OMG 2 with Akshay Kumar recently received an adult certificate and 20 cuts. In the wake of religious films, a Satyajit Ray lecture has gone viral.
One of the all-time great directors, Satyajit Ray’s works have had a significant influence on world cinema. His films are renowned for their social critique, realism, and symbolism. He was a master of narrative, and his films frequently looked at issues of class, poverty, and the human condition. We found an old interview with the filmmaker talking about a religious movie, and his words make perfect sense in light of the current controversy surrounding Akshay Kumar’s movie OMG 2.
Everyone is in disbelief after the censor board approved Oh My God 2 with an adult certificate after recommending 20 edits. Akshay Kumar portrays Lord Shiva in the movie, and Pankaj Tripathi plays one of his devoted followers. People had conflicting reactions to the movie’s trailer and accused Khiladi Kumar for portraying Lord Shiva while displaying his chiselled body. After the latest Censor Outing of the movie, the topic gained momentum.
In the middle of the debate and criticism over OMG 2, a video of Satyajit Ray is currently going viral. The director discusses being assaulted for making films with religious overtones in the video, which was posted on the Reddit thread r/IndiaSpeaks.
The director says, “I once made a film called ‘The Goddess’, Devi. It dealt with religious dogmatism, It didn’t attack religion as such, It attacked dogmatism. The extreme form of religion. But people were writing in the papers, ‘Because Mr. Ray is not a Hindu, he was a Brahmo, he is making such films against Hinduism.”
In light of recent concerns surrounding OMG 2, The Pather Panchali goes on to explain why such a fuss is created over religious films. The director of Pather Panchali continues, “But these are illiterate people; you can’t consider them. In India, this occurs frequently, yet people don’t…Despite the Film Society movement and everything, I must admit that our audience is fairly affluent. It’s a backward audience if you take into account the size of the audience. a simple audience. more frequently exposed to Hindi commercial film than anything else. As a result, you have this issue.
The filmmaker exclaims confidently towards the conclusion of his remarks, “But you make the kinds of films (you want), I make the kinds of films I want to make.” 36 films were eventually produced by Ray during the course of his career. His most well-known films include The Unvanquished (Aparajito), The World of Apu (Apur Sansar), The Lonely Wife (Charulata), The Music Room (Jalsaghar), The Big City (Mahanagar), Days and Nights in the Forest (Aranyer Din Ratri), and The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khiladi).
The world of cinema was significantly impacted by Ray’s flicks. In addition to inspiring a new generation of filmmakers, he contributed to the internationalisation of Indian cinema. Ray is regarded as one of the best filmmakers of all time, and filmmakers from all over the world continue to study and respect his work.
The crew has not yet released an official statement regarding the extensive amount of CBFC cuts and the censor certificate for OMG 2. We ponder whether contemporary directors would be as confident in endorsing their productions. We’ll be watching for directors to exude such exuberance and confidence when referring to their work and choice as their own
