Ashdoc's movie review---PK

[ashdoc]

In all of Amir Khan's films his hard work shows . PK is no exception .
A lot of toil and hard work has been put into every scene , into every dialogue , and into every expression on Amir's face . He certainly carries the whole weight of the film on his capable shoulders , but I would not dare say that he does this effortlessly....
In fact , he has done a lot of effort in fleshing out every scene , and so has the director .

Of course , Amir's trademark expression---that of gouging his own eyeballs almost out their sockets while staring at people---has been tried out before from films like 'Ghulam' to 'Rang de basanti' , but here it did not strike me as odd like it struck me in the earlier two films.....for in this film he plays the role of an alien who has landed on earth , and since everything is new to him on this planet , it is not surprising to see him staring at things with wide eyed awe and amazement and wonder .

And his inability to comprehend things , or more rather his 'alien' way of comprehending things that occur on earth in a different way , gives rise to some really laughable situations especially in the first half of the movie keeping you in splits for some time . This happens because his remote transmitter for communicating with his mother ship gets stolen by a human being immediately after he lands on earth , and he has to spend a lot of time on earth to try get it back---time that he spends discovering new things and giving his own spin on understanding them ; a spin that seems ridiculously funny in the first half but becomes intelligent in the second half of the movie.....so intelligent that powerful people are shaken when begins to question them....

Inevitably , for an alien like him the chief question is human beings' belief in God.....and his own vain search for that God in the hope that God would help him get back his stolen remote transmitter is what gives rise to the funny situations . But his landing on this planet from his mother ship in completely naked condition , his learning about humans' need to cover themselves with clothes , his inability to speak any of the earth's languages and his eventual acquisition of the ability to speak not in any sophisticated language but a queer rural dialect of the Indian state of Rajasthan---all speak volumes about the extraordinary ability of the director ( Raj Kumar Hirani ) to entertain us and the stupendous acting ability of Amir himself .

In the midst of his travails on earth , Amir meets the woman who would eventually make him feel like not wanting to leave this planet ever---Anushka Sharma . Her hairstyle ( what in India is commonly called by those like me who are ignorant in women's hairstyling techniques as 'Bob cut' ) put me off for a while , but gradually I warmed up to it .

And Anushka is the one who discovers the explosive potential of Amir's different but mindblowing take on humans' belief in God , and his ability to hit the bulls eye in questioning the manner in which humans of different religions worship different gods , and the manner in which godmen act as middlemen to rake in financial and other profits while devotees are lured into a fools' paradise of fake promises and false hopes . And like the savvy television anchor that she is , she decides to convert all this in a television show....
But what Anushka does not know is that what happens on the television show would affect her own life....for she has her own past....

So will Amir the lovable alien be able to get back to his planet ?? And will his sojourn on our planet irreversibly change our belief in the way we worship God ?? Does Anushka make an impact on Amir or he will make an impact on her ??
Watch the movie for the answers....

There is no doubt that this is a highly intelligently made film , and it has been made to make us think . It delivers the entertainment and the churning of our minds in equal doses . And it never fails to make us laugh---at our own stupid beliefs . Above all it takes on those manipulative peddlers of religion called godmen , and it takes on them with aplomb . And it never fails to engage the audience---to the very last reel .

Some scenes like a person wearing the clothes of the Hindu God Shiva running away from Amir and cowering in the midst of a crowd may not be liked by orthodox persons , but I didn't mind them . I am not a religious person by nature anyway....
If you are expecting the film to be anti hindu like the hindu nationalists are complaining , your experience will be underwhelming....In fact I found nothing anti hindu in the movie . If you are a believer in some godman and find the film anti your religious beliefs , then your belief in the godman is your own stupidity anyway.....

Of course , the part of Anushka's boyfriend ( Sushant Singh ) being Pakistani is clearly aimed at winning over the Pakistan/middle east audience and earning more moolah . Somewhere it hurts to give our Indian girls in marriage to Pakistanis who regularly send terrorists to attack India , and I didn't like that part .

Once again Amir Khan has put heart and soul in acting for a film , and once again he is a winner . Hopefully he shall continue that for years to come....

Verdict---Absolutely brilliant .
Four and a half star rating .

 

[anoop_mig25]

I also didnt like pakistani part

And even in cinema hall I heard some complanning that pakistan part should not have been there at all

They said " YEH bekarr me dikha dia "

 

[nrj]

Worst movie from Rajkumar Hirani ever. Movie had no strong point whatsoever. They could have wrapped it in less than 1 hour. What a waste of time...

