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PK Movie Review

PK is a 2014 Bollywood science fiction comedy film directed by Rajkumar Hirani and starring Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma. It truly is a terrific movie.

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“Which god should I believe? You all say that it’s only one god.

I say, no… there are two gods. One is the one who created us all.

The other one is the one created by people like you.

We know nothing about the God who made us all.

But the God people like you made is exactly like you…

liar, pretend to act, giving false promises, meeting rich people sooner,

letting the poor neglected, happy when get praised… People are afraid to even say a word.

My right number is very simple, the God who created us all, put faith in Him.

And the god like you created, the duplicate god, destroy it“

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The film follows an alien who comes to Earth, loses his remote and tries to get it back because without it, he cannot return to his home planet. He joins forces with a news reporter and she eventually helps him, but along the way he encounters various religions and starts to question their teachings.

Yes, this story is definitely fantastic. It isn’t entirely original as I’ve seen most of its aspects previously in films, but the overall mix here genuinely is authentic and it led to honestly a very memorable, consistently involving film experience. It succeeds in both sci-fi and comedy departments, but also as a genuinely moving, thought-provoking drama.

Yes, PK is an incredibly smart film. Some may say it’s simplistic because its protagonist is childlike and innocent, but actually filtering Indian traditions and religions through basically a child’s point of view was an ingenious idea that led to some fantastic and highly relevant, truthful observations.

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I agreed with this movie wholeheartedly about its view on organized religion. It is mostly a negative view, but it’s earned because organized religious leaders do send fear, ridiculous rules and backwards ideas and traditions to their followers who just blindly follow them. The film cleverly spotlights how organized religion is more a set of ideas, both positive and especially negative, instead of true spiritual beliefs and feelings which it should be about in the first place.

I do realize how many Indians would find this portrayal of their customs and religion harsh and too provocative, but in my opinion the film should be applied to all religions and the Western civilization as well. It is universal in its beautiful message of peace, tolerance and true quest for God and I do believe it is even an essential viewing for atheists and spiritual people alike.

I liked the religious leaders and how they were portrayed in a negative or goofy manner and I also liked Sarfaraz, but the movie is mostly just about PK and Jagat Janani Sahni. He is a fantastic protagonist and the choice to give the actor green eyes and non-blinking eyes definitely made you believe that he’s truly not from Earth. But that mostly comes from his innocent, refreshingly blunt nature and I do share some of those “alien for humans” qualities so I empathized with him so much. Jagat is also a wonderful character and quite charming. Their relationship is subtly presented and highly endearing. Anushka Sharma is so good in her role, but it is Aamir Khan who steals this movie with his magnetic, funny, charismatic and consistently powerhouse performance.

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The same should be said for Rajkumar Hirani’s direction which is simply fantastic as he made this movie with a lot of panache and style. The pacing is also fabulous as it flies by pretty quickly and is consistently immensely entertaining. It’s just such a fun movie to watch, a great blockbuster by all means and one that Hollywood should see and be influenced by as it’s both clever and hugely entertaining.

Now the film isn’t perfect of course. One flaw is the music. It has typical for Bollywood long musical numbers, but they are somewhat forgettable and the movie introduced them not too often to make an impact so they were unnecessary for me. Some of the middle section was not as involving as the rest of the film and probably those religious following sequences could have been trimmed down a bit.

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But still I’ve had a blast watching it and it appealed to both my brain and my heart as it’s such an emotional experience as well, but never overly sentimental and just right. I loved the beginning and the ending with the cool looking spaceship and all of the scenes with the two protagonists are a blast. The final speech that PK gives is just so moving and powerful in its honesty.

Consistently highly engaging despite its long runtime, very moving in its third act, endearing in its wonderful characters and quite funny as well, PK thoroughly succeeds as a terrific sci-fi comedy which isn’t just fun and funny, but also has a lot to say about the inherent flaws, foolish traditions and backwards ideas that stem from all organized religions. Rajkumar Hirani’s direction is superb as is the performance from Anushka Sharma, but it’s charismatic Aamir Khan who steals the show as the wonderful and highly sympathetic titular protagonist. It’s just a great Bollywood movie overall.

My Rating – 4.5