OMG Oh My God!

Does God exist? And if he does where is the proof?

This is the premise of this movie. Kanji bhai is an atheist who runs a shop selling idols and religious items and does stuff like bottle tap water and sell it as Gangajal. His shop is the only one that gets destroyed in an earthquake and the insurance company refuses to pay since acts of God like earthquakes are not covered by the policy. In frustration he decides to take God to Court and ask Him to compensate him for his loss. Since he doesn't have God's heavenly address he sends the notice to various well known Godmen and Sadhus with whom he has a pitched battle in Court. Of course, God, puts in an appearance and the rest of the story is about getting justice from the insurance company and also debunking myths.

The story is interesting and well paced out. The dialogues are pretty good and the repartee between Kanjibhai and the Godmen in the courtroom is very engaging. The Govinda item number though quite out of place is a pleasure to watch for Prabhudeva.

Paresh Rawal is an outstanding actor and he essays Kanjibhai with ease and great conviction. The movie rests very ably on his shoulders. Akshay makes a very dapper Lord Krishna. Dressed very spiffily in sharp suits and stylish jackets with a bike to die for, he is calm and confident. I also loved his accessories - his peacock feather crystal studded keychain that he keeps twirling like a Sudarshsn chakra, his laptop cover with a crystal peacock feather motif and cool blue t shirt with a Krishna graphic. Good scope for some merchandising here! Mithun as the fraud miracle making Godman hams it a bit with his mannerisms but yet works somehow. His expressions make up for the mannerisms.

Fortunately, the movie stays logical and more intellectual than become bombastic or melodramatic, given that it is about religion. That works in its favour and keeps you interested. For a change, it's a movie that entertains as well as makes you think. Jai Shri Krishna!

Based on a Gujrati play, OMG stars Paresh Rawal as a atheist who is fighting against God. While the play has been hugely successful in Gujrati & Hindi, can the film live up to its expectations?

Not having seen the play, I can only say that the film is surely worth a watch.

Antique shop owner Kanjibhai (Paresh Rawal) is enraged after his shop gets destroyed in an earthquake & his insurance company refuses to help him out. The film tracks his fight against religous faces & eventually God himself.

Right from the onset, it is very clear that this film rests on one man, Paresh Rawal. The beauty of this veteran is the ease with which he anchors a film and the conviction which he plays this character.

The film does slow down but keeps you engaged through most of it. Certain scenes will have you in splits & the song 'Go Govinda Go' is decent entertainment. The production values are poor but honestly, it doesnt matter.

Akshay Kumar is not bad but anyone could have played that role. Loads of other actors fill this film of which Mithun C leaves a mark.

To sum it up, OMG is an engaging, well-written fare that can be allowed its dull moments & tacky production values as it sends out a message to a nation obsessed with religion. Quite a fitting time to release the film. Great watch.

P.S - Big ups to the censor board for passing this film without cuts.

God is a touchy topic. Playing around the theme of flagrant atheism, which in my opinion could be as dangerous as any right-wing extremist group, can potently trigger a violent insurgency. So how does one make a film that entirely discards the concept of God with genuine reasons to back that claim up? By not promoting an ideological agenda but in fact, mocking the commercialization of faith and our unrelenting devotion to a seemingly irrational mechanism.

OMG had scope to be a poignant social satire that could poke its handle on our flawed concept of idol worship and blind faith in Gods and bogus over-dressed cheats posing as God-men, but the film's over-the-top ambition plays a deterrent making it not only tediously preachy but a poor adaptation of the Gujarati play on which it is based. Paresh Rawal plays Kanji bhai, an atheist who runs a shop that sells miniature figures of Gods and capitalizes on the unshakable faith of gold-flaunting businessmen, by manipulating them into buying rarest-of-rare idols passed by some 120-year old Maharshis. His family is jittery about his attitude, the wife even tries to unsuccessfully instill a sense of devotion until one day earthquake strikes the city and Kanji's shop is the only one in the flea market to come tumbling down amongst hoards of others. His next logical step is to go to the insurance firm, who deny the claim citing the “Act of God” clause in the T&C.; So Kanji does the next logical - sues God. He wants God to pay up because His alleged “Act” cost him his shop.

The premise is robustly interestingly for a hilarious, rollickingly funny satire. But rather than sticking to the crux of the idea - Kanji recovering money from God using all the tricks from His own books, the film steers away in becoming a liberal Astha channel of sorts where messages of Gods being all encompassing and having no form, of them residing in the hearts rather than in an idol made from stone et al, are haphazardly placed and passed. Akshay Kumar plays God, he is a random avatar who has landed to aid Paresh Rawal in his court case. But he doesn't represent Him in court, rather clergies, pundits', God-men, pastors' fight against Kanji's irreverent case. Mithun Chakrovarty plays a Swamy Nityananda inspired character and his actions are so ridiculously funny, you'd be laughing your guts out. He looks entirely stoned and there are strong hints on his homosexuality. And Mithun da being Mithun da, keeps one of his hands in a shank-like position over his mouth throughout the film. Crazy, this. Poonam Jhawar playing Gopi Maiyya is as absurdly funny as it sounds. But these are instances where the film evokes laughs because it is deliberately tweaked to be so. Throughout its very long running time, you'd be annoyed with the ear-pounding background tone and obnoxiously loud songs that are way too frequent. The theatrical dialogues constantly take away from the cinematic experience making OMG look like an awkward cross between a play and a movie - and the worst part, it is exceptional in neither. Paresh Rawal is at the center of the film the veteran actor is comical and profound, in equal measure. But monotony soon sets in and things like, God wants us to help the poor, just become propaganda to watch, with zero entertainment value. Akshay Kumar is painful in that Godly attire. His dialogues carry no conviction and are so contrived as if he is reading it from a teleprompter.

