PK IS NOT A GREAT MOVIE; HERE'S WHY!

Director Raj Kumar Hirani’s PK was without doubt one of the most anticipated commercial films of the year. There were people who had high expectations from the film and there were those who had their doubts. The trailer, either way did what it’s supposed to; it got people talking.

PK is definitely not a bad film by Indian standards, it is in fact a reasonably good one. If you’re heading out to watch a Hindi movie this weekend you should watch PK. If you’re not heading out to watch a movie though; I wouldn’t urge you to see it. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that, you must watch PK.



If you look at Aamir Khan- PK is the equivalent of a sort of spiritual cleansing after his Dhoom debacle. He has done a brilliant job and you almost feel proud to see a star of his stature subject himself to such buffoonery to honour the script's demands. I’m all praises for him- Aamir ‘the star’ cuts the actor within some slack, every once in a while. PK will make you laugh every 15 minutes or so- the humour there is infallible. Also read: Delhi versus Mumbai: The way I see it!



Then there is Saurabh Shukla who is spectacular and makes you believe that he is perhaps the only one who could have played the role of the clichéd ‘Hindu Spiritual Guru’. He does it with style and makes it look effortless. Boman Irani too does a decent job at playing an interesting character whom the movie didn't have much time for.

Like all of Mr. Hirani’s films, PK is a world of its own albeit, one with sub-standard special effects, aimlessly floating characters and out of place songs. The first half gets you excited but the second half doesn’t deliver on that promise of stellar magic.

Aamir and Saurabh Shukla are aces but, almost everyone else disappoints. Anushka Sharma’s character constantly plays second fiddle to PK and lacks depth. She is dressed like a teenager with a Barkha Dutt like haircut because that’s how all female journalists in Delhi look. She reminds you of Preity Zinta from Lakshya- only it worked for Preity & the film. Here it works for neither. 

Anushka’s character ‘Jaggu’ seems like nothing more than a weak tool used to keep the film moving forward. Also read: Movie Review: Gone Girl, Nightcrawler, Interstellar

Sanjay Dutt appears in a cameo. Of course even if you cut out all of his scenes nothing would change. Dutt has been wasted in PK- utterly washed out. Then there is Sushant Singh Rajput who shows up for a bit rides a cycle, sings a song and comes back in the end.

The kitten and letter angle was a disaster for me. Not only was it a predictable setup to begin with, the forceful climactic background music and the painfully long explanation montage for the pay off made me want to curl up and die.

I may not love PK but I don’t hate the movie either, primarily because like our Moral Science textbooks in school, the movie has a message. The same message that Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal delivered in a better way in the lesser known and lesser lauded film titled- Oh My God. The message that is sent across in PK however is different- as different as the contents of a bottle of Bisleri are from a bottle of Aquafina.

There is a lot of love for PK out there right now and for good reason. We need such movies to say simple but important things. We need Raju Hirani to keep giving us these little gems. But he usually serves it up with a certain cinematic brilliance that pleases everyone.

I say this at the peril of sounding like a snotty pseudo: PK isn’t a great film, it isn't even a completely original film. Perhaps that's what hurts the most. Do watch it though,  so you can talk about it, lest you'll feel like a laggard! Also read: You Can't Have Everything!

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Comments

  1. Nice write-up! Precisely what I thought after watching the movie, as well.

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