Movie Recommendation: PK

Vidit Bhargava

Movie: PK
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Story: Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi
Actors: Rajkumar Hirani, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt, Parikshat Sahni, Amardeep Jha and Roshitash Gaud
Rating: *** 1/2 (A Must Watch)

PK is a well made Satire, It's a strong message served with comedy and emotion in equal quantities and most importantly PK is an enjoyable experience. 

To start with, PK has a good and innovative story to tell, with an Alien on board, It’s not conventional science fiction, in fact it’s not even Science Fiction. The writers use an Alien to tell the story of human prejudice here, giving it a satirical treatment more than Sci-Fi or Drama. 

The First half is pretty much flawless, the movie breezes through with a some exceptional comic timing and a tight screenplay, there’s also a tinge of emotion which lends a lot of depth to the central character here. 

To be honest, PK works because the central character is entirely believe-able, which is where Aamir Khan does a great job here. This is easily one his best performances. As an alien, PK is intelligent & observant, yet vulnerable and distraught when he loses a valuable when he arrives on Earth to carry out a research on the living beings on the planet. With no external cues from anywhere, this is an extremely difficult role to play, Khan makes sure that his Portrayal of the Alien, doesn’t only tick of the character traits but lends a certain amount of charm to it, making PK a character that’ll stick longer than the movie itself. 

Amongst others, Saurabh Shukla is just flawless in his role of the fake godman, Again it’s a combined effort of good writing and brilliant acting, notice how the character of ’Tapasvi Maharaj’ shows his skills of a powerful and observant public speaker when he turns the tables on the journalists who come to question him over PK’s allegations. If the movie’s a showdown between the two, the actors make sure that they give an extra edge to their characters.  Sanjay Dutt does an impressive job of playing Bhairon Singh, in the little screen time his character gets, Dutt’s acting leaves a lasting impression.

For the support cast, the director sticks to his regulars here, and they don’t let him down. Parikshat Sahni, Amardeep Jha and Roshitash Gaud leave a mark here. They play their short roles with great conviction. Their performance being just as good and important as that of the lead actors.

But Not everything’s great about PK. If the first half is flawless, the second half’s where the narrative slips and topples upon the ‘well trodden path’ problem. For a first half that was unique in all aspects, the movie’s second halves a sham. Hirani & Joshi use the same media ploy they used in Lage Raho Munna Bhai. It’s so repetitive that at one point PK feels more like a sequel to Lage Raho Munna Bhai. Then there’s the rushed up and unconvincing climax, which definitely leaves a lot to be desired from the film. But it’s still pretty much watchable. 

PK’s soundtrack isn’t great either. However, it’s not something that comes in the way of the movie watch experience. It’s in an unimportant position here, It doesn’t really add much to the movie watching experience and could be loads better but it isn’t something that’ll hinder the movie flow or make you say, “what’s up with the music, it’s irritating!” (believe me, a lot of mainstream movies have managed to do that off late).

The message here is about Human Prejudice and how people are shy of reasoning, and how to some, Asking ‘Why?’ seems to be a lot more difficult than just following. The questions that the movie raises are directed more at it’s audience than a certain group or its followers.

PK has Rajkumar Hirani written all over it. There’s a strong Lage Raho Munna Bhai vibe to the movie, which isn’t necessarily bad but tells a lot about the director’s style of making satire with a message. It’s a well made movie, gets a sufficient amount of critical acclaim and yet is an entertaining experience which gets a good commercial response, not judging a movie by its commercial success but it’s definitely worth noting that some of the other good movies this year, didn’t even find enough theatres in the metropolitans, what could are great stories, if there’s no one to hear them?

PK is largely an enjoyable satire. Watch it for Aamir Khan’s portrayal of the alien astronaut, this is arguably his best acting performance, ever. It’s definitely a good movie, which ought not be missed!