pk

                                                       

                                                                 

 By now, the storyline isn’t a secret any more, but if you’ve still not watched pk, don’t read on, for there are spoilers ahead.

pk is a brave movie, simply for the issue it takes up.  By now, anyone who walks in for a  Rajkumar Hirani movie has some set standards and expectations. Namely, it will take up a social cause and present it to us in a manner that makes for enjoyable cinema.

In pk, Hirani takes a huge leap. From talking about ill mannered chimps who disguise themselves as gentlemen to the rotting of our education system, he decides to take the bull by the horn and talk about the root of all evil in this country: religion. And no, despite the many parallels between Oh My God, what Hirani does here is much bigger, for he does not restrict himself to the comforts of nitpicking into his own faith and belief. The problem is not contained in any one faith in this country, and the movie is bold enough to say as much.

But we live in the times of nonsense (I mean it quite literally), and that is Hirani and co writer Abhijat Joshi’s albatross. In catering to that I think they might have slipped, in execution, but never once in intent.  

Religion is such a deeply ingrained practice in people that it takes an alien to point out its fallacies. Mostly because of the volatility that ranges and shifts violently between hardcore extremism and hyper sensitivity (especially among Hindus who immediately rise up to champion the cause of other faiths and say how wrong it was to drill holes in them). If you’ve watched closely you’d see no one was doing that in the movie. The point of the movie was to hold a mirror to the rotten stink of all religions, and so it did.  Secularism does not mean one religion has to be mollycoddled over another. It is the belief that religion should not be involved with the day to day social and political activities of a country.

Anyway, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get on with the movie. The alien device is thus  brilliant, because which inhabitant of this country (or even this world) could otherwise be completely unbiased in challenging religious sentiments? No, not even you, no matter how much you shake your head at me now. 

But other than that, Hirani and Joshi also question everyday malpractices in us in smart pithy scenes, like the one in which pk discovers Gandhi’s importance is now only defined by money, or where he is surprised that an insignificant and obvious fraud in a little city in a little country in a little planet in one corner of the universe has the audacity the think he can save or help God.

Things that we’ve all learnt in school (respect the Flag and the Father of the Nation, do not litter, you can’t bribe God to do your bidding, be a good person), and things we’ve all not only conveniently forgotten but also make excuses not to follow. What’s the point of not littering the roads when it all goes to the same pit, eh? Well, how about you trash things in your bedroom and living room instead of in bins at home? It all goes to the same pit anyway!

There’s nothing specific to talk about in terms of actors. It is Aamir Khan’s movie, but this isn't his best acting by any means. Anushka Sharma glows like a fresh flower despite the awkward lips. The anti-hyper feminine look is a winner. Everyone else is good at what they’ve been asked to do. There’s no answer to why the radio only plays old songs. Is it fixed to a particular channel that does that at all times?

The message in the movie is simple—stop following religious mores and practices at the cost of logic. God, or your belief is not the villain, distorted notions of those are.  Stripped to the bone, it really is that simple. It is bewildering to the alien, as it is to the few sane people left on Earth that this takes so much time to understand. On this theme Hirani adds commercial layers of songs (which don’t quite match up to his standards and are a tad too many in number), love triangles and melodrama.

And herein lies my problem. What Hirani has attempted with pk should be made an example of  ( wonder why it's not gone tax free yet) for every director and actor who think thick jokes, double-meaning laden quips and blowing up cars are the only way to make money. But where it missed the mark for me was in the inexplicable doses of un-Hirani like melodrama and preaching in the narrative.

In short, exactly what worked by their absence in  3 Idiots and the Munnabhai series killed the experience in pk.

Or maybe, like someone said, the audience for this one is people who think they can fix their problems with stones and amulets. (Don't laugh, we know educated graduates who still wear those. There. What are you hiding under your sleeve?)

At least, that’s who the movie is educating. They are the ones who buy Nazar Suraksha Kawajes and give Star TV its monies. So maybe, Hirani took the soap line of tears and dumbing down to drive home the point. I only wish he hadn’t.