Having crossed the Rs. 100-crore mark, OMG 2 has been a box-office success. Actor Pankaj Tripathi, who plays a pivotal role in the movie co-starring actors Yami Gautam Dhar and Akshay Kumar, admits to being “surprised and disappointed” by the Central Board of Film Certification’s (CBFC) decision of giving it an A certificate. He feels it’s important to allow the target audience, including teenagers, to watch the film that is about sex education.

Calling for a re-evaluation of its certification, Tripathi, who won a National Film Award for his performance in Mimi (2021) last week and dedicated to his father who died recently, says, “We have addressed a very important subject in the film and it’s meant for teenagers. OMG 2 was made for them, and if they cannot watch the film, there is no point. So, the A certificate is just uncalled for. Not letting them watch the film is the same as not giving them sex education. It will be great if the A certificate gets changed.”

The 46-year-old acknowledges that the film certification falls under the jurisdiction of the CBFC and he hopes that the collective uproar will prompt a reconsideration: “They (CBFC) must have received feedback from the audience. It’s about the message not getting delivered to the age group that it was intended for.”

He asserts that the movie underscores the importance of sex education beyond cinematic considerations: “A doctor friend told me that the psychiatrists in their group were discussing that everyone should support the film as unke paas teenagers yeh issue leke aate hain.”

A father to 17-year-old Aashi, the actor doesn’t shy away from discussing the topic of sex education with his daughter. “We do not hesitate to talk about it. I agree with the content; that’s why I became a part of this film,” he ends.