(SPOILERS AHEAD)
With due respect, I am Not a Rajkumar Hirani fan. Though he is probably the only director in India (maybe even the world) who has a 100 percent success rate at the box office given none of his movies ever flopped (im guessing here) and though my folks watch 3 idiots or Munnabhai everytime it comes on tv (having seen it over 500 times already, beats me!) i am personally just not that into his movies even though i concur that technically and story telling wise he is Brilliant. Maybe its his poor choice of music or marketing but thats besides the point. The point here is - First and foremost, in a country like ours, choosing, risking and attempting to make a movie like PK where he could have easily piggybacked his previous super-success and played it safe roping in a megastar and making run of the mill cinema like his other nervous contemporaries, Hirani chose this subject. For that alone RESPECT. This man has balls, guts and spine besides obvious talent. Love it.
Now before I go on as to why i think PK is his best gem yet first let me get something off my chest. The critics. One tight slap. There i feel much better. Had i just listened or read or believed the "bad or not so great as his previous movies" reviews i would have missed out on such a great, engaging and entertaining film that will go down in the annals of history. Thanks to my quietly surging curiousity right from the brilliant eye-catching poster right uptill post release, the controversy that it generated, I was like let me check out what the bloody hype is all about! The moment PK released a string of over smart asses mis-using the power of internet instantly comparing PK with OMG. Wow!!! Just like they compared Mary Kom with Bhaag Milkha and before that Chak de. Just because there is a superb movie in a particular genre does that mean every movie for the next 10 years will be compared to that one phenomenal hit? Why it annoys me SO much? Well, i never see you getting over zealous in your criticism when the SAME bloody same to same Bollywood love stories are released Every Friday. Not a word comes out of that keyboard then huh? And then later you complain these "shitty" undeserving movies are making 100 crores. But dare a man get up and try to make something different and of value and substance man those claws come out, you are your hypocritical best and ready to tear his work apart. Some even went to the extent of saying its Koi mil gaya meets Omg !!! Really??? Just because of the alien angle? Well you never felt like pointing out that the last movie in the rom-com genre or the one before that or the hundreds before that where boy meets girl, falls in love but cannot be together either because one of them is poor or either of the family disagrees, or one of them is engaged elsewhere or is yet not in love or insert some such obstacle that post interval and a couple of done to death masala/ item songs and slow hit romantic songs later, they are able to overcome and then be together happily ever after, The End? No? Did your sharp, wise, discerning eyes miss the ovious? Omg is about Kanji bhai's story. (Spoiler alert) PK is from an alien's perspective. Genre is the same but approach, treatment style and stories are different, so please treat them as separate individual films. Simple.
The Baap of Satire. No wait correction. A fine, superlative treasure trove of hitting the nail right on the head. Not politely/ indirectly skirting around the issue or beating around the bush but looking you in the eye, questioning your very firmly held precious beliefs, challenging you to not just absent mindedly watch a masala movie but "use your OWN brain" and question your entire existence, your life, question the workings of your mind and the prejudices and biases it guards so fiercely simply because it is convenient and feels safe. What do you believe and most importantly WHY do you believe it - Some very risky, daring and formidable questions that this movie raises in the sub-conscious. Your philosophy till date and where will you go from hereon after this movie has made its point and is long over and you walk out of the dark theater into your regular life? Are you a changed person, and for the better? Are you still holding onto the obsolete and redundant or attempting a fresh perspective. That is what this movie does to you. That is the effect it has. That is where it has surpassed the parameter of just being a mere tool of entertainment to graduating into a powerful tool for transformation, both individually and collectively as a society. Out of hundreds of movies made each year, how many manage to achieve THAT? Probably even Hirani is not aware of the great service he has done to all of us and the feat he has achieved by simply making this movie and sharing his vision. Thank you sir.
