Controversies about the film PK are yet to settle down. Meanwhile,
the film has gone on to be the highest grosser ever in India’s film history
with a whopping collection of over 280 crore rupess and might even cross the
300-crore mark. One wonders if all the negative publicity the film earned
actually worked in its favour. Could be. However, one cannot ignore the
meticulously hewn script and strong performances of the actors.
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
PK: Behind the scene
Rajkumar Hirani, the director, is
a master craftsman. All his films till date have been massive hits. And it is
not so much due to extensive publicity, as painstaking efforts while making the
film. He is a creative genius and knows what works in the Indian ethos and what
doesn’t. To that extent, he is perhaps well entrenched in India’s cultural
heritage more than the infamous rightwing hooligans.
Coming to the film, PK raises several questions about
institutional religions and, of course, God. Not so much the God who is the
master artisan of the universe, but god, or rather many gods, that his so
called ‘custodians’ have created. It seems very funny that a godman in the film
asserts that he would go to any extent to ‘save his god’. Who should save whom?
The film has come at the right
time with several self-styled godmen being arrested in India for their crimes and
the frenzy of people’s superstitions being exposed. PK perhaps could serve in helping people come out of their illusions
and delusions. Rather than seeing the film from that angle, the fanatics are yet
again out to prove that they are pontificators of all religious superstitions
in India.
As always, dialogues are another
strength of Hirani’s films. The class performance of Amir Khan, Anushka Sharma
and others has only added to the flavour. Long live Hirani’s tribe and bad luck
to the rightwing fanatics!!
- Melwyn Pinto SJ
