Gadar 2 vs OMG 2: A battle for eyeballs that reminds of 2001

The date of 15 June 2001. Many modern-day filmgoers, who gravitated to the theatres for first-day shows back then, remember that date fondly. Anil Sharma’s period drama Gadar: Ek Prem Katha hit the marquee, along with Ashutosh Gowariker’s period drama Lagaan: Once Upon A Time in India. Many were hopeful that both films would serve liberal helpings of entertainment. They did, as we know, albeit in vastly different ways. Loved by critics, nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards and winner of eight awards at the 49th National Film Awards, Lagaan is a well-scripted, well-executed offering. Set in the fictional Central Indian village of Champaner, the film revolves around the poor villagers, who must beat their British masters in a game of cricket to avoid paying land taxes for the next two years. The climax will surprise nobody, but the ambitious film has many merits. Headlined by Aamir Khan, Lagaan received a lot of appreciation for its direction, story (Gowariker), cinematography (Anil Mehta), costume design (Bhanu Athaiya), music (AR Rahman) – and several unforgettable characters. The film was a significant commercial success, but it attracted half as many viewers compared to Gadar. Gadar, to put it simply, was a box-office monster. The film, which takes us back to the Partition of India, hinges on the love story of its protagonists Tara Singh (Sunny Deol) and Sakina Ali (Ameesha Patel). The film’s melodious songs (Uttam Singh), earth-shatteringly loud dialogues mouthed by the hero, action, and, above all, the love story provided an irresistible big-screen experience to the average filmgoer in 2001. Viewers sang and danced inside the theatres along with the music, cheered for the hero when he took on the ‘evil’ Pakistanis, stared at the screen with disbelief and anger during the blood-soaked sequences depicting the consequences of communal hatred, and went back home satisfied because the story did not end in a tragedy. Unstoppable at the ticket counters, Gadar became a famous event in the history of commercial Hindi cinema. Twenty-two years later, Gadar’s direct sequel Gadar 2 is in town. Also helmed by Sharma and with Deol, Patel and Utkarsh Sharma, who played the young son of the couple in 2001, reprising their roles, the film takes off 17 years after the prequel ends. Director Sharma has attempted to repeat his act of 2001: that is, deliver the perfect mass entertainer. Set in 1971 during a warlike situation involving India and Pakistan, the sequel revisits the lives of Tara and Sakina, who are much older and deeply in love after years of marriage. Their son wants to be an actor, while his father wants him to join the Indian Army and serve the nation. What happens after the son is captured and imprisoned in Pakistan, and the father goes to rescue him, results in the action-packed climax. Deol is in his mid-60s, but he is in fine form as a family man and an action hero. Although the look of the film is distinctly outdated, and so is the manner of storytelling, the actor’s presence and performance is the soul of the film. The film tries to market memories of Gadar and partially succeeds, too. But it is Tara, who gets the loudest cheers inside the theatres in the over-the-top action sequences. Gadar 2 has had the best first day at the ticket counters after Pathaan this year. Nothing can stop the film from being a big success, even though the plot has many loopholes and the runtime is much longer than it should have been. Making the sequel is a masterstroke in itself, and that will be the main reason why the film will continue to attract viewers in big numbers in the coming days. What Lagaan was to Gadar in 2001, OMG 2 is to Gadar 2 in 2023: the main rival in the battle for eyeballs. Writer-director Amit Rai’s satirical comedy starring Akshay Kumar as God’s messenger, Pankaj Tripathi as a devotee of Lord Shiva and Yami Gautam as a lawyer revolves around sex education. Passed by the Censor Board with an ‘A’ (Adult) rating reportedly after 25 modifications, the film, which makes us laugh and think at the same time, deals with a subject that society mostly overlooks or avoids. A standalone sequel to Umesh Shukla’s satirical comedy OMG – Oh My God! (2012), OMG 2 is a well-intentioned film with a few good performances led by a brilliant Pankaj Tripathi, who is delightfully natural as the father whose son is expelled from school because of his immoral conduct. His family experiences embarrassment and humiliation, and the father ends up taking the school to court. The man has divine support, and he wants to establish his argument that there is a need for sex education in schools so that children can get rid of their misconceptions at the right time in their lives. The satire has genuinely comic moments, and it conveys an important message without being preachy and boring. Teenagers who have not reached adulthood cannot watch the film in cinemas, which will limit its theatrical viewership considerably. OMG 2 has started slowly, but whether or not the film will generate more interest remains to be seen. It will not receive as many awards as Lagaan once did, but it deserves a good score for its treatment of a sensitive subject no other filmmaker in Bollywood has touched so far. The writer, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature and pop culture. Among his books are ‘MSD: The Man, The Leader’, the bestselling biography of former Indian captain MS Dhoni, and the ‘Hall of Fame’ series of film star biographies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.