Among non-Indians, Bollywood films often are underestimated in terms of their potential to be serious potential classics. Bollywood does not represent the sum total of all Indian film production and I am not certain if a classic like Lagaan even would be considered a Bollywood film but even that wonderful view of the tensions between British overlords and native India included many Bollywood elements, such as the song and dance routines. OMG (Oh my God), on the other hand, IS Bolllywood without a shadow of a doubt, but it is a great film and is in fact based on a famous Gujarati play entitled 'Kanji Virudh Kanji'.
When I was a child in Nepal, my girlfriends and I would go to Kathmandu to one of the cinemas to see mainly Hindi films, as Nepalese films at that point did not exist in any quantity. Although I did not speak Hindi, the language was similar enough that I could follow most of the plot and dialogues. Later, after my University days, I had forgotten most of my Nepali but I introduced a good friend to the wonders of Indian cinema and spicy snacks by taking her with me to the Indian cinemas in Whitechapel in London. It was a little more difficult to follow the dialogues but simply being there, munching on fried dhal and other savouries never found in Western cinemas took me back to my childhood and satisfied an emotional longing to return.
Now that we have Netflix, Amazon and Ebay, I probably could watch Hindi films constantly but do not have a taste for it most of the time. I suddenly remembered, however, that some of the films do feature appearances by the various Hindu gods and goddesses and found one on Netflix entitled 'OMG' that gave Krishna a major role.
It is a very compelling film in its way, whether or not you are Hindu. It basically satirises and criticises the entire 'business' and 'trade' of religion and includes cameo appearances by Christian and Islamic clerics in a role as defendants in a law suit against God.
Essentially the plot revolves round the legal concept of the 'act of God' for which special insurance must be paid if a person whose property is damaged wishes to collect any compensation. A man who owned a religious items shop was the only person to suffer damage in an earthquake after he made some derogatory comments about the gods and disrupted a festival. He attempted to collect from his insurance company only to be told that 'acts of Gods' were not covered.
He then decided that his only recourse would be to take God to court. It is cleverly written and quite interesting. It is very characteristic of Indian cinema but embraces concepts that are universal. Krishna when he appears does not do so in traditional majestic garb and symbols but is a young man wearing shades who rides a very cool motorbike. The only symbol he carries is a set of keys to the motorbike with a single peacock feather that he swings constantly round his finger. Clever modern variation on traditional Krishna symbolism.
In any event, I do not wish to ruin the film by telling the entire story here, but I recommend it to all audiences. It was both amusing and thought-provoking. My personal interest in the film initially was to remind myself of the traditions of Hindu festivals but I was delighted to find that the scope of this film went far beyond rituals of butter and milk offerings and snake dances.
When the film begins, Kanji basically is an atheist entrepreneur who manipulates his customers into believing that the gods have spoken to him to advise them to purchase a particular statue or relic. He has no qualms whatsoever about fabricating tales in order to make a sale, and yet he expects a much higher standard of behaviour from the religious men who run the temples, churches and mosques. For the most part, they are hypocrites who engineer their own minor 'miracles' and messages from the gods to make a profit for themselves.
What is interesting here is the fact that Kanji, from being a jaded atheist actually develops a profound faith in God by the end of the film, thanks to the intervention of Krishna and moreover, in his quest for justice, takes the followers of other religions under his wing, as it were, to demand answers from 'God' across the board, whether he/she goes by the name of Shiva, Brahma, Allah, or Christ. Many of his arguments are practical. Why take milk to the temple to offer it to a statue who cannot drink it when the precinct in front of the temple is packed with starving beggars who are denied entrance? Rather than allowing the milk to run down the gutters wastefully, give it to the thirsty in the name of God. Simple solutions that are embraced in the maxim to 'Love thy neighbour' in any religion.
I am not well-versed enough in the different Hindu sects to have been able to identify each and every one of the religious figures who are denounced by Kanji in court, but I wish I were! In particular, I found the long-haired priest very interesting, as he appeared to assume a ritual position with one arm held crooked in front of his face. This may be a reference to the devotees of Shiva who took a vow to keep one armed raised for years in renunciation of earthly matters, or it may have a more specialised significance. Amar Bharati, a Shiva devotee, has kept his arm raised for over 38 years and now could not do anything else with it if he wished, unless Shiva himself were to intervene.
I could be mistaken about the long-haired priest as a devotee of Shiva. I will do more research on the subject but he certainly resembles the devotees of Shiva more than any other individual in the film. What does the hand position signify? That is my question!
Shiva probably is the oldest of the gods that have been gathered together under the umbrella of 'Hinduism'. It is said that Hinduism is an artificial British-created name for a multitude of different local religions and practices. Certainly most of the Gods and Goddesses that are brought together under the name had their own local traditions throughout the ages and throughout different parts of India.
Shiva, however, is the ancient Pashupati, 'Lord of the Animals' and there is a seal from Mohendaro that is believed to be one of the earliest depictions of this god. He is associated with Rudra, the ancient storm god and indeed, with his Trident, can be found throughout the world in different cultures and civilisations as the ancient Storm God. As such, he would be associated with Ba'al of Canaan and every other ancient 'Sky' God, at war perpetually with the Earth God Mot.
His second consort was the daughter of the Himalayas, Parvati. Her prior incarnation was Sati, who immolated herself because of her father's opposition to her marriage to Shiva.. Consumed with grief over her death, he retreated to a cave in the Himalayas. The goddess Parvati, daughter of the Himalayas, practiced years of austerities in her attempt to win his heart. He finally realised she was the incarnation of his beloved Sati and accepted her love. Shiva therefore is very much associated with Nepal. Some traditions consider Nepal his birthplace.
Shiva is a god of many conflicting aspects. He is both the 'wild man' and the devoted head of his household, two roles that usually do not coincide in Hindu life. The fact that Parvati had to practice austerities for years in order to win his affection probably signifies an ancient association between Shiva and the life of the hermit, the unstructured, undomestic aspect of this god who is after all, the god of total annihilation in one of his roles. Annihilation obviously is the prerequisite for creation of a new world or new order. Transformation always is preceded by death or a radical change.
The marriage between Parvati and Shiva denotes harmony between Matter and Spirit, a necessity in the smooth running of this world. In the Hindu traditions, each God or Goddess possesses different avatars, assuming different roles depending on the time and place. In a sense, this is more logical than the appearance of Jesus Christ in Christianity as a single individual at one specific time and place. In the Hindu tradition, Jesus Christ would be one of the avatars of an existing deity, sent to perform a specific task but without limiting the ability of the deity to return in another guise. Yes, there is the 'Second Coming' but that is quite a different matter.
One of the ironies of the success of OMG is that, despite the fact that one of the messages of Lord Krishna is that devotees should be free from fear and their reliance on symbols, a keychain resembling the one he twirled in the film is being sold in great quantities:
The other photograph shown below is of the 'Go Govinda ritual dance' from the film.
