Ever wondered how our country would look like to someone not human? Yeah, I could be talking about a dog or robot, but just to make the script interesting, it’s an alien. How would an alien react to all the diversities in our society while trying to interpret and communicate with us? It must feel strange and unique to not belong to any religion on this land. This film shows us that precisely – a look at our society through a lens free of religious shades.

Aamir Khan plays an alien in the movie that loses his radiant pendant like alien ID, which AK refers to as his property, to a thief. A Hindu God man gets his hands on AK’s property and claims that it’s a piece of Lord Shiva’s damaruk, fooling his followers as always. Meanwhile, AK ends up believing that only God can help him. But he is all at sea about how to appeal to/please Gods from different religions. How AK gets back his property forms the rest of the movie.

Now, what make the movie watchable? It’s the Performances, direction and a tight screenplay without many songs. AK is impeccable portraying un-human physical attributes. This is a rare film where the cast, Anushka Sharma, Boman Irani, Sanjay Dutt and others fit their roles almost perfectly. No complaints here. Costumes and styling for AK need a special mention as it adds a unique flavor to AK’s screen presence. Songs and background music are pleasant complimenting AK’s character’s innocence.

Coming to direction, Rajkumar Hirani passes the test easily in taking the subject in question on to the celluloid. He pokes us softly with needle-like questions aimed at the countless Hindu God men our country has. Yes, there are lot of God men in our country who take advantage of God fearing people, but the question which director seems to have forgotten to ask himself and the writers is, are there no proper/uncorrupted Hindu religious gurus in the whole country? Is society not benefitting from the yoga, meditation and other practices (like free food and free schooling for children, take Puttaparthy, Andhra Pradesh) some Hindu gurus preach? (You would be denying science to say No and Western countries aren’t idiots to follow them. Many of Hindu religious practices are backed by science, if not all). And, are all the corrupt religious gurus in our country Hindus? What about the other religions? These are the reasons precisely why the right-wing activists and some Hindu religious gurus are calling upon banning the film. The producers and AK will only benefit from all this drama though.

Politics aside, movie offers an interesting viewing for open-minded people. Weather or not you will like the film depends on your capability to broaden your mind to ignore the above posed questions. Think it over a morning coffee while news about another terrorist attack or a fake religious guru grabs your eyeballs, is PK a film that pushes you to realize the loopholes in the religious system for the greater good or it falls short by shying away from questioning other religions’ preaching and practices?

P.S1: I don’t think Hinduism is to be blamed/questioned for trying to preserve its values and culture by teaching the world its way to God, “peacefully”.

PS2: Can anyone explain what was that Train Blast all about? What, who and Why? It ended abruptly.

—Rahul Y