Paresh Rawal starrer release of this year - Oh My God has drawn a lot of praise. Based on his own Gujarati play, this movie attacks on the exploitation of people's religious sentiments by the high profile 'contractors of religion' spread in all the nooks and corners of India. Started with the question whether God exists or not, it ended with emergence of faith in God in the heart of the protagonist. I liked this movie very much just like its other admirers but found weaknesses also in the script and its treatment. Anyway, this movie reminded me of a three and a half decades old Hindi movie which was made on the same theme albeit its script was entirely different from that of OMG. It's Yehi Hai Zindagi (1977).
Yehi Hai Zindagi (this only is life) is the story of Anand (Sanjeev Kumar) who is an atheist but the husband of a religious lady - Gaayatri (Seema Deo). He has two sons - Madhu (Romesh Sharma) and Govind (Aadil) and a daughter - Kamla (Tamanna). In the given situation of his life, he is able to afford only a very modest lower middle class living for himself and his family. His disbelief in God regularly leads to his arguments with his wife. One day he decides to grow in the line of business and takes money out of the sacred money accumulated and kept for religious purposes only by by his religious wife, i.e., Gaayatri. Gaayatri prohibits him from taking God's money but he does not listen and promises to return this 'loan' taken from God in due course of time. With the help of that money, he keeps on going forward in the line of business and progresses by leaps and bound due to his hard work and dedication towards his mission (to become rich). And finally, the day comes when he is no longer a modestly living ordinary person and has become very rich now. Meantime his elder son gets married to the daughter (Neeta Mehta) of his business partner (Utpal Dutt) and apparently everything seems to be perfectly placed in his life. However gradually he is able to see that the landscape of his life is not as greenish as he perceives it. There are many wrong things which have been out of his knowledge. Since the day he had taken 'God's money' as a 'loan' for his business endeavours, Lord Krishna (Vikram Gokhle) has been visiting him quite regularly (visible to him only and to none else). Lord Krishna does not try to force him to believe in the power of God but keeps on reminding him that money isn't everything in the world and he should take proper care of his own life as well as his family also simultaneously with his business work. Anand realizes this lesson after losing a lot in his life including his peace of mind and then he bows before the Supreme Power.
The script of this movie is entirely different from that of OMG but the basic theme is more or less the same. However I keep this movie a notch above OMG because the it raises the question which I have raised on several occasions in my own life since the very childhood - What's more important - having faith in God and worshipping Him or having faith in ethics and following them ? Mahatma Gandhi asserted - Satya Hee Eeshwar Hai (Truth only is God) and I firmly believe in that only. The hero of Yehi Hai Zindagi is an atheist and does not believe in God or His power but he is a truthful person who just gets lost in the race of making money, ignoring his life as well as his family members and finally suffers due to that.
In OMG, whatever the protagonist asserts in the court and outside the court is quite true and all of his arguments are valid but he is not shown in the movie to make an honest living. He tells lies to his customers and always tries to exploit their devotion and religious beliefs to own monetary advantage. Hence in my view, he cannot blame the Almighty for everything that happened to him when he himself was not honest in his dealings. He files a suit against God in the court because the insurance company refuses to pay him the insured sum due to the loss being through an act of God but it is also shown that despite being an experienced businessman, he had not bothered to read the terms and conditions of the policy before taking it. Then who's fault is it - God's or his own ?
The way Paresh Rawal is an outstanding actor, the same way (late) Sanjeev Kumar was an extra-ordinary actor The story revolves around him (and Lord Krishna) only and all others are in supporting roles. Vikram Gokhle as Lord Krishna has also performed wonderfully and the on-screen chemistry of these two is no less than that of Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar in OMG. The complete supporting cast has done justice to the assigned roles.
Since Oh My God has earned a lot of success and critical acclaim, I suggest the viewers who liked it, to watch Yehi Hai Zindagi also and contrast these two movies. I put my question again - what's more important - faith in Him or faith in ethics and noble values of life ?
