‘They said Vidhu Vinod Chopra bribed my with Rs 8 crore to not make OMG': Director Umesh Shukla opens up on PK comparisons
Back when Rajkumar Hirani's PK hit the theatres, there was considerable buzz around its striking resemblance to OMG: Oh My God!, the sleeper hit comedy directed by Umesh Shukla that released about a year earlier. While OMG was adapted from a theatre play written and directed by Shukla himself, PK was an original screenplay penned by Hirani and his long-time collaborator Abhijat Joshi. Now, years later, Umesh Shukla has finally addressed the comparisons and longstanding plagiarism rumours in a candid interview with Friday Talkies. Speaking about the conceptual similarity between the two films, Shukla said: 'I think they might've had a similar idea in mind. If PK had released before my film, people might have said that mine resembled PK.'
He also pointed out that his play had been running on stage long before the movie adaptation, and that many from the PK team were familiar with it. 'Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and writer Abhijat Joshi had all seen my play. So, when someone works on a similar subject, there's bound to be some reflection. If you're making a love story, and someone says 'I love you' in that film, well, of course they will, it's a love story.'
Over the years, speculation has swirled that Shukla was paid off by the PK team, especially Aamir Khan and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, to shelve OMG, considering the thematic similarities. Shukla finally addressed those claims head-on: 'At that time, there were even rumours that Vidhu Vinod Chopra gave me Rs 8 crore to not make the film. But that was just gossip, Nothing of the sort ever happened. All of them, be it Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi, Chopra, or even Aamir Khan, are too talented and dignified to do something so petty, like offering money.'
Also Read | Aamir Khan and Rajkumar Hirani reunite after 3 Idiots and PK, announce biopic on the 'father of Indian cinema' Dadasaheb Phalke
PK was widely compared to OMG soon after its release, fueling conspiracy theories that Hirani had paid Shukla to stall his project. In his defence, Hirani had firmly denied such claims in a statement to a leading daily: 'Please, please call Umesh Shukla and ask him, or call Paresh. This is absurd, How can someone say something like this?' Even Aamir Khan weighed in, calling the reports baseless: 'It's all lies… fabricated. You should be very careful about what you believe.'
In earlier interviews, both Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi had clarified that the original screenplay of PK, conceived in the late 2000s, was markedly different. However, they later revamped it after realising it bore similarities to Christopher Nolan's Inception, which had just released. Ironically, by the time they completed filming and began editing, OMG: Oh My God! had hit the screens, and they again noticed a few thematic overlaps. Nonetheless, they stayed the course and released their film. Despite the controversy, PK went on to become a massive box office hit and is now considered one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of all time.
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