OMG – Oh My God!
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Umesh Shukla[1]
Written by	Umesh Shukla Saumya Joshi Bhavesh Mandalia
Based on	"Kanji Virrudh Kanji"[2] The Man Who Sued God
Produced by	Akshay Kumar B.K. Modi Vikram Malhotra
Starring	Paresh Rawal Akshay Kumar Mithun Chakraborty
Cinematography	Sethu Sriram
Edited by	Tushar Shivan Rajesh Panchal
Music by	Score: Amar Mohile Songs: Himesh Reshammiya Sachin–Jigar Meet Bros. Anjjan
Production companies	Viacom18 Motion Pictures Spice Studios Grazing Goat Pictures Wave Cinemas
Distributed by	Viacom18 Motion Pictures Wave Cinemas[3]
Release date	28 September 2012 (2012-09-28)
Running time	130 minutes[4]
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹20 crores[5]
Box office	₹149.90 crores[6]

Oh My God! is a 2012 Indian Hindi language satirical comedy-drama film written and directed by Umesh Shukla and produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, S Spice Studios, Grazing Goat Pictures and Playtime Creations. The storyline is based on the Gujarati stage-play Kanji Virudh Kanji, which itself was inspired by the Billy Connolly film The Man Who Sued God.

The film stars Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar and Mithun Chakraborty along with Om Puri, Govind Namdeo, Poonam Jhawer, Puja Gupta and Mahesh Manjrekar in pivotal roles.^[7]

Made on a budget of ₹20 crore (US$2.5 million), the film released on 28 September 2012 and received positive reviews from critics.^[8][9]

It was remade in Telugu as Gopala Gopala (2015) with Venkatesh, Pawan Kalyan, and Shriya Saran. It was also remade in Kannada as Mukunda Murari (2016) with Upendra and Sudeep.

A stand-alone sequel, OMG 2, with Akshay Kumar starring as Lord Shiva's messenger, along with Pankaj Tripathi and Yami Gautam in other lead roles, was theatrically released on 11 August 2023.

Plot

Kanji Lalji Mehta, a middle-class Gujarati atheist, owns a shop of Hindu idols and antiques in Mumbai. He mocks religious activities around him until one day, a low-intensity earthquake hits the city, with Kanji's shop being the only one destroyed; his family and friends blame this on his atheism.

At the insurance office, Kanji learns that the disaster claim does not cover any damage caused by natural calamities classified under "Act of God". Running out of options, he decides to sue God but fails to find a lawyer for such a lawsuit. Hanif Qureshi, a working class Muslim lawyer, helps him file the case after Kanji decides to fight on his own. Legal notices are sent to the insurance company as well as to religious people like Siddheshwar Maharaj, Gopi Maiyya, and their group's founder, Leeladhar Swamy, forcing them to court as representatives of God.

As the court case commences and gains attraction for its bizarre quality, Kanji finds himself facing armed fundamentalists and harassment, with his mortgage provider occupying the house, and his family leaving him. He is then rescued by Krishna Vasudev Yadav, who claims to be a real estate agent originally from Gokul, Uttar Pradesh, yet is also responsible for supernatural acts outside of the human realm.

The lawsuit causes a public outcry. On Krishna's advice, Kanji goes to the media and gets wide coverage. Sympathisers join him in the lawsuit, causing the amount of claims to skyrocket and Catholic fathers and Muslim Maulvis to also be forced as defendants. When the court demands written proof that the earthquake was an 'Act of God,' Krishna steers Kanji toward holy books such as the Bhagavad Gita, The Holy Quran and Bible. Kanji reads them and finds a passage in each that says the world and all events are a creation of God and come from God's will alone. This strengthens his case and increases public support. However, Kanji suffers a stroke in court and is rushed to the hospital where he goes into a coma and is paralyzed. When he opens his eyes after a month, he finds Krishna, who reveals that he is god, and proves it by curing Kanji completely. He further reveals that He created the entire world, animals and humans but religion was created by humans, and he was the one who destroyed Kanji's shop because he sought to punish the godmen who showed his fear to the public, to earn money. He adds that he created the entire world and thus does not like to live in temples contrary to what the godmen claims and he is not interested in the offerings he gets from devotees. Instead, he created millions of humans who die of hunger and would be glad if those offerings were given to them instead. He figured out that an atheist like Kanji would end up exposing them if he destroys his Shop, and thus destroyed it by causing the disaster and started to help him with lawsuit by appearing as a human and befriending him and revealed himself in his true form so that Kanji realises that although he does exist, he does not live in temples, but in every creature he created.