 

[ashdoc]

I also didnt like pakistani part

And even in cinema hall I heard some complanning that pakistan part should not have been there at all

They said " YEH bekarr me dikha dia "

Get used to Pakistanis being shown as lovers in hindi films .bollywood has discovered for the past few years that the Pakistani audience forms a huge and growing audience for hindi films , and future films will have the Pakistani appeasement angle big time---whether we like it or not.

 

[Compersion]

Get used to Pakistanis being shown as lovers in hindi films .bollywood has discovered for the past few years that the Pakistani audience forms a huge and growing audience for hindi films , and future films will have the Pakistani appeasement angle big time---whether we like it or not.

more realistic to be showing dubai ...

 

[Ray]

Films are basically to enrich those who have poured in money to make it.

And money is there all around the world. Pakistanis are a deprived lot and so they will go for it in a big way. Good money and all in foreign banks!

The hawala route maybe if the chaps are unscrupulous, which of course, I am not suggesting even though anything goes these days.

 

[sydsnyper]

I saw PK, second day second show.

I can speak tonnes on the anti-Hindu propaganda in the movie whose main character is a devout muslim, without doubt expects his son to follow suit, had been recently been to haj and is impressed with a muslim evangelist from pakistan.

But I guess much is already said.... anyone who thinks alternately, i'm looking forward to a debate

 

[Ray]

I saw PK, second day second show.

I can speak tonnes on the anti-Hindu propaganda in the movie whose main character is a devout muslim, without doubt expects his son to follow suit, had been recently been to haj and is impressed with a muslim evangelist from pakistan.

But I guess much is already said.... anyone who thinks alternately, i'm looking forward to a debate

It is tiresome that going for haj or saying prayers 5 times makes a Muslim 'pious' and upright morally.

These are all cosmetic manifestation of acceptability of being of the Faith.

What is more important is to have in the heart the spirituality and humanity and not the cosmetic manifestation as a flag bearing certificate.

I know of many Muslims who are not total adherent to the ritual, and yet they are wonderful and caring human beings.

Is the 'pious' and 'Haj returned' Mullah of the Red Mosque a wonderful and caring human being?

He praised the massacre in Peshawar and when under pressure by the public recanted.

He is but an animal and not what a Muslim is supposed to be.

And yet, he is a Mullah or a Maulavi man - a man of Allah!

 

[tarunraju]

"Anybody who is shown the mirror will always feel offended," says Anurag Kashyap about the flack that PK is drawing. He is so wrong.

People are taking offense not to the mirror, but what's not in the mirror. PK makes fun of Hindus, but it cleverly avoids Muslims and Christians. As if there's not enough to make fun of them (wahabi garbage, lack of women's rights, etc.; and pedophile clergymen for Christians, etc.). If you're making fun of religion, keep it subjective, and have the courage to do so without singling out a particular religion. Otherwise your message is bound to be misunderstood...unless it was your intention to single-out one religion all along.

In addition to Hindu Gods and their Bhakts, could they have shown mindless goats in a Madarsa jerking off a book 5 times a day too? How about the nonsense of Baptism? Insufficient quantity of testicles? Then you should have avoided the subject altogether.

And what the fvck is up with the Pakistani boyfriend Aman-ki-tamasha?!

Leela Samson needs to go.

Never again, Rajkumar Hirani, never again.

 

[tarunraju]

If this movie has done anything, it is that Amir Khan's religion-neutral image has been irreversibly damaged. Nobody will see Amir as that stand-out Indian patriot anymore. He's just another Bolly-Khan with an anti-Hindu agenda.

 

[Srinivas_K]

A good movie when compared to the latest big releases. But not a brilliant movie!

 

[ladder]

I did watch the movie PK and in general I can say I did like it. @ashdoc once again has put up a brilliant review. I seldom watch movies so, it's only in-frequently that I can really appreciate how beautifully ashdoc pens them.

Coming to the movie itself, I wouldn't go into details. That being said I wouldn't rate it similar to 3idiots but a good movie nonetheless, an alien speaking a rural dialect is a novelty. The simple way of questioning the things which we take for granted is refreshing.

Some people are raising objections because other religions weren't in focus as was Hinduism and they might have a point there. But, I didn't mind the ways some religious things were depicted. I absolutely liked the theme because I share nearly the same values, I don't like god-men (in general) and fleecing at the temples. The lack of discipline at some of our temples just puts me off. Though commercialization is a unavoidable situation in some of our temples, discipline on the part of the bhakts/visitors and honesty at the end of priests is highly recommended. When I write this, I am speaking about some temples and not all.
So, yes, lacunae in other religions are present which some say that should have been shown to bring balance. But I am totally not offended by what has been shown in the movie. More over as Hinduism says there are several ways to reach gods and the character is trying all in his endeavor, so those speaking about centrality of their path or mode should be pissed rather than us.

