Making ‘OMG 2’ was difficult: Amit Rai

The last time ‘Millennium Post’ spoke to ‘OMG 2’ director Amit Rai, he was in Kolkata to scout writers. The director believes there’s no dearth of good scripts, especially in the era of OTT dominance. Later, reports suggested that he was considering Shahid Kapoor for a historical film on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Though the young director didn’t spill the beans, he told ‘Millennium Post’, “Talks are on with the actors. The film revolves around a historical episode, exploring how history has interpreted the same event. But it’s not a biography,” he said.

Rai has ‘writers’ friends in Kolkata and believes the regional industries are churning out superior content. According to him, the advent of OTT platforms has democratised content creation, providing audiences with a diverse array of choices. “Just look at how different films like ‘Gadar 2’, ‘Animal’, ‘OMG 2’ and ‘12th Fail’ ran at the box office. ‘12th Fail’ is an amazing film with remarkable casting, superior performances and a tight script. If a film is good, it will have a good run at the box office,” he said.

For Rai, who started his journey in the Marathi film industry, making his second Bollywood film, that is, ‘OMG 2’ was ‘difficult’. “I had made ‘Road to Sangam’ with Om Puri, Paresh Rawal and Pawan Malhotra. But making ‘OMG 2’ took me over a decade. It was a difficult journey, but given that I came from a non-film background, I knew the journey would never be easy,” he said.

‘OMG 2’ released alongside Sunny Deol’s ‘Gadar 2’, which took the box office by storm. Starring Akshay Kumar, Yami Gautam and Pankaj Tripathi, ‘OMG 2’ explores sex education in schools in India. The CBFC gave it an A certificate with 27 cuts.

Rai felt strongly that the film should have reached school kids and said, “The intent of the film was pure. It was meant to entertain and educate society and get the conversation around sex education started. If you think your kids don’t know anything, then you are mistaken. They know how to clear history and cookies. But then, CBFC gave it an A-certificate and half of the audience couldn’t watch it in the theatres. However, once it was released on OTT, everyone watched it,” he smiled.