google analytics code

02 January 2015

Everything about PK thats good and bad.

Over the past few days, there has been a raging debate over the contents of the movie PK which kept the movie goers busy and therefore created extra free publicity to the film. While there is no denying the fact that PK is a very honest film and the makers have made it with lots of conviction and with a "devil may care" attitude and with dialogues which were penned in authentic Bhojpuri and Hindi, there are certain sequences in the movie which prove that atleast in India, bashing idol-worship and everything related to gods is the best way to get popular and then claim to cleanse the system.
The problem with PK is not that it exposes the godmen(which is a topic thats done-to-death by hundreds of movies in various movies in many languages and this movie doesnt tell anything new), but that it tries to portray even a simple, harmless, absolutely normal ritual as a superstition. I call it over-rationalization. Let me take a comprehensive look at PK with both its merits and demerits:

The good:
1. PK's depiction of innocence is funny to the hilt(makes one laugh genuinely) and heartwarming in some scenes. We just feel like helping him to get back to his planet whenever he tries to answer the question of where he came from. Aamir's performance is highly commendable and deserves all the awards for 2014!

2. The scene where he tries all the ways to impress the Gods by using all the methods, finally reaches a place with various idols and starts praying in all the ways he knows is heart touching. It shows his desperation to get back to his home-planet and shows the seriousness with which he is praying to God. I remember bhakta Kannappa who worshipped Lord Shiva in his own ways by offering Him meat out of ignorance. Similarly, PK too seems to pray to various Gods in a "trial and error" method, but his desire to get help from God is genuine.

3. The final scene where PK returns to his planet is well shot without going into too much of sci-fi. The spaceship lands, but the focus is on the conversation between PK and Jaggu and how PK tries to hide his feelings towards her! The dialogue "he came here to teach everyone to be truthful, but he learnt how to lie" is nice and is a paradox!

The bad:
1. Take for example rolling over your full body around a temple(called 'anga pradakshinam'). Whats wrong in this practice where there is no harm done to other living beings? Are they slaughtering some innocent animals? Are they doing indecent exposure? Is it a wastage of resources? Absolutely not. Then why are the makers hell bent on projecting it as a superstition? It would have been better if they had concentrated on slaughter of animals in some temples(yes) and during bakr-id(obvious) in the name of religion, apart from other rituals in other religions that leads to animal torture.

2. Another example of complete disregard to religious rituals is in a scene where PK proclaims that "those who are afraid go to temple(jo darte hain woh mandir jaate hain)"and his opposition to building a temple. Why the hell does the story need such episodes which are completely out of context and look like they are just patched up without any relevance to the story? Yes it is true that lots of people go to temple(as well as mosques, churches, etc) out of some emotion like fear, desire, return of favor, desperation, depression, etc, but highlighting only fear is an indirect statement against the people who attain peace by going to a temple. Is PK(the alien) trying to convert this planet(out of ignorance) to his home planet just because he finds everything funny here? Yes there are multiple religions on earth, but that is a beauty that might have existed in his home planet. If that is the case, then the movie's title should have been "mental".

3. By showing extreme sympathy and showing a media person shedding tears while talking to Sarfaroz, the movie again tried to use the emotional tricks to pull the audience into some kind of emotional state where they feel that lots of injustice has been done to the boyfriend of Jaggu.

4. By publicizing this as a movie with a strong message and showing many of the valid, scientific practices of religions(Hindus, Muslims, Christians, etc.), they are not just entertaining but more than that, they are trying to preach the public what to do and what not to do through the mouth of an alien, who doesnt know anything about earth(specifically India) and the people here. If they were to go to the neighboring nation that is just a few hundred kms from where it landed(Rajasthan), the alien would have had a tragic death due to its actions. The one-dimensional approach towards the God may be apt for an alien which doesnt have any language, clothing, no god or any tradition or identity(I wonder how boring or how monotonous their world might be), but doesnt fit for humans.

5. Trying to be a messiah to a complex nation like India: When PK says "My God doesnt ask people to do this or that unlike your God", it indicates that the alien is fed up of our Gods and is trying to impose his beliefs on us. Let the alien have their own God, but that should not be glorified just because PK doesnt believe in yatras or rituals or chanting of mantras.

6. PK asks for a refund of the money he deposited in a temple, unable to get it back and therefore steals it. If the same logic were to be applied to all activities in this world, does it also mean that just because I didnt like a movie, my ticket amount needs to be refunded back?

7. Cheap sentiments and artificial emotions in certain scenes: Why the hell does the colleague of Jaggu(name unknown) start weeping when Jaggu calls the pakistan embassy and is involved in a conversation to find the whereabouts of her boyfriend Sarfaroz? Why would anyone weep for such a pathetic reason and that too in a seemingly important climax? It seems like a forced crying, just like how Navjot Sidhu laughs in the multiple comedy circus shows on TV even for silly reasons! This is a very cheap trick being used by Rajkumar Hirani since Munnabhai MBBS. The genuineness keeps missing and all that remains is a feeling that this is a fake movie meant to mint money like any other movie, using the cheapest of tricks and repetition of the same formula. It is obviously not a crime to make films in this manner, but to use this "purely-comedy" film to decide who is "true god" and who is a "fake god" is just unacceptable. The concept of "wrong number" falls flat.

As a closing comment, I just want to ask the makers and promoters of this film: "You say all the babas or faiths have wrong numbers to reach out to God. Do you have the right number to contact your version of God? If yes, put it in public. Of no, then let the people maintain their beliefs instead of dismissing their Gods."




With love.. Anil