OMG 2 Review: Amit Rai, Pankaj Tripathi and Akshay Kumar trick CBFC in the best way possible

“Selfie matt lijiye…Selfie lena mana hai,” the announcement on a temple loudspeaker during the first few seconds of the movie sets the tone of this brave attempt by Amit Rai, OMG 2.

After several weeks full of tussle with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Amit Rai directorial OMG 2 could finally see the big screen and it has certainly done that bravely. One might say that the long list of cuts and alterations 'suggested' by the CBFC muffles the basic essence of this movie, but the effect of those on the core of this film is very minute, with credit for that going entirely to Pankaj Tripathi.

The film focusses on Kanti Sharan Mudgal (Pankaj Tripathi), who goes to court to fight a case against his son’s school, after repeated kicks of cryptic-knowledge by a Sadhguru-themed Shiv-Dooth (Akshay Kumar), for the fault of not providing his son with proper sex education. 

What's good

First things first, OMG 2 is in all carried by Pankaj Tripathi and his stellar dialogue delivery (we all saw that coming). This court dramedy is driven majorly by Tripathi’s acute understanding of the character Kanti Sharan and how he would gradually develop into an acceptor of sex education, only after he falls in a puddle. The puddle here is his son getting kicked out of school. 

The second will definitely be the screenplay. The dialogues were the buoy of hope for this movie and it was bright as day. However, one might say that Tripathi had the majority of the heavy dialogues, but then, the Mirzapur actor can make anything coming out of his mouth seem natural.

Then there is the superb casting. From the main cast of the film to each and every supporting actor in the movie, everyone is a perfect choice for their respective role. 

The make-do antagonist of the film, Kamini (Yami Gauatm) who is no stranger to playing an opposition lawyer (Batti Gul Meter Chalu), often gives a strong fight to Pankaj Tripathi with her depiction of ruthless professionalism in the courtroom and also through her dialogue delivery. 

A more subtle but noticeable ode will definitely go to Pawan Malhotra for portraying a fairly convincing, ‘less Hindi, more English’ judge. 

If one had to pick one from the entire lot of the supporting characters in the film, Brijendra Kala would definitely be one of the top choices.

The reason behind Akshay Kumar’s Shiv-Dooth coming at the end of this section is directly related to his presence in the film. Akshay’s character might just have a total screentime of 35-40 minutes in this two-and-a-half-hour movie, but that is exactly how much time this character needed.

During the interval, I heard someone saying, “It feels good to watch Akshay on screen after a long time,” and that is the best way to put it. The character is played with subtlety and panache by Akshay Kumar. In the limited screentime that he gets, Akshay turns it into a breather from his long stretch of box-office disappointments. 

The next ‘good’ on this list is also about Akshay Kumar’s character but not about the actor, but the filmmakers. Amit Rai and team found - and utilised - an amazing loophole in the mandate given to them by CBFC, in which they were asked to change Kumar’s character from Lord Shiva himself to a messenger of Shiva. The board was perhaps left with zero scope to complain. 

Now, the bads

The film opens with a good 15-20 minutes just to establish that it is set in a religious town. Pankaj Tripathi’s character screams/mumbles/chants “Jai Mahakal” about 12 times (you'll stop counting after that) before his first proper dialogue in OMG 2. 

It then gets extremely lengthy when the court arc begins. The leading factor responsible for that would be the overly-used “shhudh Hindi”. 

There's also a bizarre point where Yami’s character Kamini compares sex education in schools with rape cases in India. (“Rule-Over”)

The unnecessary attempt to establish that the movie is a sequel to the 2012 OMG: Oh My God doesn't do much for OMG 2.

Bottomline

Given that this is one of the handful of films that deal with the much controversial subject of sex education in India, OMG 2 is indeed a bold attempt by Amit Rai. The key takeaway from the movie would most definitely be how the filmmakers found loopholes in the restrictions thrown at them by CBFC and Pankaj Tripathi's return to a dialogue-heavy storyline.

The film perfectly highlights baselessness of its 'A' certificate and how it ended up ruining a much-needed 'family' movie. 

We’re going with 3 out of 5 stars for OMG 2.