1975 was a golden year for Hindi cinema. In one set of theatres history was being rewritten with a masala action saga Sholay creating records while on another, a religious flick Jai Santoshi Maa was minting money. Today, history is repeating itself with OMG Oh My God! doing extraordinary business in the year when action affairs like Ek Tha Tiger and Rowdy Rathore to comedies like ‘Housefull 2’ and ‘Bol Bachchan’ and a sensitive film like ‘Barfi!’ have been huge successes already and entered the 100 crore club.
“OMG Oh My God! has crushed 10 other films that released after it and is still doing well. Just like Jai Santoshi Maa, the Paresh Rawal starrer has become a phenomenon just on the basis of word of mouth. Both films dealt with religion, albeit in a totally opposite way”, says an observer.
While Jai Santoshi Maa was heavily into idol worship and followed other mandates related to religion, OMG Oh My God! does just the opposite as it challenges rituals.
“Well, 37 years down the line, changes are bound to come in society. The good part is that audience has turned tolerant and started accepting the change”, says a historian.
The Umesh Shukla directed film has seen through competition from the likes of Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal, Kismet Love Paisa Dilli, English Vinglish, Aiyyaa, Bhoot Returns and half a dozen other films. While close to 70 crores have already come for the film, trade is already pegging this Akshay Kumar production to come much closer to the 100 crore mark that it had earlier seemed. For the actor-producer, this has indeed turned out to be a dream year indeed with Sajid Nadiadwala and Sajid Khan ensuring that he strikes big with Housefull 2 and then Sanjay Leela Bhansali along with Prabhudheva doing the rest with Rowdy Rathore.
When contacted, Umesh said, “Paresh Rawal deserves all the praise and Akshay really supported the subject and film. We always knew this was a word of mouth film.”
Akshay too added, “The way it is continuing to find audience patronage week after week is just amazing.”
