Akshay Kumar-starrer OMG 2 (2023) was a critically acclaimed film that also achieved box-office success. In a recent interaction, Paresh Rawal claimed that the film’s concept and idea originally came from him and that he developed the story that eventually became a part of the Oh My God! franchise. However, he alleged that despite coming up with the film’s concept and story, he was not given credit for it.
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Speaking to Vickey Lalwani, Paresh shared that he approached filmmaker Amit Rai, the director of Road to Sangam, and shared an idea for a film with him. Paresh was clear from the beginning that since he wasn’t a writer, he would not write the film but would contribute ideas and help identify where they were going wrong.
Paresh shared that the story he had developed with Amit centred on a schoolboy who gets caught masturbating, following which a video of the incident goes viral and makes his life miserable. The boy’s father was a tourist guide at the Khajuraho temple.
Paresh shared that Amit had suggested making the character a part-time priest at the Mahakal Temple. He claimed that after the basic idea was ready, they developed the script together and even brought sexologist Dr Prakash Kothari on board. He shared that they were deeply involved in the process.
Paresh also revealed that he, along with Amit, pitched the idea to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and later to Somen Mishra from Dharma Productions. However, Somen outright said that it would not work.
Paresh shared that when he developed the story, he wanted a biker to guide the father of the boy and never thought of bringing in a divine figure. He revealed that he even approached Ajay Devgn and Salman Khan for the biker’s role but deliberately stayed away from Akshay Kumar because he didn’t want people to think that the film was a sequel to OMG!
Paresh claimed that while he was under the impression that they were still figuring things out, Amit told him that Akshay Kumar was interested in the film. Paresh shared that he believed the script reached Akshay through producer Ashwin Varde, and that’s when they decided to rope in Akshay for the film.
Paresh shared that he didn’t want to fight with Amit because of their friendship. However, he repeatedly told him not to turn the film into a franchise because it wasn’t one, but they still went ahead with it.
Paresh also revealed that Akshay approached him to appear in the film, but he refused because he no longer recognised the film’s story that he had helped develop. “I spoke to Akshay. He asked me to do the film. I told him, ‘No. This isn’t the film I had envisioned. There is no role of God in this story.’ He tried to convince me, but I had lived with the script from the beginning. I knew exactly what it was supposed to be. That’s why I walked away,” Paresh said. For the unversed Akshay and Paresh played lead roles in the first OMG filmthat released in 2012.
Match Outlook
He added, “The saddest part is that I wasn’t even given credit for the story or the concept. My name wasn’t mentioned anywhere. Amit, Akshay, Ashwin, Ajay Devgn, Karan Johar and Salman Khan… all know it was my idea and my story. Ajay and Salman probably said no because of the subject. They thought it could become controversial. I tried explaining the concept to them,” he said.
Pankaj Tripathi eventually played the character of the father in the film, while Akshay appeared as “Shiv ka Doot”.
