Director: Amit Rai
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Pankaj Tripathi, Yami Gautam Dhar, Arun Govil, Aarush Varma, Pavan Raj Malhotra, Govind Namdev, and Brijendra Kala
Where to watch: Theatres
Rating: 3.5 stars
11 years after OMG - Oh My God surprised everyone with its satirical take on how religion has been commercialised in today's world, its sequel OMG 2 talks about the importance of sex education in schools with sensitive and empathetic storytelling. And yet the Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi-starrer manages to entertain and engage successfully.
Pankaj Tripathi is Kanti Sharan Mudgal, a Lord Shiva devotee who owns a shop selling pooja items near a temple and lives peacefully with his wife and two kids, a son, and a daughter. Kanti is busy in his worship until his son Vivek (Aarush Varma), is admitted to a hospital after being bullied and misinformed into using irrational methods for excessive masturbation to increase his penis size, in order to become more masculine. Kanti's troubles don't end as Vivek is then rusticated from school after a video of him masturbating inside the school toilet is spread across the internet.
After Kanti and his entire family are ridiculed by society, Kanti decides to take them to his in-laws' place for a few days until the matter settles. Enters Akshay Kumar as the messenger of Lord Shiva (thanks to the changes made by the CBFC), who asks Kanti to first apologise to Vivek and then make everyone, responsible for his son's mental health condition, apologise by filing a defamation case against them. The film then turns into a courtroom drama with Kanti himself and Yami Gautam Dhar's Kamini Maheswari presenting their arguments in front of Judge Purushottam Nagar (Pavan Raj Malhotra).
Akshay Kumar might have received the top billing in OMG 2 due to his stardom, but the film truly belongs to Pankaj Tripathi. In his extended cameo appearance, Akshay doesn't hog the limelight and lets Tripathi shine. Pankaj makes the audience laugh with his inability to understand Yami's fluent English in the initial courtroom scenes and then debates with her in refined Hindi, presenting his defense in favour of sex education citing multiple historical and moral texts such as Panchtantra and the obvious Kama Sutra. Yami doesn't get the opportunity to show her acting chops in her one-shaded character, but when you have an excellent Pankaj Tripathi up against you, it isn't your fault either.
OMG 2 largely succeeds due to its nuanced writing and adept direction by Amit Rai. Rai made his directorial debut in 2010 with the emotional and moving drama Road To Sangam and in his second outing, he shows that he needs to get back into the director's chair more often. He deserves accolades for his thoughtful handling of a sensitive subject like sex education, making sure that his audiences don't feel alienated from the hush-hush topic.
The writing might seem too convenient at places, especially in sequences when Akshay Kumar rescues Pankaj Tripathi with his too-simplistic philosophy whenever the latter finds himself stuck in the court case. A much crisper editing was necessary since the courtroom scenes after some point seem a bit stretched. The final fifteen minutes in OMG 2 are exactly similar to how the narrative pans out in the first part, and a bit more originality would have definitely helped. But overall, I found this film to be a much better viewing experience than the 2012 film due to its concept and treatment. It's ironic that the film is granted an A certificate when the film must be a necessary watch for kids and teenagers.
The Amit Rai directorial has already gone through multiple cuts and changes in the last few days, so much so that even the Madhya Pradesh city where the story is set hasn't been mentioned once. Before OMG 2 suffers more, head to your nearest theatres with your family and watch this important film.
