Director: Amit Rai
Actors: Pankaj Tripathi, Bruno, Maahi Rai
Rating: 3.5 stars
In terms of screentime, Oscar and Apu are the leads of Ohh My Dog.
By way of treatment, both doubtlessly get projected as stars in a proper, outdoorsy, event pic, with all the accoutrements of desi, mainstream cinema; namely, high-key emotions, rapid action, massive crowds, the works.
You’re in, and you stay, for the big-ticket entertainment, before a large screen, in a dark hall, while the audiences respond to every moment, even cheering, clapping, on occasion.
The film itself is a mystery-thriller, sincerely ticking all the boxes of the genre, i.e. intelligently retracing steps, through vital clues and evidences, to connect complex dots.
The sleuths being Oscar and Apu, of course. The former was at the door, when I was exiting the film, after its press preview. Must admit, I felt suitably star-struck.
Oscar is played by a mixed-breed, seemingly stray dog called Bruno. Apu (Maahi Rai) is a cute, curly-haired, know-it-all kid, great with gadgets, with a knack for hacking into cellular networks. Their stories pan out separately. One’s set in Patna, Bihar; the other in Dibrugarh, Assam. The point is the same.
Oscar’s lost his master, a street kid, that he’s doggedly in pursuit of — blessed with the natural advantage to sniff and search better than humans, of course. That’s the only superpower. This isn’t a superhero flick. Likewise, Apu is trying to find, pretty much on his own, his pet named Momo, who casually stepped out of the house, and never returned.
Apu is obviously named after Satyajit Ray’s icon, with Ray’s portrait on the wall, as he leaves home to solve the said mystery, with a poster of Sonar Kella (1974) behind him.
The point of a great thought/script is, you haven’t watched it before. Ohh My Dog is that, to begin with. Foremost, fresh in its conception. And I don’t say this for the finest lead characters you’ve come across in a movie, lately.
But for how convincingly you can stretch that leap of faith/imagination — as the film engagingly traverses through the thumping sounds of Assam, Bihar (Mangesh Dhakde), captivatingly capturing the sights, through top-grade cinematography (Máté Herbai), so confidently building scene, over scene.
It’s seldom the story; always in the telling of it, isn’t it? No doglapan, whatsoever! Yeah, I did feel the climax, so smartly choreographed still, to be rather elongated; perhaps overstaying the viewer’s welcome.
But by then, you’re already rooting for the whole movie — as are well-known veterans, Pankaj Tripathi, Pavan Malhotra, et al, so graciously enlisted as supporting cast to the said leads, i.e. a dog, and a boy, simply looking for a boy, and a dog!
Given the expansive street-dog culture across India — including Patna that, you can see, deems Hanuman as its patron deity, and whom Oscar so warmly worships — Ohh My Dog could’ve only been a desi film.
Frankly, compared to pet-parents and serious canine connoisseurs around me — I consider myself, more or less, an agnostic on dog.
That said, it’s easy to sense the fascination for stories set on the loyal, furry friends. The visceral connect is instant. The sorts that I’ve watched, and not thought much of — the celebrated Kannada pic, 777 Charlie (2022), being the most recent example.
Both the missing dog, and the boy, in this movie have, evidently, been kidnapped. Whatever the motivations, and they’re crystal clear, the cops seem to have a hand in the theft, and unlikely to participate in the hunt.
Which makes this the classic underdog story, chiefly between the top dog, and the wily men that surround him. Therein lies the caper. At a certain fabulous point in this pic, chiefly looking at the audience, I felt this could be an ecstatic Eega (2012) moment at the movies!
Doesn’t Oscar deserve a film award? In the same way that Ohh My Dog opens with a state-funeral for a highly decorated sniffer-dog from the Mumbai Police, who’s passed away? Maybe, there should such be a category.
But the credit, like with everything else to do with a film, must be shared with the director — how hard it must be shoot these extensive, elaborate sequences?
And that is, the remarkably talented, Amit Rai, who’s written, directed, produced Ohh My Dog. The title itself could be a headline. His last film was Oh My God 2 (2023) — rare sequel that’s better than the original!
Amit debuted with a gently pluralist, old-world, Road to Sangam (2009), following it up with I-Pad (2015), inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham, that perhaps couldn’t release in theatres, because Akshay Kumar’s Pad Man (2018) had to.
This is absolutely his most inventive, accomplished work. What else to say while sounding sufficiently canine— take a bow-wow, Amit.