Where do I begin? First 2 minutes into the movie, convincing you aliens exist. There. Boom. And just like that you are sucked into this make-believe fantasy world by merely sharing a scientific fact so that your mind is put to rest and mid-way or anywhere throughout the movie doesnt raise the question, but hey do aliens really exist??!! Trust me it can take hours to sell that point and still not be able to fully convince you what he did in a matter of minutes. Your "typical hindi film hero" who speaks only Bhojpuri throughout the movie and eats paan and happens to be an alien! How. cool. is. that!! You know, the glaring anomalies in tradition, culture and society, for Hirani to point that out he would have needed an outsider, say a foreigner or firang because well they are not aware of what is acceptable and unacceptable in our culture just like we would be ignorant to theirs (unless ofcourse we googled it.) But that would have been controversial or tricky too - "Western culture is different from ours or is poisoning or destroying our culture which is obviously richer than theirs." So he went a step ahead and brought in a "real" outsider who happened to be out of this world literally! A real "foreigner" An alien. Alien to our way of life and thinking. Now to his objective, detached, third person point of view everything seemed bizzare, often contradictory so he shocked, riled and provoked the fury of the bigots by innocently questioning the validity or even by simply following the social norm or "protocol." I found myself raising my eyebrows at Hirani's guts to depict and laughing loudly at the obvious humor in the scenes. Poor thing being chased around, assumed delusional or drunk. All the while, side by side smartly highlighting the differences in perceptions. Smart. I also liked the, how i like to call "jugadu" alien when he learns how to obtain food and "taking" clothes from frisky travellers. Again the Brilliant hard-hitting satire about the importance and "value" of a picture in a currency vis-a-vis a book carrying the same picture. Or how a picture becomes a tool of "self defense" from the very same extremists now having realized he has bright chances of being chased or beaten because of his ignorance and innocence. What a chaloo alien! Also committing petty crimes for self sustenance, using prison as lodging and boarding, free food and stay (at the cost of hard-working tax payers money!) - very very smart. Or in the end where he instructs other aliens about the strange ways of our strange planet where love-making should be hidden and is a taboo but you can be openly violent and everyone can watch, no shame in that! Hirani - I love you.
Innocent but not dumb. He understands the "goodness" of the heroine and therefore agrees to help her. Goodness or "humanity" as we like to call it are such universal concepts that even aliens who may not understand language understand the difference between right and wrong. Touching on so many topics like you dont need to communicate with God via an agent. You have and develop your intensely personal and direct relation. Explaining this complex yet simple thought via a concept of "wrong number." Genius! Showing how religion is now being used as a tool to exploit the gullible and run businesses by instilling "fear" instead of love. Comparing the hardworking tea vendor's earnings, raw materials and cost of production to simply using a stained stone in a thriving environment, the cost to profit ratio explained in the name of fear - I am running short of adjectives here so again, Brilliant! Destroying the very credibility and existence of "differences" we create in our minds by searching for stamps on a baby's bottom, did God stamp and send you or did you assume an affiliation to a particular sect/group after coming here on the planet? Clever! Boundaries related not just to religious differences but even borders and how we have stopped looking at one another as just human beings but through many labels and coloured myopic glasses of race, religion, nationality, etc. etc. And just when i thought this is it, he couldnt get any better, Hirani hits me with his brilliance again. Up until this point the movie is all fun and frolic as the alien is still a detached observer but he goes ahead and makes the struggle personal for him, and therefore alongwith him for the audience as well. By shockingly killing the alien's only best friend here on the planet in a terrorist attack. It baffles the alien and us, the audience that when did religion that teaches non-violence, respect for all life forms and most importantly tolerance become the most powerful medium to cause differences and violence. The direct dialogue - The One who runs forget just your tiny planet but this entire Universe and many such universes doesn't need you to go to battle to "protect" Him or His name - At this point i wanted to get up, whistle, applaud and throw coins at the screen out of awe and respect for Hirani. And finally uniting the heroine with her true love, sacrificing his own affections, coming here and leaving this planet better than what state he found it in was what he gave us and what did we give him in return? We taught him how to lie - Master stroke!
Hirani as a film-maker has given us not just entertaining movies but "powerful" concepts that stay with us and have become a regular in popular culture and everyday parlance like "Jadoo ki Jhappi" honey catches more flies than vinegar, "Aal is well" may not solve the problem but will give the strength and hope to search for a solution, try "Gandhi-giri" instead of Dada-giri and now "Wrong number" where you dont need an agent to reach God. He is the pride of our nation and the film fraternity. A rare gem, who can accomplish the super tough Herculean feat of making an entertaining film without preaching or boring but using simple ideas that become so popular because they can reach and touch the uneducated masses as well as the "intelligent" movie viewers. He has that Midas touch. He is gifted, a genius of our times. And for that alone i want to give him a jadoo ki puppy. Salute!
