PK (19 Dec 2014)

Cast: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt, Saurabh Shukla, Sushant Singh Rajput, Parikshit Sahni

Director: Rajkumar Hirani   Music: Shantanu Moitra, Ajay-Atul, Ankit Tiwari, Ram Sampath 

Writer: Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijit Joshi, Sreerag Nambiar

Running Time: 150 minutes

Producer – director team of Vidhu Vinod Chopra - Rajkumar Hirani is known to belt out brilliant movies that impart social message with humor and old world romance. And ‘PK’ is this duo’s latest offering. Herein, the social message is very much on the lines of ‘OMG – Oh My God’, but the treatment of the subject is very unique and different.

Jagat Janani aka Jaggu (Anushka Sharma), a budding New Delhi TV journalist, in her perennial quest for scoop or ‘breaking news’ stumbles across P.K. (Aamir Khan), who is highly weird, amusing and different in his attire, walk and talk. In the recent past, Jaggu’s heart has been broken by Sarfaraz (Sushant Singh Rajput), who apparently left her at the altar! Jaggu first spots P.K. while he is distributing pamphlets for missing persons, only the names and photos of the missing persons are those of different Hindu deities (Lakshmi, Ganesh, Shiv etc.)! Out of curiosity and professional interest, she trails and observes P.K. And she realizes that P.K.’s expectation and understanding of the environment around him is very different from that of a normal human being. It’s stupid, humors law and at times also causes embarrassment. But it’s definitely not illogical.

P.K. is also on a one track quest of his usurped belonging. With his never say die attitude, he is continuously learning, adapting and devising new ways to accelerate his quest. But his unconventional methods, often land him into trouble. During her following up, Jaggu witnesses one such crisis and lends a genuine helping hand, thereby winning P.K.’s trust. Upon askance, he readily agrees to tell her more about himself and obliges, which leaves Jaggu confused and bewildered. Initially, she brushes off his tale as absurd and fake. But further probe into the matter, establishes the fact that P.K. is actually an alien from a far off planet who is stuck on Earth because his remote control was forcefully taken from him  in Bhiwandi region! Bhairon Singh (Sanjay Dutt) of Bhiwandi told him that his usurped remote control will be sold in a big city like Delhi, which prompted him to come to the city. Apparently this alien species looks exactly like humans, except for their protruding ears and walking style. Also, in their own planet, they neither wear clothes, nor are required to speak, as they are advanced enough to know the mind, just by holding each other’s hands!

For some reason, this precious and big locket like remote control is found in the possession of Tapasvi ji (Saurabh Shukla), an acclaimed guru, who propagates it to be a broken end of Lord Shiva’s musical instrument i.e. ‘damru’! Tapasvi ji is known for his direct connection with God. Devotees flock his meetings to tell him their problems, to which he provides solutions after discussion with God! Coincidentally Jaggu and her boss Cherry (Boman Irani) also have their individual personal scores to settle with Tapasvi ji. Thus, Jaggu convinces Cherry and using the power of media and logical oration of P.K., devices a plan that will bring to light the fakeness of Tapasvi ji and also enable P.K.’s return to his planet.

‘PK’ is a brilliant movie with an amazing script. The whole ruckus of myriad relegions and self appointed religious managers aka God men has been questioned from the view point of an alien, who is like a blank canvas with no prior understanding or reflex of the human race. And when this canvas is exposed to a series of brush strokes carrying different colors, pressures and stroke styles, he needs to attach a unique purpose to each type of brush stroke. Whenever there is a breach in this uniqueness, he gets confused, and whenever the result is illogical, he questions the stroke itself! His confusion and questions seem bizarre, but are in fact very logical. In fact, due to years of wrong practice, we humans have unnecessarily got tuned to absurd practices. God is one, but we have divided Him into a number of relegions. God is to be loved, but we have associated Him with fear. God is same for everyone, but we seek God men to feel closer to God!

The movie also highlights the fact that the original purpose of clothing and speech has been lost upon the humans. They were simply meant to protect against the weather and provide a medium of expression. Instead, they are being used to create myriad sects and spread aggression and lies. A civilization sans these provisions may actually be superior and better, like that of P.K.’s planet!

The beauty of the movie lies in its simplicity. It doesn’t cater to any burning social issue or condemns any social practice. It simply questions and expresses amusement over conflicting practices and ready subservience of the human race. The overall feel is of humor and amazement. Bhojpuri language was never better used in a Bollywood movie. Usage of words like ‘gola’ (planet) and ‘lool’ (meaningless) are bound to bring smile on the viewer’s lips.  Songs are situation based. The track ‘Tharki chokro’ has a nice rustic flavor and is also well picturized. Casting is also appropriate.

However, wherein the past productions (Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai,3 Idiots) of the makers of this movie have successfully focused upon a single issue, herein you get confused, whether the focus of the movie is diverse relegions or God men.

Aamir Khan as usual is brilliant. He is like Tom Hanks of Bollywood. Every new performance of his is a refreshing surprise. No one else can enact P.K. like him. In his own head, he understands the pulse of the character and develops the required persona and body language, complete with small nuances. Can anyone believe that such a young, innocent and gleeful looking character is actually an actor nearing fifty! Except for her daffy duck lips (no thanks to cosmetics), Anushka Sharma with her good height and flawless complexion, looks like a million bucks. She has also acted well and managed to hold her own opposite Aamir Khan. Sushant Singh Rajput is also a revelation in his small role. He has well matched the effervescence of Anushka. In fact, his dialogue delivery is better than many experienced actors. Saurabh Shukla, Parikshit Sahni and others have also acted well.

Last but not the least, in this movie, the heroine is considerably taller than the hero, and the movie is devoid of any attempt to camouflage the same. This is very much evident in the ‘stress removal dance’ performed by the lead pair. The dance is beautiful, but more beautiful is the journey of Indian cinema, where now the hero no more needs to be the taller one.