Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has taken to his social media accounts to unveil the very first posters of his film OMG 2, the sequel to his 2012 film OMG – Oh My God! The first movie featured Paresh Rawal, Mithun Chakraborty, Mahesh Majrekar in pivotal roles.
Sharing an update and posters of the film, he wrote, “कर्ता करे न कर सके शिव करे सो होय ..Need your blessings and wishes for #OMG2, our honest and humble attempt to reflect on an important social issue. May the eternal energy of Adiyogi bless us through this journey.”
‘कर्ता करे न कर सके शिव करे सो होय ..’ 🙏🏻
— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) October 23, 2021
Need your blessings and wishes for #OMG2, our honest and humble attempt to reflect on an important social issue. May the eternal energy of Adiyogi bless us through this journey. हर हर महादेव@TripathiiPankaj @yamigautam @AmitBrai pic.twitter.com/VgRZMVzoDy
In the first poster, Akshay Kumar is seen painted in blue, with his eyes closed and hair in dreadlocks, a look inspired by the Hindu deity Lord Shiva. ‘Rakh vishwas, tu hai shiv ka das’ is written on the poster.
The second poster of the film features Akshay Kumar, again seen donning the blue look, holding the hand of the boy.
While Akshay Kumar is ready to start the shoot for the sequel of the 2012 film OMG – Oh My God!, it may be recalled how the first movie had received flak for its alleged anti-Hindu content.
Paresh Rawal, who played the role of an atheist named Kanji Lal in the film, ridiculed Hindu gods and goddesses on multiple occasions. While comparing Ganga Jal, Hindu holy water, to alcohol on one occasion, he was also witnessed speaking out against the worship of idols, which is an integral part of the Hindu tradition.
In fact, when the first movie was released, many Bajrang Dal and Hindustan Shiv Sena activists had staged protests, tore posters of the film in cinema halls in Jammu, demanding a ban on the screening of the film ‘Oh My God’ for its alleged anti-religious content.
With the wounds from the first film still raw, memories of the previous film came back to haunt as soon as Akshay Kumar published the poster for the sequel, prompting Netizens to dig up the actor’s old dialogues from his past films, in which he was heard disparaging Hindu tradition and rituals while praising Islamic practices in a few.
A Twitter user going by the handle @mechirubhat shared a mashup of Akshay Kumar’s dialogues from his previous movies which were patently anti-Hindu. The mashup was compiled by Twitter handle “Gems of Bollywood”.
Well the same @akshaykumar is coming up with second part of the movie where Hindus & their practices are mocked.
— Chiru Bhat | ಚಿರು ಭಟ್ (@mechirubhat) October 23, 2021
Now he needs our blessing to help him making fun of us.@GemsOfBollywood have come up with some good content on him which you shouldn’t miss watching. https://t.co/ivWXhvvndw pic.twitter.com/6tfMKj4d4m
The 2.20-minute video begins with a dialogue from Akshay Kumar’s 2019 release ‘Good Newwz’, where the actor was heard mocking Lord Ram. In the clip, a man says “Mere Bache ka naam Hola Ram hai kyunki vo Holi pe paida hua tha”, to which Akshay replies “Acha hua apka bacha Lohri pe paida nahi hua”. This didn’t go well with Twitter users who believed that he abused Lord Ram. The movie was produced by Akshay Kumar production- Cape of Good Films.
Kumar’s 2020 release Laxmii, earlier titled Laxmmi Bomb, was also criticised for its Hinduphobic content. Gems of Bollywood shared a clip from the movie where Akshay Kumar can be seen mocking a Hindu Sadhu accusing him of theft. He pokes fun at the Sadhu saying “Baba aapka lota kahan hain. Dobara kisi ko lootne ki koshish ki toh yeh video YouTube par upload kar doonga aur tu jail mein download ho jayega”.
This Hinduphobia follows in the footsteps of the left-liberal media, which have several times attempted to give a Hindu spin to a crime perpetrated by Islamic clerics by referring to them as a ‘Tantrik’.
The Twitter handle next shared a snippet of Akshay Kumar’s interview after the release of his 2012 movie OMG – Oh My God! in which he was once again seen questioning the Hindu beliefs and rituals. “Which god says ‘mere ko doodh dena’ and Hanuman saying mere ko tel daal (which god has ever demanded milk or when as lord Hanuman asked people to pour oil on him),” said Akshay.
Following that, in a scene from his 2017 movie Jolly LLB 2, Akshay Kumar mocks Brahmins by tying his Janeu to his ear before consuming alcohol.
Likewise in a clip from his 2007 release Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Kumar was seen mocking Hindu deity Hanuman. Actor Rajpal Yadav, who plays Chotte pandit in the film, is referred to as “Lal Hanuman” by Akshay Kumar, who gives him a tight slap and tells him to come to visit him another day.
In yet another scene from the movie Rowdy Rathore, Akshay Kumar, in what is depicted as ‘comedy’, is seen offering a bribe of Rs 15,000 to Lord Krishna. The movie was written by Bollywood scriptwriter Shiraz Ahmed.
Similarly in a clip from his movie Pad Man, a movie on a Tamil Nadu-based social activist who revolutionized the concept of menstrual hygiene in rural areas, Akshay Kumar takes a sanitary pad and places it on an ‘aarti thali’.
Besides these clips, Gems of Bollywood has also shared a few snippets, where Akshay Kumar can be seen hailing Islamic beliefs and practices.
Though this debate has erupted again today, it is pertinent to note that many OTT platforms have regularly posted Hinduphobic and caste rancour inducing content under the garb of entertainment. Last year, Netflix’s film “Krishna and His Leela” kicked up a controversy over its Hinduphobic content insulting Lord Krishna. Prior to that, web series Pataal Lok, which was released on Amazon Prime, had faced flak for its content that offended Hindus and Hinduism.
Another OTT platform, Zee5, was under the fire of Hindu organisations and senior BJP leaders over the blatant Hinduphobia pushed by the platform through its new Tamil web series ‘Godman’. Several Hindu groups, including social media users, had raised their voices against the anti-Hindu web series. The blowback from the Hindu organisations and Hindus on social media was so severe that Zee5 had to suspend the release of the controversial web series.
