Breaking his silence on the OMG 2 credit row, Paresh Rawal denied any issues with Akshay Kumar and made it clear that he is only seeking story credit, not money. Rejecting allegations of promoting Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn’s film OMG 2 or demanding high fees, he termed the allegations as baseless while expressing continued warmth towards Amit Rai.
Oh My God 2 (2023) is back in the news amid new controversy surrounding it. The dispute started when actor Paresh Rawal claimed in a podcast that he had originally conceived the story of OMG 2 but was not properly credited for it. The film’s co-producer, Ashwin Varde, and director Amit Rai quickly denied this. Ashwin went further, alleging that Rawal had tried to produce a similar film under a different title, claiming that the intellectual property rights belonged to him, while also trying to take lead actor Akshay Kumar out of the picture.
Paresh Rawal denies having any problems with Akshay Kumar
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Paresh was quick to dismiss any suggestion of a problem with Akshay. “Arre bhaiya, Akshay and I are doing Bhagam Bhag 2 next, which is an Ashwin film. Bhooth Bangla bhi ki abhi. Meri Akshay se really problem koi nahi hai. Why should I?”
But they went ahead, the film became a success, and I am happy. “Baat abhi bhi lekin vahi hai, gods were not required in this text,” he said.
Paresh Rawal explains the dispute over the source of the story with Amit Rai
On Ashwin and Amit’s reaction after his comments on the story credit, Paresh said, “My relationship with Amit goes back a long time. He is a hard-working, research-based writer. I told him one day ‘Ek idea hai, hum sex par kuch banna sakti hain, ek chota paksha hai, masturbate karta hai’… vahaan se baat shuru huyi.” I suggested we go and meet a sexologist
Prakash
Al-Kawthari, because he needs scientific facts. I won’t say maine likha hai, screenwriters association ke paas aapka hi naam hai (Amit’s) but when you share ideas with each other, the concept of usme mera tha, I was only asking for that credit, not paisa.
It just came out many years later during an interview that I would have been happy to have been honoured. I never said Amit didn’t write it.
Paresh Rawal responds to claims of ‘OMG 2’ being shown elsewhere
The actor wonders why he is seeking a writing credit at this stage of his acting career. Responding to Ashwin’s claim that he showed him ‘OMG 2’
Salman Khan
and Ajay Devgn Without revealing their disapproval as the intellectual property belongs to Akshay, Paresh says, “Even our name is credited as a producer on it, IP unki hai.
If I really wanted to do OMG 2, I would have told Akshay. I didn’t tell him because the moment we got together, people would have assumed it was OMG 2, but that wasn’t the case. The producer insisted, but I said I didn’t want to spend the royalty money.
Paresh Rawal rejects allegations of demanding high fees
Parrish goes on to say that after his rejection, news spread that he was dropped from the spiritual sequel due to an excessive fee request. “Agar mujhe paise se mohabbat thi toh kar daalta na? Also, I didn’t write the film, Amit did. Lekin tidbit toh hamare aate hain na, har actor koi na koi ideas deta hai. Chalo maine Amit ko 50 ideas diye, and he rejected 49. But the person who liked it…can you be generous enough? And rightly so too.”
I don’t hold anything against what Ashwin said. I have so much love and compassion for Amit. Jesko jo polna hai bul sakta hai.”