Two years and several crore rupees separate the divergent responses to OMG! Oh My God! and PK. Both movies criticise the commercialisation of religion and the worship of false gods. Both argue the relative merits of belief and atheism. Both are comedies that feature potentially blasphemous dialogue, moments and characters.
OMG! Oh My God! presents religious leaders as corrupt and effete opportunists, while Aamir Khan’s character in PK chases an actor dressed as the god Shiva in the movie’s most controversial sequence. How then did OMG avoid the ire of Hindu fundamentalist groups but not PK? Why are groups such as the Bajrang Dal vandalising cinemas screening PK or forcing them to suspend screenings, while OMG! Oh My God! had a safe run?
Here are three reasons.
1. It’s about the money
Made in 2012 and directed by Umesh Shukla, OMG! Oh My God! is based on a play titled Kanji Virudh Kanji, itself lifted from an Australian movie called The Man Who Sued God. Paresh Rawal plays a Gujarati trader named Kanjilal whose shop is destroyed in a natural calamity. When his insurance claim is rejected since the contract doesn’t cover “acts of God”, Kanjilal takes the legal route. He lines up the Creator’s earthly representatives in the courtroom and express his scepticism about divine powers.
In Rajkumar Hirani’s PK, Aamir Khan’s alien is stuck on Earth after the device that will beam his back to his planet is stolen. When he is informed that only God can help him locate the device, he begins to visit religious institutions, where he witnesses the ways in which devotees are fooled into parting with their money.
OMG! Oh My God! charmed audiences and its estimated gross collections were a little over Rs 100 crore. But its earnings pale in comparison to those of PK, whose gross box-office business in its first week was estimated at Rs 200-plus crore and still counting. (It has to be said that ticket rates for OMG! were far lower than for PK).
Ironically, it is PK’s immense critical and monetary success that seem to have especially irked Hindu fundamentalist groups. Their violent actions – vandalising cinemas, forcing theatres screening PK to take off shows – are aimed at cowing down owners as well as the public. Had PK been a flop, it might just have slipped under the radar the way OMG! Oh My God! did.
2. It’s a question of faith
The movies have some similarities, but there are also key differences. OMG! Oh My God!’s targets the distortion of Hindu values, but it also pokes fun at Islam and Christianity. Hirani’s PK directs its ire towards India's largest faith, personified by Saurabh Shukla’s fraudulent godman.
Kanjilal sends up the corrupt practices that have seeped into Hindu religious practice, but he has no argument with its fundamentals. Hirani’s movie initially appears to lampooning the same set of greasy-palmed sadhus and sadhvis, but his real beef is with the religious leaders who have politicised Hinduism and used their influence to poison their devotees against other faiths. Hence PK’s mission to reunite his journalist friend Jagat Janani with her Pakistani boyfriend.
Kanjilal initially makes fun of blind faith, so the destruction of his shop seems to be divine punishment. His campaign against God would have been impossible with God’s help. Kanjilal is bailed out ever so often by a mysterious friend named Kanhaiya, who a is actually the god Krishna in mortal form. Krishna’s presence amidst the squabbling earthlings allows for a deus ex machina climax that gives Kanjilal his moment of victory.
PK might be an alien, but his response to the fake godman’s prejudice is entirely human. He relies on arguments and logic rather than supernatural occurrences to push his case that Hinduism could do with some course correction.
3. It’s about the star
Aamir Khan is a red flag for Hindutva groups in a way that other Bollywood personalities have never been. A self-declared liberal who happens to be Muslim, Khan angered Modi supporters in Gujarat in 2006 when he criticised the state government’s treatment of villagers displaced by the Sardar Sarovar dam project. Khan’s movie Fanaa, which he was promoting at the time, was unofficially pulled out of cinemas in Gujarat. Several commentators lashed out at Khan for exploiting social causes to publicise his movies. Hindu right-wing groups lay in wait for an opportunity to maul Khan.
OMG! Oh My God! star Paresh Rawal, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is now a Member of Parliament and the lead in a rumoured biopic of Narendra Modi. In OMG! Oh My God!, Kanjilal’s return to the fold chimes well with the larger Hindutva message of ignoring the sideshows, the cults, and the fringe groups and joining forces with the official representatives of the faith.
