Nov 28, 2023
Nov 28, 2023
It’s quite a feeling when audience in an Indian town picture hall claps in unison at the appearance of Aamir Khan as an alien in a spaceship. PK is good cinema, if not exactly great. Aamir has put at stake his stardom to convey a message worth conveying. For me, the bottom line for an Indian movie is that it is not exactly a copy of some previous foreign or Indian film. That’s the starting point for me. PK passes that test.
The intention behind the movie is good and that in itself is great. Although Aamir is an alien, the movie has nothing to do with interstellar world. The agency of alien eyes is used to see and project our world and its corrupt, silly practices from a fresh angle; how our world would look to someone who sees it for the first time. The web that we’ve woven for ourselves is actually very exploitative, suffocating and unjust- just to highlight this point, the director of the movie uses alien eyes.
The first experience of the alien on earth is that his medal-transmitter is snatched away, stolen. Now he becomes helpless in the big, bad world of India. He wants his medal back so that he may send signals back to his planet and go back home. Whosoever he asks, says that only Bhagwan (God) can help him. For contacting God, there are temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and god men. There are hineous, horrible practices of shedding blood, of rolling on earth, of beating chest etc . Amidst all this, our alien hero has to expose the hypocrisy of religious practices, expose evil god men, reunite the heroine (whom he secretly loves) with her flame, find his medal and go back home. He does all this stylishly, entertainingly speaking flawless Bhojpuri all the time.
PK is not exactly a creative spark like Lagaan or Kahaani; it is movie that wants to educate through entertainment. It succeeds in its mission by and large. The public is gripped till the end; there’s no boredom. If you’re not too critical, with help of Coleridge’s ‘willing suspension of disbelief’, you can enjoy this movie.
28-Dec-2014
More by : Prof. Shubha Tiwari
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It's okay that the movie exposes the fallacies in Hindu social order in the main, and as if to seem secular, it takes a dig or two at the Christian and the Muslim ways of life. However, the point that is missed in PK is that the main script could as well have been woven around the idiosyncrasies of the Christian and the Muslim belief system, with Hindu aberrations thrown in between. But then hell would have descended on India. Coming to "the movie mocks use of wine in churches", the script writer was happy with Muslim men chasing PK with the wine bottles and all. But then, why didn't PK turn around and tell those guys as to how a peg or two of wine is bad on earth when their faith promises them rivers of wine in Heaven! What an irony is that Islam promises to Muslims in the Hereafter what it denies them right here. Be that as it may, if PK were to succeed in putting some right sense into the ignorant Hindus, it's all welcome. |
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I for one strongly feel that our beautiful religion should move more towards essence, core Hindu values rather than rituals and superstitions. One wrong does not justify the other. The world knows what reputation some religions have. Do we want such notoriety for our religion. The evils of religion must be criticized openly, fearlessly. Religions need constant reinterpretation. Begging in the name of religion is one menace which must be strictly prohibited. There are so many other areas which need correction. Please do not fall into the cycle of competitive evil with other religions. |
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The problem with movies like PK is this - by going extra board about Hinduism, they make Hindus feel inferior and when some pastor from USA comes and says good things about Christ, the poor Hindus feel only their religion is superstitious.It is this selective ridicule that insults Hindus and Hinduism. I will say PK is an intellectual insult to Hinduism in the name of free speech. You said Shiva is not mocked but only the role. Can they show Christ or Mohammed in such humour?. Will some one say the same thing that it is not Mohammed, but someone dressed up as him. There is a limit to the tolerance of Hindus!!! |
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Since some very influential voices are opposing PK, I feel like saying that the movie hints at immoral ways of converting Hindu masses into other religions. The movie mocks use of wine in churches. The movie shows the brutality of beating, bruising oneself as part of a religious ritual. It is absurd that the movie is being taken only as anti-Hindu. It exposes con men disguised as god men and therefore it is but natural that all frauds who exploit masses in the name of God will oppose PK. The scene where a Bahuroopiya is mocked; is a mocking of those who dress up as God and not at all of Shiva. The concept of Shiva is made up of elements- air, storm, fire, water... Shiva is beyond mocking. It is that Bahuroopiya who has been mocked. You have to on Indian streets to see the cruelty of Bahuroopiya groups. They use children for begging. Sometimes, a Bahuroopiya teenager or kid will come and start beating himself relentlessly with a cane unless and until you give them alms. Such are the horrific practices. It is absolutely essential that rationality is promoted in India. Pk is a good effort in this direction. Apart from above considerations, we have our freedom of expression at stake. |