12 August,2023 08:31 PM IST | Mumbai | Mayank Shekhar
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First off, OMG 2 > Oh My God (2012). Also, different, to a point that this could well have been the comedy, Jolly LLB 3 - bumbling lawyer, warm judge (genial Pawan Malhotra) - instead of OMG 2. There's been some force-fitting of thought/intent here, in order to fit a franchise.
As with the prequel, starring Paresh Rawal, based on the Gujarati play, Kishen vs Kanhaiya, what's the obscure court-case being fought in the film? Between a shop-owner in Ujjain, one Kanti Ji, vs himself - the defense is also the prosecution.
The former's guilt, being, he hasn't normalised sex for his teenage son, enough - confusing the poor kid, further. And this is where he brings in the boy's school, quacks, and pharmacist, as equally guilty parties, to defend the said case.
But OMG 2 isn't a film on sex education, per se. Such as, say, âGupt Gyan', that I accidentally watched in Rivoli, a grindhouse theatre in Delhi, growing up - packed with strange, old men, nearly jerking off to naked images of women, in a designated âmorning show', slotted for a sex-ed documentary!
That's the level of sexual repression Indians were accustomed to in the '90s. Even if India's Censor Board doesn't get it still - much has changed, to the level of a revolution, since. Largely thanks to universal Internet access.
That's what's made OMG 2 possible. It is a film on pulling the lid of shame, associated with sexual intercourse, in the world's populous country, where most of us have grown up calling even our own âprivate parts', "Shame Shame!"
The film has been certified fit for 18+. Well, desi adults deserve this debriefing, delivered as popular entertainment, just as much. They will hopefully pass these lessons on to their kids, subsequently. The sheer beauty of the film's writing/dialogue (Amit Rai; Road to Sangam) is in its clarity of thought.
Backed with adequate research - quoting Panchtantra, Kaurav Shastra, Charak Samhita, the Shiv ling, etc - the film strongly argues that if you're being squeamish/prudish over matters of sex in modern India, you're actually going against established tenets of our own ancient wisdom.
You're being âanti-Hindu', as it were - if I may borrow a popular, phony Right-Wing rhetoric. The film's lines hit the nail in Dolby sound. This introduction of Hinduism or Sanatan Dharma culture/philosophy explains âGod' in the movie's title. And, of course, there's God on screen as well.
That's Akshay Kumar, in an extended cameo and item song, as Lord Shiva. He's God-send, actually. As per Indian Censors, you can't play Lord Shiva, it appears. No such issue, when Akshay arrived as Lord Krishna in the film's 2012 prequel. So, Lord Shiva's lookalike character is sent over by Lord Shiva, to help the hero, Kanti Ji, win his case in court.
One of the God-send's teachings, I must say, collegiate debaters apply really well to clinch arguments - always ask questions (and more questions)! The other, I liked, is to be explicit with the truth. Finally, it's not what you say, but how you word it, that matters. Fine stuff.
Frankly, I've watched OMG 2 one and a half times, already. First time on, I had to exit the press show, a little after the interval, due to a family emergency. I returned to the theatre, the following day, to finish the film.
In between, the only thought about the picture, going through my mind, was its phenomenal point/purpose. Not so much the plot. And that's not always a good thing.
In fact, the rushed opening scenes, after shots of Naga Babas at the Ujjain Kumbh Mela - a teenaged boy, who's overdosed on Viagra, plus vague, garbled stuff on a video of him, masturbating in school, gone viral, etc - doesn't help with comfortably settling into the seat/movie. Once you do, there's only one thing to look adorably in awe at.
That's Shri Shri 108, Pankaj Tripathi Ji, as Kanti Ji, dropping âsatya vachan' (truth bombs). Writer-director Rai has similarly dealt with a societal taboo, menstrual hygiene, with the unreleased I-pad, based on social entrepreneur Arunachalam Muruganantham's life.
The Bhopali lead in that movie, I felt, totally lacked charisma. Something that Akshay bettered, a couple of years later, with Pad Man (2018), on the same subject.
What Rai gets in return is a scene-chewing star, this time, who's naturally blessed with a silver tongue, and earthy demeanour/expressions that, essentially, connect with audiences at the eye-level.
They don't need to look up, or down; just look at him - slightly chubby cheeks, as if with paan in his mouth, spreading âmithaas' (sweetness), uttering the most profound things, with a lightness of touch that no Indian actor, I know, can match. This script lands, because of the protagonist piloting the pic.
Few years before Pankaj Ji became the pleasurable OTT sensation, I'd hosted a couple of conversations with him, before a live audience, wondering, each time - why's he not a âgodman', yet? He's a star-actor. Same thing! Since he's the MSG (Messenger of God) of this OMG, considered it delivered, surely.
