PK: Movie Review

Raju Hirani has done 3 movies before PK and by this time I am confident that I would be able to make out even his 100th movie out of a heap of unlabelled DVDs. He has a signature style of movie making and he does a very good job at that. Else, who would have remembered a not so conspicuous person who used to come in small TV Ads and jingles like Fevicol in 90s.

Plot:
PK is an alien who lands in Terminator style near a barren railway track in Rajasthan and he gets robbed off the remote control which was only way for him to get back to his planet. The entire movie is interspersed with his bouts of struggle to get back his remote from humans. Against all odds, Hirani's movie would always delve into an issue which would question status quo and challenge the system. Here in PK he has very smartly pushed in a satire on religion filled with incidental light humor and emotion-filled plot.
Anushka Sharma (Jaggu) is a repoter who helps PK get his remote back. Saurabh Shukla (Tapaswi Ji) is a godman whom PK confronts for his remote with simple yet powerful questions which make people wonder the veracity of the divisive religious faiths we have.

Strengths: Song- Chaar Kadam, Humor, Aamir, Anushka, Raju Hirani, Ranbir's guest entry, Wrong Number wala slogan - I am sure it will go viral

Weaknesses: Story (somehow hackneyed and unrealistic), Bhojpuri (I may be biased but plz don't distort a language so much), Charachter of Parikshit Sahni (father of Anushka. Who whistles at one's daughter's book recital ?? Overacting jerk !), Bomb-Blast was not needed to balance the tone, please and Dilliwaale

Overall: I liked the movie but not as much as I liked Raju's previous 3 movies.
Why ?
Well ... you see ...At one point Anushka's charachter even admits Hirani's intent behind PK, that people love to see something new all the time. Hirani seems to have assumed that the script of the PK would be taken as quite hat-ke but actually PK sounds so much like Akshay and Paresh Rawal starrer "OMG" ! On few occassions I felt irritated actually when I felt like watching OMG-2 !

Having said that - still Hirani saves his day by not overdoing the plot into details and tries to keep the issue-discussion bundled with humor and balances his challenges on one particular religion (i.e. Hinduism) by mixing other religions too. But somehow I felt, why being so defensive and explanatory ? A very controversial question that I wanted to ask Hirani was - why we Hindus (or Indians) feel afraid in making a satire biased while questioning even Islam ? Why we feel it's Ok to question Hinduism ? Just because it's a cultured behaviour to make fun of one's own community as that would not hurt others' sentiments ? Somehow I could feel the defensive as well as lopsided tone in the script.

So - One time watchable only ... and nowhere near MunnaBhai or Rancho ...

Stars: 3*

Chalaa Taani !
Neo.