I'd have happily recommended OMG! had it remained honest to its essential subject. Man sues God and recovers money from manipulative insurance firms. Sadly, the scale of ambition here is so towering, and direction so inept, even God, if there is one, will feel shortchanged.

If the Aastha and Sanskaar channels are staple fare in your home, you owe it to yourself and your family to watch this one in the theater. Because it tells you a lot more about 'Dharm' and 'Karm' then Aasaram Bapu and Sudhanshu Maharaj would ever be able to.

OMG is based on an English film, "The Man who sued God", which basically tells the story of a man who files a lawsuit against God when his Insurance claim gets rejected. It starts in Santoshi Mata mode (like all devotional flicks made earlier), with one atheist guy trying to disrespect God, while everybody else dissuades him. However, Paresh Rawal keeps it fresh with his caustic observations and funny dialogues ("Tumhaare vrat karne se mere paap kaise dhul jaenge ?? Ye to wahi baat hogayi ki mobile tumhara recharge pe lagaya, aur battery meri full hogayi!"). You get the feeling that the guy is going to see a chamatcaar and get transformed, but Paresh a.k.a Kanjibhai justifies his stand, and makes us see through the boogey godmen and their business model.

There are shades of some prominent Personalities like Sri Sri RaviShankar, Raadhey Ma and also the core business of Tirupati (selling human hair). Albeit the makers do try to keep such references disguised in a bid to escape lawsuits.

Some of the good work gets undone when the film accepts the existence of God and also resorts to mild theatrics. It does so without getting preachy, though.

Acting wise, this one is a Paresh Rawal feature all the way - he commands awesome screen presence and looks every bit believable as the man determined to change the world. Akshay Kumar dazzles with his sparkling chemistry with Kanjibhai, and shows remarkable restraint that too in a role which could have absorbed the ill-effects had he gone overboard. This one is his best since Namastey London. Mithun Chakraborty plays the part of a crooked and eccentric Swami very well. Not much was demanded from the rest of the cast, and they deliver satisfactorily.

In the age of Swami Nityananda and Nirmal Baba, "Oh My God" is just what the doctor ordered for treating India's hysterical masses of their affliction of blind devotion. This gem of a film treads the fine path of religious discourse gently, without turning blasphemous (and getting itself banned in the process).

Will it be able to bring about a sea change in people's attitudes ? No, because as the Swami mentioned, "These are not God loving people, but God-fearing people". Still, full marks to the the film simply because the intent was noble enough. This one should be made tax free.

Highly Recommended !!

Imagine as a kid waking up early on Sunday mornings to go to church for the mass. That is just one of the many reasons why I found a disconnect with organized religion when I grew up. There is a line Paresh Rawal says in the film “main sab dharmon ka aadar karta hoon par kisi dharm ko maanta nahi hoon” though I am not an atheist like Paresh's character in the film, I feel the same.

Kanji bhai (Paresh Rawal) is an atheist who doesn't believe that God exists but makes his living by selling godly idols. One night his shop gets destroyed by an earthquake that the insurance people term as an 'act of god'. Left with no other option he files a case against God leaving two godmen & a godwoman sitting on the opposite side to defend God. The trimurti's are fruit chomping Siddeshwar Maharaj (Govind Namdeo) & nail polishing Gopi Maiyya (Poonam 'na kajre ki dhar' Jhawar) led by Leeladhar (Mithun Chakraborty) whose finger act reminded me of Mini Me from Austin Powers.

This film is a fine example that when you give the audience a good concept film they will tend to overlook the other flaws because this film is an aesthetic nightmare. Shot like a bad TV serial, with extremely tacky visual fx and set designs that belong to the 80's (you have to see the chor bazaar set to believe me).

Paresh Rawal makes sure that you filter all the flaws and connect with his performance. After a long time I saw him in a well deserving role. The last one was in Road to Sangam (2010). Everyone who is angry with how religion is being run like a business will find sadistic pleasure in knowing that most of the people who are part of probably the biggest scam of the world are paying to see a film which speaks against what they follow.

I know this film will not probably change thoughts and people will still go back to their idol worship and rituals. But for those few hours I felt Paresh Rawal was saying what I wanted to say.

It does get preachy and stretched at times and for obvious reasons follows a predictable end but still it is a film that must be seen by a lot of people because we don't get to see such subjects in our cinema these days.

Akshay Kumar underplays his role and never ever tries to steal the spotlight from Paresh Rawal. This is probably the best thing he has done in a long long time. His victory is more as a producer than an actor. Director Umesh Shukla's direction is strong when it comes to content but he fails in the adaptation of his play into a film. As a filmmaker his work comes across very amateurish. Ending this with a gem of a line which is my favorite “Dharam insaan ko bebas banata hain ya aantankwaadi”. You will find such fine lines in the film.

Word of mouth - OMG oh my god is a Raju Hirani film at heart with a tacky body.

Rating - 3.5 (Good)

Ticket meter - Worth 200 bucks