chakraborty, Om Puri, Govind Namdeo, Poonam Jhawer, Puja Gupta and Mahesh Manjrekar in pivotal roles.^[6]

Made on a budget of ₹20 crore (US$2.8 million), the film released on 28 September 2012 was praised for its themes and for Rawal's performance.^[7][8]

The film was remade in Telugu as Gopala Gopala in 2015 with Venkatesh and Pawan Kalyan and in Kannada with Upendra and Sudeep titled as Mukunda Murari in 2016. A second instalment is in development with Akshay Kumar, Pankaj Tripathi, and Yami Gautam.^[9]

Plot[]

Kanji Lalji Mehta (Paresh Rawal), a middle-class atheist, owns a shop of Hindu idols and antiques in Mumbai. He makes fun of religious activities around him and one such day, a low-intensity earthquake hits the city, and Kanji's shop is the only shop that is destroyed. His family and friends blame this on his atheism.

At the insurance office, Kanji learns that the disaster claim does not cover any damage caused by natural calamities classified under "Act of God". Running out of options, he decides to sue God but fails to find a lawyer for such a lawsuit. Hanif Qureshi (Om Puri), a poor Muslim lawyer, helps him file the case after Kanji decides to fight on his own. Legal notices are sent to the insurance company as well as to religious priests, Siddheshwar Maharaj, Gopi Maiyya, and their group's founder, Leeladhar Swamy (Mithun Chakraborty), summoning them to court as representatives of God.

As the court case commences and gains traction for its bizarre quality, Kanji finds himself facing armed fundamentalists and harassment, with his mortgage bank occupying the house, and his wife and kids leaving him. He is rescued from all of this by Krishna Vasudev Yadav (Akshay Kumar), who claims to be a real estate agent originally from Gokul, Uttar Pradesh, but appears to do fantastical tricks not possible for a human.

The lawsuit causes a public outcry. On Krishna's advice, Kanji goes to the media and gets wide coverage. Many people in a similar situation join him in the lawsuit, causing the amount of claims to skyrocket and Catholic priests and Muslim Mullahs to also be summoned as defendants. When the court demands written proof that the earthquake was an 'Act of God,' Krishna steers Kanji toward holy books like Bhagavad Gita, The Quran and The Bible. Kanji reads them and finds a passage in each that says the world and all that happen in it, from beginning to end, is a creation of God and comes from God's will alone. This strengthens his case and increases public support. However, Kanji suffers a stroke in court and is rushed to the hospital where he goes into a coma and is paralyzed. When he opens his eyes after a month, he finds Krishna, who reveals that he is God, and proves it by curing Kanji completely. He further reveals that He created the entire world, animals and humans but religion was created by humans, and he was the one who destroyed Kanji's shop because he sought to punish the godmen who showed his fear to the public, to earn money. He adds that he created the entire world and thus doesn't like to live in temples contrary to what the godmen claims and he is not interested in the offerings he gets from devotees. Instead, he created millions of humans who die of hunger and would be glad if those offerings were given to them instead. He figured out that an atheist like Kanji would end up exposing them if he destroys his Shop, and thus destroyed it by causing the disaster and started to help him with lawsuit by appearing as a human and befriending him, and revealed himself in his true form so that Kanji realises that although he does exist, he doesn't live in temples, but in every creature he created.

Kanji learns that the lawsuit's verdict was in his favor and religious organizations were ordered by the court to pay the compensation to all the plaintiffs; people have begun revering Kanji himself as a god. Leeladhar, Gopi Maiyya, and Siddheshwar have taken advantage of this by opening a temple dedicated to Kanji and accumulating millions in donations. Krishna explains to Kanji that his job as God is to show people right and wrong - people do with it what they will. Kanji decides to fight back. He breaks his own statue, admonishing the crowd about trusting in God-men. He advises them to search for God in themselves and in others, not in statues; that God is everywhere, not just in temples, and faith should come from within. He tells them not to believe in fraudulent God-men, as their job is to turn religion into business.

Krishna looks on proudly as Kanji speaks, then vanishes when Kanji tries to reach him after. Kanji is reunited with his family and sees Krishna's key chain on the ground. When he is about to keep it, he hears Krishna's voice, telling him to get rid of the key chain as fear of God and reliance on religious objects was what he'd fought against all this time. Kanji smiles and throws it away, watching as it disappears in the sky with a flash.^[1]

Cast[]

Production[]

Rawal On the sets with actor Akshay Kumar

Producer Akshay Kumar announced the film in 2012. Paresh Rawal who appeared in the original play Kishen vs Kanhaiya was cast in the lead role with Akshay Kumar playing the role of Krishna in the movie.^[1] Mithun Chakraborty played a supporting role in the film. The filming was reported to have begun in January 2012.^[10] Director Prabhu Deva appeared in an item-number along with Sonakshi Sinha.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

Soundtrack[]

The soundtrack of OMG – Oh My God! was composed by Himesh Reshammiya, Sachin - Jigar and Meet Bros Anjjan, whilst the lyrics were penned by Shabbir Ahmed, Kumaar, Swanand Kirkire and Subrat Sinha. The album features vocals by Reshammiya, Shreya Ghoshal, Kailash Kher, Benny Dayal, Ash King, Suraj Jagan, Keerthi Sagathia, Zubeen Garg, Meet Bros Anjjan, Arya Acharya, Mohammed Irfan, Aman Trikha and Parash Nath. The full audio album was launched on 12 September 2012 by T-Series.

Release[]

OMG – Oh My God! released worldwide on 28 September 2012.^[1]

Critical reception[]

The film was critically well received.^[16]

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "On the whole, OMG – OH MY GOD! is a thought-provoking adaptation of a massively successful play. A movie tackling a sensitive and an untouched subject matter, it will find its share of advocates and adversaries, but the social message the movie conveys comes across loud and clear and that's one of the prime reasons why OMG becomes a deserving watch".^[17] Sukanya Verma of Rediff rated it 4 out of 5 reviewing "A brave and absorbing blend of satire, fable and fantasy that brings our attention to the misuse and commercialisation of religion".^[18] Faisal Saif of Independent Bollywood rated it 4 out of 5 and said "Strongly Recommended. Fearless concept with some Fearless performances".^[19]

Box office[]

The film had a low opening but showed good growth on its 2nd and 3rd day and collected ₹30 million (US$420,000) nett in its opening weekend.^[20] Despite slow start, the film managed to gross collections of ₹357.4 million (US$5.0 million) nett in its first week.^[21] The film collected ₹220 million (US$3.1 million) in its second week.^[22] The film continued its successful run in its third week and make a total of around ₹725.0 million (US$10 million) in three weeks.^[23] The film raked another ₹62.4 million (US$870,000) in its fourth week to make a total of ₹782.4 million (US$11 million) in four weeks.^[24] Overseas, OMG – Oh My God! grossed US$2.5 million in 10 days.^[25] At the end of 17 days, OMG – Oh My God! had grossed ₹104.5 million (US$1.5 million).^[26]

Awards[]

The movie was awarded the Best Hindi film award by Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS) during the second IRDS Hindi Film Awards for social concern. The film has won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 60th National Film Awards.^[27]

See also[]

• Religious satire
• Bhagavad Gita trial in Russia

References[]

External links[]

• OMG – Oh My God! at IMDb
• OMG – Oh My God! at Rotten Tomatoes