PK

I saw PK first day last show. I stood in line for an hour at a Houston theatre like many other fellow Indians who came with very high expectations of the movie. And why not? A Raju Hirani film was releasing after almost 5 years and that too a movie with Aamir Khan. We had all heard of PK for many years and it was definitely one of the most awaited movies of 2014. After a long wait we finally entered a packed theatre, everyone around very eager to watch the movie. When I walked out of the theatre 3 hours later it were 3 hours well spent but probably not the prior 3 hours that day buying the tickets, waiting in line and prior 3 years waiting for this movie to release. I don’t mean that I was waiting for 19 December 2014 for the past 3 years but because of the hype created I kept hearing about the movie for a long time. I left the theatre thinking that it was a good movie but below my expectations. And what had created these expectations, not only the hype and long wait for this movie but the fact that Raju Hirani had directed 3 movies in the past, all 3 super hits and the last one (3 Idiots) was one of the my favorite movies. But I won’t rate the movie average only because it was below my expectations, read on..

Coincidentally, I saw Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots within one week of watching PK. A disclaimer that I have never been a fan of Munna bhai MBBS and I consider it to be an average movie. Now, I have always believed that when the director of the movie is also the writer and the intellect behind the concept of the movie, the movies are always well thought through, characters well developed and story well lined. With every movie that Raju Hirani made he kept increasing the bar because the movie was better than the earlier one(s). And in my humble opinion 3 Idiots was definitely a master piece.

All this background to say that Raju Hirani is a very good writer and has been able to convert his scripts into good and great (in case of 3 Idiots) films. We all know that his movies come with a social message, be it Gandhirigi in Lage Raho or the sarcasm on our education system in 3 Idiots. In both these movies, he had very strong base line messages and parallel stories substantiating them. In addition he weaved in instances / incidents into the broader social message. With such strong scripts, I also want to give him credit for the delivery, the Director’s touch, where he delivered the message through sarcasm and light hearted humor and kept us entertained through out.

In case of PK, the subject Raju Hirani chose was definitely very bold. Although it was already tried in Paresh Rawal’s Oh My God, he has a different delivery method – through the eyes of an alien, PK. But in my mind the script itself was a little weak. The first half is strong but he fails to capitalize on the well laid out stage and falters in capturing the depth of the subject. Similarly, the movie is always focused on two characters PK and Jaggu and towards the end I got a bit bored seeing them on screen. An occasional break into a side story or some more characters could have helped. There are clever scenes and funny dialogues but a subject like this could have more details behind the hypocrisy  and double standards in the society. Besides in the second half a lot of time is spent on PK’s love for Jaggu which seemed unnecessary in the movie. Similarly, the climax of the movie was novice for a director like Raju Hirani and the end seemed misplaced in the story line – I think he realized that he had spent a lot of reel time prior to that and the movie had started becoming too long.

I heard someone say that this was an ordinary film by an extra ordinary film maker. I have not yet categorized Raju Hirani as an extra ordinary film maker. He is definitely a fabulous writer (I enjoyed his Ferrari ki Sawari too) and a good director. 3 Idiots was a fabulous film but he needs to deliver another strong film for me to consider him as an extraordinary film maker.