Kanji learns that the lawsuit's verdict was in his favour, and religious organizations were ordered by the court to pay the compensation to all the plaintiffs. As a result of this, people have begun revering Kanji himself as a god. Leeladhar, Gopi Maiyya, and Siddheshwar have taken advantage of this by opening a temple dedicated to Kanji, and accumulating millions in donations. Krishna explains to Kanji that his job as God is to show people right and wrong – people do with it what they will. Kanji decides to fight back. He breaks his own statue, admonishing the crowd about trusting in God-men. He advises them to search for God in themselves and in others, not in statues; that God is everywhere, not just in temples, and faith should come from within. He tells them not to believe in fraudulent godmen, as their job is to turn religion into business.

Krishna looks on proudly as Kanji speaks, then vanishes when Kanji tries to reach him after. Kanji is reunited with his family and sees Krishna's keychain on the ground. When he is about to keep it, he hears Krishna's voice, telling him to get rid of the keychain as fear of God and reliance on religious objects was what he'd fought against. Kanji smiles and throws it away, watching as it disappears into the sky with a flash.^[1]

Cast

Production

Rawal on the sets with actor Akshay Kumar

Producer Akshay Kumar announced the film in 2012. Paresh Rawal who appeared in the original play Kishen vs Kanhaiya was cast in the lead role with Akshay Kumar playing the role of Krishna in the movie.^[1] Mithun Chakraborty played a supporting role in the film. The filming was reported to have begun in January 2012.^[10] Director Prabhu Deva appeared in an item number along with Sonakshi Sinha.^{[11][12][13][14][15]}

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of OMG – Oh My God! was composed by Himesh Reshammiya, Sachin–Jigar and Meet Bros Anjjan whilst the lyrics were penned by Shabbir Ahmed, Kumaar, Swanand Kirkire and Subrat Sinha. The album features vocals by Reshammiya, Shreya Ghoshal, Kailash Kher, Benny Dayal, Ash King, Suraj Jagan, Keerthi Sagathia, Zubeen Garg, Meet Bros Anjjan, Arya Acharya, Mohammed Irfan, Aman Trikha and Parash Nath. The full audio album was launched on 12 September 2012 by T-Series. The song, 'Go Go Go Govinda' is based on the song 'Govinda Aala Re Aala' from Bluff Master (1963), sung by Mohammed Rafi.

Release

OMG – Oh My God! released worldwide on 28 September 2012.^[1]

Critical reception

OMG received positive critical reviews.^[16]

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and wrote that OMG – OH MY GOD! was a "thought-provoking adaptation of a massively successful play. A movie tackling a sensitive and an untouched subject matter, it will find its share of advocates and adversaries, but the social message the movie conveys comes across loud and clear and that's one of the prime reasons why OMG becomes a deserving watch".^[17] Sukanya Verma of Rediff rated it 4 out of 5 reviewing "A brave and absorbing blend of satire, fable and fantasy that brings our attention to the misuse and commercialisation of religion".^[18] Faisal Saif of Independent Bollywood rated it 4 out of 5 and said "Strongly Recommended. Fearless concept with some Fearless performances".^[19]

Box office

The film had a low opening but showed good growth on its 2nd and 3rd day and collected ₹30 million (US$380,000) nett in its opening weekend.^[20] Despite a slow start, the film managed to gross collections of ₹357.4 million (US$4.5 million) nett in its first week.^[21] The film collected ₹220 million (US$2.8 million) in its second week.^[22] The film continued its successful run in its third week and make a total of around ₹725.0 million (US$9.1 million) in three weeks.^[23] The film raked another ₹62.4 million (US$780,000) in its fourth week to make a total of ₹782.4 million (US$9.8 million) in four weeks.^[24] Overseas, OMG – Oh My God! grossed US$2.5 million in 10 days.^[25] At the end of 17 days, OMG – Oh My God! had grossed ₹104.5 million (US$1.3 million).^[26]

Awards

The movie was awarded the Best Hindi film award by Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS) during the second IRDS Hindi Film Awards for social concern. The film has won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 60th National Film Awards.^[27]

See also

• Bhagavad Gita trial in Russia
• Gopala Gopala (2015 film)
• Religious satire
• Yehi Hai Zindagi

References

External links

• OMG – Oh My God! at IMDb
• OMG – Oh My God! at Rotten Tomatoes
• OMG – Oh My God! at Bollywood Hungama