Oh My God (OMG) Review

OMG comes straight from the pulpit. It is preachy all the way, all the time. Yet you do not mind taking it and this simply because it revolves round a fine tuned in form Paresh Rawal as Kanji Lalji Mehta and a breezy Akshay Kumar playing Lord Krishna. The film seeks to expose the prosperous industry of temple based religions and the God men who are incidentally referred to as the sales men of God.
It comes with an uncomplicated story line: Kanji Lal is making a decent living in a middle class tenement selling idols and Gangajal filled in bottles from the local tap. He is extremely vocally cynical about blind beliefs and religious practices much to the disapproval of his wife (Lubna Salim). Disaster strikes when a Richer shrug destroys his shop and nothing else in the vicinity. He walks to the local insurance company and makes his claim – only to be denied on the ground that the contract is covered by the defense of “force majeure – an act of God”.
Facing a huge financial crisis he decides to sue God and the Insurance Company for his loss. He impleads various god men as parties to his controversial lis. The God men include Siddeshwar Maharaj (Govind Namdev) and Neeladhar Baba (Mithun Chakraborty). We move to the court where the judge Yusuf Husain hears advocate Sardesai (Mahesh Manjrekar) for the God men and the merchant appearing as party in person. Backing him up is lawyer Hanif (Om Puri). Obviously the litigation gets huge media attention and communal passions are tickled.
At customary break time we have Lord Krishna arriving as the guide and navigator of the further moves of Kanji Lal. Giving Kanji Lal company during the entire battle is his assistant Mahadev (Nikhil Ratnaparkhi).
There is nothing surprising in the climax and nothing untoward or strained on the way to it. The flow takes you to a natural culmination where the loudly delivered message is not so much against religion as it is against myopic religious practices. Many religious practices are toned to contemporary verbiage to make the narration interesting. There is also an interesting Go Go Govinda item number picturised on the eclectic and electric Prabhu Deva and a fine in rhythm Sonakshi Sinha continuing to look and dress like Reena Roy. Most in the cast give their sincere best to the film which includes the likes of Om Puri, Mithun, Govind Namdeo. Nikhil Ratnaparkhi who is sharing screen space with Paresh Rawal leaves a great impression and comes out with a fine performance.
Finally the film is a show piece and reiteration if ever required on the talent and skills of Paresh Rawal. Not a moment does he go over board and as the central character he slips into the many moods of his character with consummate ease and skill. The film is a must see for his sake. His tongue in cheek persona helps to be away from sounding officious or platitudinal.
On the technical side Umesh Shukla (Director/ story) and Tushar Shivan and Rajesh Panchal (Editor) give the tale a good sincere input making the film acceptable, notwithstanding the fact that it is loaded with messages and moral takes.
L. Ravichander.