It is an adaptation of the hugely popular gujarati play Kanji virudh(vs) Kanji. It has sensitive issues taken up, and it is a mockery of the so-called godmen and unfounded rituals.
Kanjibhai Mehta (Paresh Rawal) is an atheist, who runs an antique shop. For him, god and religion are nothing more than a business proposition. An astute businessman, he never misses an opportunity to buy old or antique sort of idols of gods and other religious idols, which he usually sells as ‘antique’ or ‘rare’ idols at 10 times its original price or even more.
The average and gullible buyer who is also a believer in god, truly wants to believe that these are actually centuries old and rare finds. God is the biggest money spinner for Kanjibhai, while his wife is as devout as one comes, infact so much so, that she goes the extra mile to atone for her husband’s sacrilegious babblings.
The life has gone on for Kanji and his family like this, and would have sailed smoothly for him in the future as well, but for that one fine day, when a slight tremor of an earthquake shakes the city. The earthquake itself doesn’t cause any concern to anyone, and would have hardly been of any consequence, but for one small problem… it causes the destruction of only one shop in the entire city… Kanji’s shop!!!
But Kanji, is a wily fox, he always thinks 2 steps ahead. For just such a situation, he has taken out more than adequate insurance… nothing, not even a freak earthquake can upset his life…
But as they say, man proposes, god disposes, or in this case, Insurance company disposes… for, the insurance companies possess a holistic shield against all such claims… ‘ACT OF GOD’… Now, this ‘act of god’ is that fine print which is hardly ever read by the policy taker, but can be used by the insurance agency to deny any unwarranted claim. The insurance company invokes this act of god and promptly rejects the claim saying that ‘earth-quake’ is not a man made phenomenon, it can only be brought on by an ‘act of god’.
Frustrated, and left with no option, Kanji decides to file a case against God on the premise that if God is responsible for his loss, as has been made amply clear by the Insurance Company, then it is God’s responsibility to compensate him for his losses. So that is how God gets sued!
Kanji sends legal notices to the various high priests and heads of various religious sects. The news spreads like wild fire that a mad man has made a mockery of religion and law alike. Everyone, including the lawyers and the priests are certain, that such an outlandish and preposterous case, will never get the dignity of a court hearing, it will be thrown out in a minute, if not sooner.
In the court, Kanji argues his own case, not because he didn’t trust any lawyer… it was just that it’s difficult to find a lawyer in this country, who was willing to put God on trial. The proceedings begin, the lawyers are contemptuous, Priests are dismissive, Kanji is earnest and persuasive. To everyone’s disbelief, the judge leans towards Kanji, after all it is the question of survival for an individual… he admits the case. This news too spreads like wildfire, and not everyone will take it lying low… an agitated crowd gathers outside the court premises, and upon sighting Kanji emerging from the court, run to attack him… Kanji runs, with a mob following close on his heels.
Just as Kanji begins to lose ground, a man enters… riding majestic on his flaming bike, he swoops Kanji off the road straight on his bike, and speeds off… the crowd is in no mood to admit defeat, they follow on cars and bikes of their own… a crazy chase follows… but Kanji and the mysterious man emerge unscathed, much to Kanji’s astonishment. The man introduces himself… his name is Krishna Vasudev Yadav (Akshay Kumar)… the god??
The second hearing comes up and Kanji is at his argumentative best. The lawyers and the priests alike are stumped and sometimes even embarrassed. They can only hide behind thin wall of religious edicts and god’s benevolence. But Kanji is unstoppable. But as it had to, it finally comes down to proof… something, which Kanji finds hard to supply.
After all, how can anyone ever prove, that there exists a god. And if there does exist a god, that god is actively interested in the activities of this world and every living and non living entity in this world. Even if this supposed god is interested at all in what the people do, how does one prove that this god, took time out to single Kanji out and destroy his shop…the proof is almost impossible to find.
For all it was worth, Kanji had lost…or had he?
Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal are at their best. There are some delightful moments between them. Mithun Chakraborty in a new avatar leaves an impression, while Govind Namdev, though loud at times, is fine, Poonam Jhawar is incredible as the godwoman. Highlight of the film is the Go-Go-Govinda song which features Sonakshi Sinha and Prabhu Deva.
OMG – OH MY GOD! carries an important social message – while not to have blind faith in anyone or any “thing” but one should have faith in oneself as God is within us. It shows waste of natural resources without getting preachy or sermonizing it.
A thought provoking film.
Cast:
Paresh Rawal – Kanji Lalji Mehta
Akshay Kumar -KrishnaVasudev Yadav / Lord Krishna
Nidhi Subbaiah – News Reporter
Govind Namdev – Siddeshwar Maharaj
Mithun Chakraborty
Mahesh Manjrekar – Lawyer
Murli Sharma – Politician
Poonam Jhawer – Gopi Maiyya
OmPuri – Advocate
Lubna Salim – Kanji’s Wife
Yusuf Hussain – Judge
Nikhil Ratnaparkhi
Tisca Chopra – TV Show host
Arun Bali
Sonakshi Sinha
Prabhu Deva
Credits & Crew:
Studio Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, S. Spice Studios, Grazing Goat Pictures.
Directed by Umesh Shukla
Written by Umesh Shukla
Produced by Akshay Kumar, Ashvini Yardi, Paresh Rawal
Background Music – Amar Mohile
Choreographers – Prabhu Dheva, Chinni Prakash, Rekha Chinni Prakash, Ganesh Acharya
Co Producer – Rana RakeshBali
Music Directors – Himesh Reshammiya, Anjjan – Meet Bros, Sachin Jigar
Lyricist – Shabbir Ahmed, Sameer, Subrat Sinha, Swanand Kirkire
Editor – Tushar Shivan, Rajesh Panchal
Cinematography – Sethu Sriram, Raghavendra Rathore
Art – Varshaa Jain
Sound – Jagmohan Anand
