Amit Rai, the director of OMG 2.
Director Amit Rai was ‘heartbroken’ over the censor board’s decision to make OMG 2 an adults-only film.
Actors Akshay Kumar and Pankaj Tripathi’s OMG 2 released in theatres on August 11 with an A certification and modifications made by the CBFC. Director Amit Rai recently said that wanted everyone to watch the film and was “heartbroken” over the censor board’s decision to make it an adults-only film. The much-awaited sequel of the 2012 film delves into the issues pertaining to teenagers, including sex education; and faced some trouble finding producers to fund it.
Amit told PTI, “We were heartbroken because we made the film for everyone to watch, now that cannot happen. We begged them (the censor board) to give us a U/A certificate (children below 12 years of age can watch a film under parental guidance) but they didn’t. We tried to convince them till the very end… But then they walked some distance, we walked some distance. The film has been released with modifications.”
“We are happy people have loved the film. The intent of the film was pure. Nobody wanted to titillate the audience, hence they liked it. We have dealt with it (the story) in a way that doesn’t sound vulgar. We talk about the reality, but in a sweet and humorous way,” he said.
Amit now has plans to make the film available on OTT for free to fulfill his vision. He said, “We have decided that we will show the original film (on streaming), a film that the censor never wanted people to see, but… The public has seen the film and given their verdict. If the censor board doesn’t understand it, what do we say?”
Amit also recalled facing trouble while trying to find a producer for the film. He said, “I went to almost nine production houses and the majority of them rejected the script on the basis of its boldness. Somebody even said, ‘It is crass and gross’. It was surprising for me.”
“I was wondering how we will make this film. Luckily, someone introduced me to Ashwin Varde, Vipul Shah, and Rajesh Behl. They took me to Akshay Kumar, who told me, ‘It is an interesting and important subject’. I believe if you have a producer like Akshay Kumar, things become easy,” he said.
OMG 2 is produced by Cape of Good Films and Wakaoo Films. It is presented by Viacom18 Studios.
