Paresh Rawal claims OMG 2 was based on his original idea; says he walked away after script changes: “There was no need for a divine character”
Here's the latest update from the Bollywood world:
Rawal shared he first approached filmmaker Amit Rai with the idea after watching Road to Sangam . He asserted, "I had approached Amit Rai, the director of Road to Sangam , and asked him if he was planning another movie. 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 screenplay to some extent."
Adding to this, He went on to reveal, "The story was about a boy who gets caught masturbating, and a video of the incident goes widely shared, 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 movie educational, entertaining and not vulgar. We were deeply involved in the process."
Meanwhile, According to Rawal, the project was never conceived as a sequel to OMG and did not feature a godly figure. He shared, "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 movie 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 ."
Notably, He further opened up that he had initially considered Ajay Devgn and Salman Khan for the biker's role: "I didn't approach Akshay because people would have assumed it was OMG 2 , whereas that wasn't the plan."
As per the latest buzz, Rawal shared he later learnt that Akshay Kumar wanted to do the movie after the script reached him through producer Ashwin Varde. He continued, "I was under the impression that we were still figuring things out. We even had a meeting with Vipul Shah of Optimystix. They also asked about Akshay, and I shared if I wanted to make it with him, I would have approached him directly. Akshay and I were partners in OMG . I didn't need anyone to bridge the gap. A few days later, Amit Rai called and told me Akshay wanted to do the movie. The issue was that Amit had tentatively written 'OMG 2' on the script because the genre was similar."
In further updates, He added, "In one of our meetings, Ashwin Varde was present. That's when they decided they wanted to do it with Akshay."
On top of that, Rawal shared Akshay later requested him to be a part of the project, but he declined because he no longer recognised the story: "I spoke to Akshay. He asked me to do the movie. I told him, 'No. This isn't the movie 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."
The star also claimed he did not receive any acknowledgement for his contribution to the original concept: "The saddest part is that I wasn't even given credit for the story or the concept. My name wasn't mentioned anywhere."
Source: Bollywood Hungama