When you are taking on something as powerful as God and Religion, you need to firmly keep your wits about yourself. Paresh Raval and Akshay Kumar's OMG, based on a popular Gujarati play Kanji Virudh Kanji (which in turn was supposedly inspired by an Australian movie The Man Who Sued God) manages to do that for most of its screen-time. The film’s box-office success is an indicator that it has managed to drive its point home!

What’s the plot?

Kanji Bhai (Paresh Raval) is an unscrupulous, cut-throat businessman, who doesn’t believe in God but has no qualms in using its appeal to fool his unsuspecting customers. In a freak earth-quake his antique shop is razed to ground. The insurance company refuses to pay him, citing their ‘Act of God’ sub-text. Angered and frustrated, he now decides to sue God in the court of law and summons all prominent God-men to appear there to ‘defend’ Him! Unknown to Kanji Bhai, the God has already decided to appear besides him in a bike-riding modern avatar (Akshay Kumar). What will happen in this strange court-case?

What’s hot?

• Paresh Raval delivers a superb performance. It is his best performance in recent times.
• Akshay Kumar adds his star-presence and easy-going charm.
• Veterans Om Puri (as Kanji’s legal advisor) and Mithun Chakravorty (as an effeminate fake God-man) leave their mark.
• Prabhu Deva and Sonakshi’s dance number- Go Go Go Govinda works well.
• Many witty, funny and convincing dialogues.
• Lighthearted treatment of a serious theme.

What’s not?

• Too loud, garish and preachy for many.
• Many insignificant side-characters.
• Loses steam post-interval.
• Wishy-washy ending.
• Melodramatic writing and direction.
• Too much dumbing down lessens the impact.

Verdict:

Did something bad happen? Blame Him! Want something good to happen? Bribe Him! Isn’t that the typical attitude of humans when it comes to their relationship with the Supreme Being? Aren’t there so many fake God-men misusing people’s blind faith to fill their own coffers? Why is so much money wasted on religious offerings, when it could be better utilized in uplifting the under-privileged? Isn’t there a serious need for introspection to weed out these malpractices going in the name of religion?

God and religion have always been touchy subjects. One wrong foot and the protests and the court-cases are not far off. OMG asks some pointed thorny questions about these sensitive topics and does that in a manner palatable to masses. Mixing up the hard-hitting content with crowd-pleasing miracles and blatant preaching, OMG manages the tight-rope walk well.

Many critics have found the film’s over-the-top preachiness to be a drawback. In my opinion, in such films, it works better for actual social change, rather than the subtle cerebral message. The loud arguments and garish colors in which it presents the disturbing truths are more likely to hammer some sense into common man’s confused mind.

OMG may not be a great film in terms of cinematic brilliance but it is a great effort in the right direction. For showing the courage to take up such socially relevant and difficult theme and then to intelligently package it as an entertaining masala movie with a message, Paresh Raval and Akshay Kumar, both deserve hearty kudos!