JOIN USOMG: Oh my god!
Hindi (U/A)
Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Govind Namdeo, Murli
Sharma, Mahesh Manjrekar
Director: Umesh Shukla
On the face of it, OMG… is a complex film. At least the idea is and one that atheists and aasthiks/believers have long debated. Is there a God? To encapsulate an argument of roughly 5,000 years into two hours and sixteen minutes may sound untenable but Shukla and his team, actors included, have indeed pulled off a coup.
Rawal as Kanji bhai has a small-time shop which sells statues of gods and goddesses.
Small detail — he is a staunch atheist. As his shop gets destroyed in an earthquake, the insurance company refuses to pay up, stating it to be an Act of God and for which God alone is answerable, so Kanji had better ask God to pay up! The next best deal, Kanji figures, is to ask messengers of God (read priests, maulvis, pastors) to do the needful and therein lies a rather interesting tale.
So, the atheist Kanji ends up taking on the whole world for filing a case against God in a court of law. It sounds ludicrous but the fact remains that the atheist now needs to prove in writing, ironically enough, that his shop was indeed destroyed by God! In short, he has to invalidate his own beliefs. He does prove his point — with a little help from Sri Krishna, played by a rather handsome Akshay Kumar.
Krishna neither disputes what Rawal is saying nor does he corroborate what his critics (Chakraborty and Namdeo as exaggerated Godmen, along with Murli Sharma as a conniving politician) have been claiming. God does what He is best at. He plays a guide and advisor — to Kanji.
Akshay as Krishna Vasudev Yadav, in a role far removed from his ‘action’ self is a suave, computer-savvy, bike-loving (a customised Vardenchi Chopper — reportedly costing Rs 1 million), bansuri-playing chap who has all the answers for Rawal’s troubles. And is he wow!
OMG… will long be remembered as a clean, feel-good film with a lot of heart. Adding to its charm over the years will be the Prabhu Deva-Sonakshi Sinha number Go, go, go Govinda; Shabbir Ahmed and Swanand Kirkire’s lyrics and Bhavesh Mandalia’s story. But it is Rawal, whose Kanji makes OMG… what it is — an outstanding effort to make the unbelievable sound believable.
If good cinema emerges from great ideas OMG… proves it beyond a doubt.