Finally, as has been said, it is highly recommended to watch, enjoy the comic aspect of how everyday life is deciphered by an alien with a rural dialect. Receive the subtle message but no need to burn your blood over it.

I think OMG did have nearly the same theme.

 

[sydsnyper]

Sir, my point was how a deeply religious fellow, who himself is known to follow the evangelist tariq jameel, can be a lead for an anti-(superstitious/religious) that barely touches his faith.

I am not miffed that the movie ridicules false godmen or has amir khan chasing a fellow dressed as Shiva; but the double standards, in not touching other dogmatic & nonsensical monotheistic beliefs. IMHO, Paresh Rawal's OMG handled the subject more elegantly and with a more even distribution of anti religion.

It is tiresome that going for haj or saying prayers 5 times makes a Muslim 'pious' and upright morally.

These are all cosmetic manifestation of acceptability of being of the Faith.

What is more important is to have in the heart the spirituality and humanity and not the cosmetic manifestation as a flag bearing certificate.

I know of many Muslims who are not total adherent to the ritual, and yet they are wonderful and caring human beings.

Is the 'pious' and 'Haj returned' Mullah of the Red Mosque a wonderful and caring human being?

He praised the massacre in Peshawar and when under pressure by the public recanted.

He is but an animal and not what a Muslim is supposed to be.

And yet, he is a Mullah or a Maulavi man - a man of Allah!

 

[arnabmit]

Those who think that PK is Anti-Hindu, it can dent Hindu faith, and trending #BoycottPK needs to watch this:

 

[arnabmit]

PK—The Review | Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind

[Spoilers]

So I saw PK.

How was it?

TLDR: It's a three-hour long episode of Satyamev Jayate.

For those of you who have not seen this program, which strongly makes me believe that you are not the kind that stops at a stop sign, Satyamev Jayate can be summarized as "social activism for those of us that like to watch Big Boss but feel guilty ". It picks a certain "problem of the week", like police reforms or corruption or doctors, and then runs through an hour of over-explaining and music and appropriately emotioned-up guests. The USP of the program, the reason why people watch it, is of course Method-Actor Khan (known to mortals as Aamir Khan) for whom Satyamev Jayate is a perfect prop for his carefully cultivated image as a socially conscientious superstar. Cycling through various expressions, "the-oh-my-God-I-had-no-idea" ("Apko police ne yeh kaha?") as if he is hearing the guest's story for the first time, "the-oh-my-God-I-so-feel-for-you" eyes-welling-up-with-tasteful-tears, Mr. Khan straddles perfectly that grey area between reality and choreography, between the person and the persona, and if the topic of the week does not keep you watching, or that sharp prick on your conscience if your finger goes to the remote control to change the channel, Aamir Khan's performance sure does.

Like Satyamev Jayate, PK too has a "problem of the week", long passages of preachy exposition, poking-in-eye messaging, and each one of Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate stock facial expressions. Except being an alien, his innocent "I-had-no-idea" face makes a little more sense, though for old-hands like us, there is a bit too much of the Main Kahaan Hoon Tiloo from "Andaz Apna Apna" and one of the characters he played in Dhoom 3, for me to be overtly blown away by the acting. Just as Satyamev Jayate, despite its flaws, is an improvement on the brainless muck that passes for entertainment on Indian television, PK is definitely better than the "Bang Bangs" and the "Ready"s, a low bar surely, somewhat like complimenting a fast bowler for bowling faster than Venkatesh Prasad.

It had a lot going for it, like Mr. Perfectionist's perfect derriere, though obfuscated by mist, Raju Hirani at the helm, and some funny sequences involving pee-ing, peek-ing, peekaying and anal-probing, which I would perhaps have better appreciated if I was nine years old

However it is let down by two major cinematic boo-boos.


First the climax was so god-awful that it made the baby-delivered-by-vacuum-cleaner in Three Idiots seem kind of okay.

And second, Raju Hirani becomes so focussed on the agenda, the moral at the end, that rather than let the story deliver the message, he had the message write the story. As a result there is a really weak narrative and absolutely zero chemistry between the characters, nothing like the way there was between say Munnabhai and Circuit. Instead of story and memorable characters, there are lengthy lectures facing the camera, extremely contrived situations, and possibly the most-rushed-romantic-tale I can remember, between Anushka Sharma and Sushant Singh Rajput, reminding one of the Ravi Behl-Divya Dutta romance in "Agnisakshi", scurried primarily because the only reason it existed was to establish the message.

