India, July 18 -- Three years after OMG 2 was released, the film is back in the news after Paresh Rawal claimed on a recent podcast with Vickey Lalwani that he had developed its original idea with director Amit Rai but was neither credited for the story nor the concept. "The saddest part is that I wasn't even given credit for the story or the concept. My name wasn't mentioned anywhere," Rawal said. Calling these allegations "shocking, untrue and unsubstantiated", the film's co-producer Ashwin Varde and Rai have strongly rejected Rawal's claims. Varde alleged that Rawal had been given a producer credit despite making "zero contribution", but chose to pass it on to his wife, Swaroop Paresh Rawal, and business partner Hemal Thakkar. He also claimed that Rawal was paid a stipulated amount for the credit. Varde says Rai had written the film in the OMG format at Rawal's suggestion. "When I first heard it, my immediate reaction was that this subject resembled the format of OMG totally," he said, adding that he was concerned because the franchise's intellectual property rights belonged to Akshay Kumar. According to Varde, Rawal had told Rai that the IP belonged to him. "He was trying to make a version of OMG under a different name, which is unethical and unprofessional. For me, that is nothing short of a theft." On Rawal's claim that several actors had rejected the film, Varde says, "They all told him - this is OMG and that is Akshay's film. Why should we tread into something that belongs to him?" Varde says his company later acquired the screenplay, which remains registered solely in Rai's name. He also alleged that Rawal wanted to keep Akshay out of the project, was given a producer credit despite making "zero contribution", and was paid a stipulated amount: "Nobody tried to cheat Paresh of anything. The only thing we are guilty of is stopping him from doing the same." Rai also dismissed Rawal's claim: "Woh kis tathya ke aadhaar pe yeh keh rahe hain? He is merely making a claim. Kehne ko toh woh kuch bhi keh sakte hain." Asserting his authorship, he adds, "Jahaan tak mujhe yaad hai, uss film ka janak bhi main hi hoon, uska karta bhi main hi hoon, school bhejne wala bhi main hi hoon aur college bhejne wala bhi main hi hoon." Rai says the registered script and Screenwriters Association certificate carry his name....