'He Wanted To Keep Akshay Kumar Out...': OMG 2 Producer Shares Statement On Paresh Rawal's Claims That He Wrote Story Of Pankaj Tripathi Starrer

Veteran actor Paresh Rawal, recently, in an interview, claimed that he had written the story of OMG 2, and the makers didn't give him credit for it. He also said that he didn't want the Pankaj Tripathi-starrer to be made as part of the OMG franchise, and that, for the character Akshay Kumar played, he had approached other actors. Now, the producer of OMG 2, Ashwin Varde, has shared a long statement in which he has revealed his side of the story.

Varde responds to allegations

The statement read, “The accusations made by Paresh Rawal in a recent podcast pertaining to OMG 2 are shocking, untrue and unsubstantiated. These allegations leave me with no option but to publicly set the record straight. I would like to share my version of the journey of OMG 2, as it really happened.”

In the statement, Varde further revealed that he met Amit Rai (OMG 2 writer-director) through actor Pavan Malhotra, and they had met for a different film. Later, Varde and Rai became friends, and during a casual conversation, the latter briefly narrated a concept to him, and that eventually became OMG 2.

He said, “When I first heard it, my immediate reaction was that this subject resembled the format of OMG totally. Then, Amit told me that he had written it in the OMG format because Paresh Rawal had asked him to stay as close to OMG as possible in terms of the narrative. Paresh had worked with him in his earlier film, Road to Sangam, and they both shared a good camaraderie. But I had a concern – OMG cannot be made without Akshay Kumar or his approval, since I was aware that the IP rights of the film belonged to him.”

Varde said that Rawal told Rai that the IP rights of OMG were with him. "That’s why Amit went ahead and finished his script, which is entirely his own. The only difference was that the character of God (which was later played by Akshay Kumar) was that of a fakir.”

Dispute over script ownership

The producer says that Rawal was trying to create a version of OMG under a different name, which is unethical and unprofessional. He called it "nothing short of a theft.”

Varde claims that many actors rejected the film and told Rawal that "they all felt that this is OMG and that is Akshay Kumar’s film."

He further said, “I realized then that the script needed to be protected, and that’s when my company (Wakaoo Films) acquired the script.”

The producer says that the script is still registered under the name of Amit Rai, who is the sole writer of the film. He further said they met Rawal multiple times just to cast him in the movie.

Decision to proceed with OMG 2

Varde said, “I met Paresh for the third time at the Soho House in Juhu, where I told him that I would have to take this script first to Akshay Kumar since this is too much like OMG and it would be unethical on my part not to do so. I was shocked to see his reaction. He was emphatic that this film cannot be OMG – he kept repeating that without giving any plausible reason. It became obvious after a point that he wanted to keep Akshay Kumar out of the project for reasons best known to him.”

However, Varde said that, being a producer, he would never do anything like this to another producer. “I tried explaining not just the ethical implications of it but also the legal ramifications – but Paresh was stubborn. His continuous rant was – it cannot become OMG. But since the script belonged to us now, we decided to do the right thing. And that’s how OMG 2 happened.”

The producer stated that despite everything that happened, they still approached Rawal for the movie, and even Akshay spoke to the veteran actor, but he refused. He said, “We waited for almost two months, after which we moved on. Throughout this journey, I reiterate that Paresh’s involvement with the film was purely in the capacity of an actor and nothing else. In fact, there was an actor agreement also that was exchanged between us at that time.”

Credit and payment claims

Varde further revealed that Rawal was given due credit as the producer of OMG 2, despite having zero contribution to the film. The actor chose to give the credit to his wife, Swaroop Paresh Rawal, and his business partner, Hemal Thakkar.

“Not just that, Paresh Rawal was also paid a stipulated amount of money for OMG 2, which he conveniently forgets to mention in his recent interview. I would like to state again that nobody tried to cheat Paresh Rawal of anything. The only thing we are guilty of is stopping him from doing the same," the statement concluded.