The basic problem I believe is that Raju Hirani is way out of his depth in PK, biting off way more than he can chew. To be fair, it is extremely difficult to make a movie that is anti-organized-religion without coming down inordinately on one religion, and unless you are willing to go fully "equal opportunities offender" like Maher in Religulous, which again is a very difficult thing to do in a fictional setting, treading carefully is a must.

Unfortunately Hirani is as subtle as a sledgehammer, a deft touch he doth not have.

Not that I believe Hirani has an insidious bias or that PK is part of a global anti-Hindu conspiracy, which you would believe if you followed the boycottPK loony hashtag, but it is true that Hirani exclusively ends up using Hindu religious practices as his pincushion. Sure, there are throwaway blink-and-miss-it references to Christian conversions and Muslims treatment of their own women, but the focus remains firmly on the Hindu faith. It's the man dressed as a Hindu God who runs like a coward, it's the Hindu Gods who stand ghoul-like silent as PK prays in front of them, which happens to be the most powerful scene of the movie. The villain is a fake baba, a supposed anthropomorphism of everything-that-is-wrong-with-religion, except that he ends up as a stand-in for only Hinduism. If it was just one character, it would be still fine, but then there is another Hindu priest who is shown as a glorified pick-pocket, taking away Anushka's wallet in a way that is more like a hood in a dark alley than a man of God. No other religion has their people in authority get consistently poor treatment.

The explanation for that, I believe, and here is the supreme irony, is fear. Like most people with a bit of common sense, Hirani knows that depicting a maulvi as a money-grabbing goonda would lead to consequences more dire than the mild controversy that is brought on about by social-media outrage or the isolated court-case they have more than enough resources to fight, both of which incidentally are good for the movie publicity-wise. Hirani's consciousness of "those who must not be angered" is perhaps most evident when PK, the alien, puts up signs of different Hindu Gods on a wall and, if I am not totally wrong there was also a picture of Jesus, but even PK knows, from news that might have reached him billions of light years away, that forget pictures there are some depictions of deities you do not put on walls, if you want to keep your head on your shoulders. In that context of fear, the rather provocative line "Jo Dar Gya Woh Mandir Gya" becomes ironic, almost as ironic as an actor convicted of Jihadi terrorism in real life being blown up by a Jihadi bomb on screen.

Personally, I loved the message of PK, mainly because being a non-observant agnostic with a healthy dislike for rituals and organized religion, I agree with what the movie is trying to say. The problem is how they say it, preachy, uneven, hammy and amateurish.

And while a lack of balance may be forgiven or even blatant bias (for are we not all biased), sophomoric film-making cannot be.

Disappointing.

 

[Tony HMG]

Just watched the movie today, it is just another Hindu bashing movie. Just like our media is anti-Hindu, so is bollywood who are funded by muslim mafia. The movie makers, Hindu themselves are like our pseudo secularist Islam ass licking hindus. Amir Khan himself knows, if he utters a word against Islam, the muslims will hunt him down. The producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra is himself a kashmiri pandot, who was driven out of Kashmir, when the pandits were massacred by kashmiri/paki muslims - but still he makes this anti-Hindu movie. WHY ?? Just for the money.
The movie is totally garbage. The train blast scene looked like pinning it on the hindus, similar to samjhauta blasts. The story is soo shit. A paki screwing the hindu girl, Hindus being insulted - Muslim appeasement.

So, please get used to the Hindu bashing in bollywood & our shitty media.

 

[ashdoc]

To be sure hinduism has been targeted more than other religions in the movie , but that can be considered as natural . After all , hinduism remains the religion of majority of the population in India and it will be more in focus in any Indian film .

It's not that other religions are entirely ignored in the film , but admittedly focus on them is less .

Overall however , I did not feel that the director's intention was to attack the hindu religion . It is just that he was showing his contempt for stupid religiosity and belief in godmen . May be he was taking advantage of our ( hindus ) tolerance towards criticism of our religion , vis a vis islamic intolerance of any criticism of their religion . But I dont think the film is a calculated attack on hinduism , the way 'Haider' was a calculated separatist movie .

Of course , the 'Pakistani boyfriend' angle does suck . The temptation to earn more money by showing pakistanis as lovers has become too big to resist for Bollywood , given the fact that pakistanis watch these films avidly and they too form a market for these films.

 

[Sakal Gharelu Ustad]

What made everyone in Pak embassy so happy? Such a stupid Paki connection.

 

[mayfair]

What made everyone in Pak embassy so happy? Such a stupid Paki connection.

They were exhilarated at the prospect of another non-believer joining their fold.