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OMG! Oh My God! presents religious leaders as corrupt and effete opportunists, while Aamir Khan’s character in PK chases an actor dressed as the god Shiva in the movie’s most controversial sequence. How then did OMG avoid the ire of Hindu fundamentalist groups but not PK? Why are groups such as the Bajrang Dal vandalising cinemas screening PK or forcing them to suspend screenings, while OMG! Oh My God! had a safe run?
Here are three reasons.
1. It’s about the money
Made in 2012 and directed by Umesh Shukla, OMG! Oh My God! is based on a play titled Kanji Virudh Kanji, itself lifted from an Australian movie called The Man Who Sued God. Paresh Rawal plays a Gujarati trader named Kanjilal whose shop is destroyed in a natural calamity. When his insurance claim is rejected since the contract doesn’t cover “acts of God”, Kanjilal takes the legal route. He lines up the Creator’s earthly representatives in the courtroom and express his scepticism about divine powers.
In Rajkumar Hirani’s PK, Aamir Khan’s alien is stuck on Earth after the device that will beam his back to his planet is stolen. When he is informed that only God can help him locate the device, he begins to visit religious institutions, where he witnesses the ways in which devotees are fooled into parting with their money.
OMG! Oh My God! charmed audiences and its estimated gross collections were a little over Rs 100 crore. But its earnings pale in comparison to those of PK, whose gross box-office business in its first week was estimated at Rs 200-plus crore and still counting. (It has to be said that ticket rates for OMG! were far lower than for PK).
Ironically, it is PK’s immense critical and monetary success that seem to have especially irked Hindu fundamentalist groups. Their violent actions – vandalising cinemas, forcing theatres screening PK to take off shows – are aimed at cowing down owners as well as the public. Had PK been a flop, it might just have slipped under the radar the way OMG! Oh My God! did.
2. It’s a question of faith
The movies have some similarities, but there are also key differences. OMG! Oh My God!’s targets the distortion of Hindu values, but it also pokes fun at Islam and Christianity. Hirani’s PK directs its ire towards India's largest faith, personified by Saurabh Shukla’s fraudulent godman.
Kanjilal sends up the corrupt practices that have seeped into Hindu religious practice, but he has no argument with its fundamentals. Hirani’s movie initially appears to lampooning the same set of greasy-palmed sadhus and sadhvis, but his real beef is with the religious leaders who have politicised Hinduism and used their influence to poison their devotees against other faiths. Hence PK’s mission to reunite his journalist friend Jagat Janani with her Pakistani boyfriend.
Kanjilal initially makes fun of blind faith, so the destruction of his shop seems to be divine punishment. His campaign against God would have been impossible with God’s help. Kanjilal is bailed out ever so often by a mysterious friend named Kanhaiya, who a is actually the god Krishna in mortal form. Krishna’s presence amidst the squabbling earthlings allows for a deus ex machina climax that gives Kanjilal his moment of victory.
PK might be an alien, but his response to the fake godman’s prejudice is entirely human. He relies on arguments and logic rather than supernatural occurrences to push his case that Hinduism could do with some course correction.
3. It’s about the star
Aamir Khan is a red flag for Hindutva groups in a way that other Bollywood personalities have never been. A self-declared liberal who happens to be Muslim, Khan angered Modi supporters in Gujarat in 2006 when he criticised the state government’s treatment of villagers displaced by the Sardar Sarovar dam project. Khan’s movie Fanaa, which he was promoting at the time, was unofficially pulled out of cinemas in Gujarat. Several commentators lashed out at Khan for exploiting social causes to publicise his movies. Hindu right-wing groups lay in wait for an opportunity to maul Khan.
OMG! Oh My God! star Paresh Rawal, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is now a Member of Parliament and the lead in a rumoured biopic of Narendra Modi. In OMG! Oh My God!, Kanjilal’s return to the fold chimes well with the larger Hindutva message of ignoring the sideshows, the cults, and the fringe groups and joining forces with the official representatives of the faith.