A movie mired in controversy can only help the said movie get more free publicity, and in the process become the highest grossing Indian movie ever. For that we can thank Hirani and Aamir Khan for bringing a very apt movie to our screens.
The movie starts off with a Pakistani boy (Sarfaraz) and a Hindu girl (Jaggu) who fall in love but can’t marry because the women’s parents are dead against her marrying a Muslim Pakistani. Thus begins the story of Jaggu who leaves Sarfaraz and moves back to India,where she encounters PK, an alien stranded on earth looking to go back home.
I won’t get into what the movie is about but I would love to say that the very clever nuances and observations PK makes about human behavior make for a very entertaining watch. How can one word (acha) have so many different meanings? How can a woman dressed in white have varied cultural significance? It’s a fun ride as we journey along with PK in his attempt to understand the humans.
But what really resonates with the viewers (or doesn’t resonate well with the staunch Hindus) and ultimately forms the crux of the movie is the idea of doing away with middlemen between man and God. Thought provoking ideas are brought up: Why do we need these so called “priests” to do our job when we can approach God directly? Why do we need to have an idol to worship to when our God is everywhere? Why can’t all these people who pour so much milk on a statue to seek blessings give that milk to the poor people? Why do we need to give so much money to these priests in order to seek God’s blessings?
I loved the concept and strongly feel that someone in Pakistan needs to make a movie of this caliber to expose our own religious priests/ imams who con the innocent monetarily into thinking they will have their prayers answered. It’s a very apt subject that needs to be discussed and brought to the limelight.
PK is a great movie, though not as awesome as 3 Idiots was, and can surely be kept in your DVD collection. Only downside for me was the last 15 minutes or so with the very Star Plus TV Drama feel to the whole Sarfaraz- Jaguu love story, but then again, what’s a Bollywood movie without such melodrama?
4.5 out 5 (0.5 deducted for the sappy melodrama ending)
Mansour Ahsan 