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Paresh Rawal breaks silence on rejecting OMG 2, pitching it to Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn before Akshay Kumar took over
In a recent interview, Paresh Rawal claimed that OMG 2 was his story idea. He also revealed how the film was earlier pitched to Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn.
Back in 2023, everyone was shocked that Paresh Rawal didn’t star with Akshay Kumar in OMG 2, when both actors were crucial parts of the first film. In a recent interview with Vickey Lalwani, the actor himself revealed the real reason, while explaining the behind-the-scenes fiasco that led him to leave the film.
Speaking candidly, the Welcome To The Jungle actor revealed that he had envisioned this idea of sex education along with director-writer Amit Rai as a standalone film. “I had approached Amit Rai, the director of Road to Sangam, and asked him if he was planning another film. I admire him a lot. I told him, ‘I have an idea. Let’s sit and write it.’ I told him I wasn’t a writer, but I could contribute ideas and help identify where we were going wrong because I understand the screenplay to some extent.”
He added, “The story was about a boy who gets caught masturbating, and a video of the incident goes viral, making his life miserable. His father was a tourist guide at the Khajuraho temple. Amit suggested making him a part-time priest at the Mahakal Temple. We developed the script together and even brought sexologist Dr Prakash Kothari on board. We had several meetings because our intention was to make the film educational, entertaining, and not vulgar. We were deeply involved in the process.”
Paresh further revealed that they needed a character like a guiding force, but not god. “ Our main idea was to have a biker guiding the father, not God. In the first OMG, God appeared because the case was against God. But this film was about a father’s fight to get justice for his son. There was no need for a divine character. We wanted someone like Kader Khan’s character in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar,” said the actor.
He then highlighted that he pitched the story to Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn to play the biker’s role, but they said no to it because of its unconventional subject. Paresh also mentioned that he didn’t approach Akshay Kumar as it was a standalone film and was not envisioned as OMG 2.
However, things changed when Amit Rai approached Akshay Kumar and producer Ashwin Varde. He added, “A few days later, Amit Rai called and told me Akshay wanted to do the film. The issue was that Amit had tentatively written ‘OMG 2’ on the script. I told Amit that I didn’t want to go ahead with it. Amit said, ‘But they want to make it.’ They took the script from him. I told Amit I couldn’t fight him; he’s my friend. If that’s what he had chosen, I wished him well. I repeatedly told them not to make it a franchise because it wasn’t one. But they still went ahead.”
Paresh Rawal further revealed that Akshay tried to convince him to do the film, but he refused the role as he was making it as a sequel, adding God’s angle to it, which wasn’t the original idea. “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,” added Rawal.
The veteran actor concluded by expressing his disappointment at how he wasn’t even given the story credit in the film. “The saddest part is that I wasn’t even given credit for the story or the concept. My name wasn’t mentioned anywhere,” concluded Paresh Rawal.
For the unversed, Pankaj Tripathi essayed the leading role in the film, along with Yami Gautam playing the other key part. Akshay Kumar not only starred in the film in God’s character but also produced it under his home production, while Amit Rai served as the writer and director of the film.
Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates.
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