Did Vidhu Vinod Chopra bribe Umesh Shukla with ₹8 crore to not make Akshay Kumar-Paresh Rawal's OMG? Filmmaker reveals

Rajkumar Hirani and Aamir Khan's film PK was a massive hit at the box office. However, the film's concept had a striking resemblance to filmmaker, actor, and writer Umesh Shukla's OMG-Oh My God!, starring Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal, which had released just a year before. In a recent interview with Friday Talkies, the filmmaker talked about the comparisons between the two films. (Also Read: 102 director Umesh Shukla on skipping Rishi Kapoor's funeral: 'Sight of seeing the van going away was shocking')
Umesh opened up about the similar concepts of the two films and 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. 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.'
Umesh recalled rumours about Vidhu Vinod Chopra offering him money to not make OMG and said, 'At that time, there were even rumours that Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who was part of PK, gave me ₹8 crore to not make the film. But that was just gossip, nothing like that actually happened. Wo apne aap mein itne talented log hain. Rajkumar Hirani sahab, Abhijat, Vidhu Vinod Chopra sahab, Aamir Khan sahab, sab log itne talented hain ki wo itni unchi harkat karte hi nahi the paisa dene ke liye. Yeh sab uḍ chali thi uss samay par, aisa kuch nahi tha (They are all incredibly talented individuals—Rajkumar Hirani sir, Abhijat, Vidhu Vinod Chopra sir, Aamir Khan sir. They are way above doing something so petty as offering money to stop a film. These were just talks that floated around back then, but there was no truth to it).'
In OMG – Oh My God!, Paresh Rawal plays an atheist who sues God after his shop is destroyed in an earthquake, leading to a courtroom drama that questions the practices of religious institutions. In PK, Aamir Khan plays an alien who loses his communication device and is forced to confront how religion shapes people's beliefs, often being misused by so-called "godmen." Both films use satire and humour to deliver strong social commentary. While OMG – Oh My God! made ₹149 crore worldwide, PK earned ₹792 crore globally.
Meanwhile, Umesh's next film, Heer Express, stars Ashutosh Rana, Sanjay Mishra, Gulshan Grover, and Prit Kamani, with Divita Juneja playing the lead role. The exact release date has yet to be announced, but it is scheduled for this year.

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