PK – Movie Review

PK reminded me of the song We didn’t start the fire –  the lyrics had just too much of messaging in it isn’t it?

The much awaited feature presentation of Raju Hirani and Aamir Khan finally hit the screens with their movie titled PK.To take you back in time Raju Hirani, the director, made light hearted social messaging movies since Munnabhai MBBS which released in 2003. Around the same time Aamir Khan, the actor, started seeing success with hits like Lagaan, Taare Zameen Pe which had some elements of social messaging.

Then 3 Idiots happened. It kind of changed everything. Its was the iphone of hindi film industry in some ways. It dealt with a  subject which the worlds largest middle class grappled with – education system in India. It touched a chord.Losely based , and largely adapted on Chetan Bhagat’s book Five Point Someone – the movie hit home run.  Suddenly everyone seemed to identify with the storyline and found themselves in one of the characters in the movie. The result was a smashing box office record.

Now cut to the present – PK. Much of the idea, intent, thought process remains the same. A social message,laced with humor, and some sharp dialog duels and happy ending.However, this time around it does not strike a chord or touch your heart. This time you see an over dose of preachy social messaging which looked more like a NFDC documentary packaged in a velvet foil. By the first half you are like Whoa – that’s too many views and too much too soon thrown at you – could be bad editing or simply over indulgence.

Right from Jaggu/Sarfraz’s hurried romance to a rank oversight, which formed the fulcrum of the movie in hindsight, that a loving couple just break off a relationship without even a phone call or text in this day and age of  digital addiction is beyond belief. It just knocks you off the cliff of disbelief.  The writers had to think about a more innovative way of showing the break up and therefore the cue to introducing PK into the scene.

It tells me, that they actually focussed on PK’s character development and then cut pasted other characters on to the story.They were too obsseed with the idea of PK proving a point to the world around him.As a movie maker you need to balance these out.You need to blend in the side characters into the story, sadly this was not the case and as a result Sushant Singh Rajput, Boman Irani  and Sanjay Dutt are wasted in non descript characters.

So by end of first half you had , inter caste Indo-Pak romance , Hindu -Muslim divide, various idiosyncracies of each religion, Bhojpuri mishmash ,Parent -Child disconnect,Guruji-Devotee clash, alien in the city, God-Fearing psychology and a plethora of songs thrown at you -some moments of genuine laughter notwithstanding -you are gasping.

Second half, you think well its going to build up into a classic war of wits – but it flatters to deceive.The “wrong number” viral was done too quickly, ironical , some scenes needed to be added to show the gradual momentum ( think Rang De radio viral ) and the show down between PK and Swami needed to be much more heightened.Instead it peters off into a personal love clarification battle on national television – and that too at such a filmsy premise of not checking facts.

Tacky CGI of train explosions left the audience laughing in an otherwise poignant scene.Advertisements/endorsements keep comming up innocuously,distracting your attention and some needless feel good scenes which essentially add up to nothing.

Aamir Khan – carries a hangover from 3Idiots tongue in cheek Rancho character. Just by adding  a Bhojpuri dialect one cannot be different. The director needed to make /look/ feel / PK differently and cut the umbilical cord from Rancho’s character.The essense needed to be completely different. Quite disappointing to see a talented actor not picking this up and reworking with the director. Anushka Sharma’s wig is quite stuck just like her performance. Not able to move to the next level of intensity or involvement.Can’t say anything else really.

Now,there will be some elements in our society which will denounce this film as being anti-Hindu , or anti-religious.I already see #boycottPK trending on Twitter. This is wrong. The film does not do anything of that sort.It tries to fundamentally question or answer do you love God or do you fear God? Do you love the real God or the fake Godmen or women.? And there is nothing wrong with it absolutely. We have Guruji’s in every living room or car dashboard.We have stickers, oils, incense sticks and other merchandise propagating their branding and misleading so many emotionally weak people in the name of God’s will.

So I would back PK,the film’s intent and thought process completely.Just like I did for the movie Oh My God. Which deals with a similar subject and delivers a punch as a movie watching experience , and which is missing with PK. So my review  of PK is purely on my cinematic experience and not anything else.

To sum it up,PK is a good attempt at best, you won’t miss much cinematically if you don’t manage to see it, certainly not for keeps -but if you have to see it once, perhaps its the only indulgence it deserves. RajKumar Hirani /Aamir to treat this as a law of averages catching up on them after som really good movies in the past. And their next installment they should focus on keeping it simple and delivering a knockout.

I am going to go with 3 out 5 for PK.

 

 

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