Akshay Kumar, Pankaj Tripathi starrer ‘OMG 2’ has been in the news even before its release due to getting stuck on the censor board’s table. The changes made by the censor board are clearly visible while watching the film. And in the flow of saying this, it seems a bit awkward as well. But still ‘OMG 2’ seems to be a film to control the mood of the public in theatres.
Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar’s jugalbandi in ‘OMG’ in 2012 gave a story on screen to the public whose repeat value is very strong. Whenever this film comes on TV, the public watches it again and again. In ‘OMG 2’, the story revolves around Pankaj Tripathi. Pankaj takes great advantage of this opportunity and delivers a strong performance. Akshay’s character was as funny as it was seen in the trailer, it is the same in the film and in some moments, his natural charm makes his role more powerful. But there is a story between these two which is worth watching on screen. It is not that there is no shortcoming in ‘OMG 2’. Rather there are many. But the big thing that the film wants to say, it becomes a bit heavy in comparison to everything else.
Story
Pankaj Tripathi has become Kanti Shah Mudgal in ‘OMG 2’. Kanti, a staunch devotee of Lord Mahakal, runs a shop selling prasad-offerings etc. outside the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain. Kanti, who lives in the shelter of the head priest (Govind Namdev) of the temple, is the most ideal image of a true believer devotee. His son studies in an international school. Whether the school is international or town, it is in India. And if students come in it, they are from this society. So Kanti’s son Vivek goes through a nasty bully episode at school and loses his confidence. With this broken confidence, he is found doing something in the washroom of the school, which is also considered grossly unethical to talk about in the open. And what if the video of a child doing such a thing goes viral!
So the same thing starts happening in the story. Now Vivek has been declared ‘dirty child’ in the whole city. The dignity of Vivek, who has been declared ‘immoral’ in the eyes of the neighborhood and his father, ends completely, in this stigma, he even tries to commit suicide. Kanti Bhai, who is being humiliated because of his son in the city-society, begins to understand how wrong he himself is thinking about his son from the words of a fakir-turned-mastmaula man (Akshay Kumar) at the police station.
This fakir has come to the policeman with a complaint about his lost goods. This also saves Vivek from committing suicide. But he is not just a fakir, he is a messenger sent by God. From his words, Kanti understands that she herself, the school, what is the fault of the entire society in stigmatizing the children’s sexual adventures by declaring them ‘immoral’. Kanti herself sues her son’s school and many others.
The aim is that the whole society who says Vivek is wrong should understand that it is his fault and not the children’s. But in front of Kanti in this case is a fiery female lawyer Kamini (Yami Gautam), whose arrival is considered by the judge to be honorable for his court! Will Kanti be able to win? Will Vivek get back his lost self-respect? And will the school get Vivek back in the school again? ‘OMG 2’ shows this game on screen.
How is the story told?
It is necessary to sympathize with the writer-director of the film Amit Rai for ‘OMG 2’ that due to the changes suggested by the censor board, there must have been hiccups in his narrative at many places. But the shortcomings of his script are already visible. The biggest feature of ‘OMG’ was that in almost every 3 lines, you used to get a punch, which used to make you laugh or surprise. But it is not so here. Rather, in the second half of the film, when all the focus of the story comes on Kanti, her family and the court case, the speed of the screenplay starts slowing down.
Akshay is helping Kanti in the narrative of the film. On the big screen, it seems that Akshay is needed to create an atmosphere in a slow story. There are many big problems in the whole court case itself. Courtroom drama on the big screen is used more as a device for an important discussion than to show legal maneuvers. In ‘OMG 2’, this important debate sometimes slips from its place. For example, instead of talking about the stigma of conscience, it reaches the history of Kamashastra in India. In the entire court case, it is not discussed even once that making a video of a child in the washroom and making it viral is a big crime.
It is a good thing that ‘OMG 2’ talks about the need of sex education for children in India. But the case is about an incident that happened with a child which broke his self-respect. On the pretext of the case, the need for sex education was to be discussed. But somewhere in the narrative, the case takes a backseat. A point also comes when Kamini is asking Kanti to tell her the right way to teach sex-education in the school. And then there is the debate of English education versus glorious Indian history! The whole courtroom drama goes on missing many important points. But the punchy, comedy-filled parts of the story, Pankaj Tripathi’s excellent work keeps you hooked to the film till the end.
acting performance
Pankaj Tripathi is the best actor of what level, it keeps appearing in front of the audience again and again. But somewhere his characters have a comfort zone of UP-Bihar. This time it is zone break. Pankaj’s work is excellent in a character with a new accent and sensibility. Pankaj’s skill shines in the scenes in which he does not speak and is just reacting silently. Yami once again shows why she is called a strong actress. Govind Namdev, Pawan Malhotra, Bijendra Kala and Arun Govil, as always, play their supporting characters with full seriousness. Akshay Kumar’s character is of a divine power in the story and like the first film, he dominates the screen this time too.
‘OMG 2’ is a film to take an important topic to the masses with a funny dose of humour. Amit Rai’s film is worth watching in theaters with family. If you go to the theater for this film, then half the issue of this story is solved like this.