PK (HINDI) (2014)

After the stupendous success of 3 Idiots which highlighted the maladies of an education system built on rote en route to setting new benchmarks of box-office success, in PK, the team of Rajkumar Hirani & Aamir Khan, put the multi-billion dollar industry called religion in their cross hairs. 

PK is an alien from a distant galaxy who lands in the middle of the desert in Rajasthan in a spaceship to study earth and its inhabitants. However, soon after landing on earth in the buff, he is divested of his remote - an exotic looking medallion -  through which he can communicate to his spaceship to return to his planet. The stolen remote is purchased by Delhi based godman, Tapasvi Baba (Saurabh Shukla) who intends to use it to milk more money from his devotees for a grand temple project.

PK follows the remote to Delhi and, on his way, is assisted by Bhairo Singh (Sanjay Dutt), a band leader in Rajasthan and Jaggu aka Jagatjanani (Anushka Sharma), a Delhi based TV journalist. There is a minor subplot involving a truncated romance between Jaggu and Sarfaraz (Sushant Singh Rajput), a Pakistani student, when they meet in Belgium.

Using the curious eyes of a being from another world, ignorant of the ways of our world, the director raises several valid questions on religions - man-made paths to God - as well as to godmen - those self anointed custodians of the faith who enrich themselves in the name of salvation and instant solutions by preying on the fears and weaknesses of their devotees. Though most of these questions are neither new nor, by any measure, daring and have already been part of the recent Paresh Rawal movie, Oh My God, Hirani and Aamir approach the subject with sincerity and Hirani's trademark zest which is appealing to the viewers and makes an instant connect.

Aamir, despite his continuing penchant to over-act, is excellent as the bumbling alien who tries to make sense of the multiple contradictions - hypocrisies which are accepted norms of our everyday life - that confound him. Anushka Sharma has an effervescent presence and lights up the screen in every scene she appears. Rajkumar Hirani regulars Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani, Parikshit Sahani, Saurabh Shukla along with Sushant Singh Rajput are effective in their minor cameos.

PK has its fair share of flaws in the form of a rushed up romance in the first act that is dovetailed into a contrived climax of the third act which stick out as out of place appendages. The length of the movie could also have been clipped by 20 minutes at least to make it more crisper. While Hirani might have wanted to depict PK as a commoner, he could have still avoided the thick Bhojpuri accent for PK which is tacky and hampers clear understanding of his lines. The movie is in its elements in the middle portion when PK is on his exploratory quest throwing up common sense questions on the absurdities that confront him. Yet, The songs, while not chart busters, gel well with the narrative. While there is no doubt that Hirani's movies deal with issues which are socially relevant and his tone of communication despite being evocative, remains benign, one gets the feeling that, in PK, Hirani seems satisfied having barely scratched the surface of an important issue and that, in a sense, could account for a less than fulfilled sense when you leave the movie. 

Overall, PK is a brave attempt (perhaps, not brave enough) - and a cinematic SUCCESS as it packages an important message by flagging several hypocrisies and inanities that baffle us in the garb of religion, rituals, accepted norms and conventions into an entertaining movie with a healthy dose of fun.

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

RATING - 3/5