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Cast: Vinay Pathak, Saurabh Shukla, Divya Dutta, Harsh Chhaya, Gaurav Gera, Mushtaq Khan
Director: Saurabh Srivastava
Producer: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.
Music: Bapi-Tutul

THE FILM

There have been a few films made in the past that have shown interaction between God and human beings.

However, what makes Oh! My God!! different is the fact that this time around, the human being (Vinay Pathak) doesn't come face to face with God (Saurabh Shukla). He doesn't even realize His presence around him even though He keeps making an appearance in different forms (which makes a kind of metaphorical statement).

So God now wants to fix all problems of Mr. Pathak by presenting him ton loads of money to make his life easier. Of course, the man in picture aspires to be Mr. Ambani and wants to follow the right principals, values and virtues in life en route to be successful and rich in life.

So he refuses to buy the lottery ticket that carries a fixed winning number, isn't willing to make those investors as his partners who seem to be carrying a shady background, doesn't pick up the easy money made available through a session of gambling, has no interest in knowing about his future through an astrologer and is even willing to throw away those Rs. 10 crores that he suddenly seems to have laid his hands on.

Of course he is oblivious to the fact that all this help (?) is coming from God himself which proves more troublesome than an advantage. He looses his peace of mind and even mental equilibrium, all of which leads to an almost depressing climax. An apt case of 'movie shuru kahin se hui aur khatam kahin aur'!

And to think of it, this is just a 90 minutes film and is still it seems like an eternity before God finally makes an appearance.

Till this point, there is quite some time spent on elaborating the character of Vinay Pathak who has dreams of becoming rich by evangelizing a 'money tree' scheme that works on referrals. Frankly, it becomes really tedious after a point of time.

Not that there aren't any scenes that still keep audiences engaged to some extent. The multiplex sequence where Vinay Pathak gets to know the real reason behind his wife (Divya Dutta) managing to sell the scheme to her friends or the restaurant scene between the couple and Harsh Chhaya turn out to be well directed.

Yes, Divya Dutta does seem to go a little overboard with her expressions at places but gets a stable act going in the second half. Watch out for the scene where she takes on a cop (Mushtaq Khan). Very well done.

Saurabh Shukla coming on scenes in different avtars spices up the proceedings instantly. He comes in different getups of a Lottery-waala, a Sardar, gangster, cop and a suited-booted cop and does well at every instance.

However, one fails to understand that why does he try to make Vinay Pathak rich through illegal means (a bank robbery)? It raises quite a few moralistic and ethical questions!

The ending becomes really depressing and though one does get an idea around the message being conveyed, one wonders if an out and out light hearted treatment of the film would have worked better for the film. PACKAGING

DVD of Oh, My God!! comes in a regular plastic case

DURATION

The film's duration is 97 minutes

SPECIAL FEATURES

None

TECHNICAL DETAILS

- 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation
- Subtitles in English
- Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo

PRICE

Rs. 199/=

CONCLUSION

Now this was one film that had a potential to be a powerful entertainer. Yes, at the heart of it, director Saurabh Srivastava does try to convey a message that money isn't everything in life and one has to enjoy the simple moments of being together with the family.

Noble intentions for sure. However, he takes such a long time to reach the point from which the story actually begins that it becomes a tiring exercise after a point.

Rating: **