- S. Chaudhary
With due respect, I am Not a Rajkumar Hirani fan. Though he is probably the only director in India (maybe even the world) who has a 100 percent success rate at the box office given none of his movies ever flopped (im guessing here) and though my folks watch 3 idiots or Munnabhai everytime it comes on tv (having seen it over 500 times already, beats me!) i am personally just not that into his movies even though i concur that technically and story telling wise he is Brilliant. Maybe its his poor choice of music or marketing but thats besides the point. The point here is - First and foremost, in a country like ours, choosing, risking and attempting to make a movie like PK where he could have easily piggybacked his previous super-success and played it safe roping in a megastar and making run of the mill cinema like his other nervous contemporaries, Hirani chose this subject. For that alone RESPECT. This man has balls, guts and spine besides obvious talent. Love it.
Now before I go on as to why i think PK is his best gem yet first let me get something off my chest. The critics. One tight slap. There i feel much better. Had i just listened or read or believed the "bad or not so great as his previous movies" reviews i would have missed out on such a great, engaging and entertaining film that will go down in the annals of history. Thanks to my quietly surging curiousity right from the brilliant eye-catching poster right uptill post release, the controversy that it generated, I was like let me check out what the bloody hype is all about! The moment PK released a string of over smart asses mis-using the power of internet instantly comparing PK with OMG. Wow!!! Just like they compared Mary Kom with Bhaag Milkha and before that Chak de. Just because there is a superb movie in a particular genre does that mean every movie for the next 10 years will be compared to that one phenomenal hit? Why it annoys me SO much? Well, i never see you getting over zealous in your criticism when the SAME bloody same to same Bollywood love stories are released Every Friday. Not a word comes out of that keyboard then huh? And then later you complain these "shitty" undeserving movies are making 100 crores. But dare a man get up and try to make something different and of value and substance man those claws come out, you are your hypocritical best and ready to tear his work apart. Some even went to the extent of saying its Koi mil gaya meets Omg !!! Really??? Just because of the alien angle? Well you never felt like pointing out that the last movie in the rom-com genre or the one before that or the hundreds before that where boy meets girl, falls in love but cannot be together either because one of them is poor or either of the family disagrees, or one of them is engaged elsewhere or is yet not in love or insert some such obstacle that post interval and a couple of done to death masala/ item songs and slow hit romantic songs later, they are able to overcome and then be together happily ever after, The End? No? Did your sharp, wise, discerning eyes miss the ovious? Omg is about Kanji bhai's story. (Spoiler alert) PK is from an alien's perspective. Genre is the same but approach, treatment style and stories are different, so please treat them as separate individual films. Simple.
The Baap of Satire. No wait correction. A fine, superlative treasure trove of hitting the nail right on the head. Not politely/ indirectly skirting around the issue or beating around the bush but looking you in the eye, questioning your very firmly held precious beliefs, challenging you to not just absent mindedly watch a masala movie but "use your OWN brain" and question your entire existence, your life, question the workings of your mind and the prejudices and biases it guards so fiercely simply because it is convenient and feels safe. What do you believe and most importantly WHY do you believe it - Some very risky, daring and formidable questions that this movie raises in the sub-conscious. Your philosophy till date and where will you go from hereon after this movie has made its point and is long over and you walk out of the dark theater into your regular life? Are you a changed person, and for the better? Are you still holding onto the obsolete and redundant or attempting a fresh perspective. That is what this movie does to you. That is the effect it has. That is where it has surpassed the parameter of just being a mere tool of entertainment to graduating into a powerful tool for transformation, both individually and collectively as a society. Out of hundreds of movies made each year, how many manage to achieve THAT? Probably even Hirani is not aware of the great service he has done to all of us and the feat he has achieved by simply making this movie and sharing his vision. Thank you sir.
Where do I begin? First 2 minutes into the movie, convincing you aliens exist. There. Boom. And just like that you are sucked into this make-believe fantasy world by merely sharing a scientific fact so that your mind is put to rest and mid-way or anywhere throughout the movie doesnt raise the question, but hey do aliens really exist??!! Trust me it can take hours to sell that point and still not be able to fully convince you what he did in a matter of minutes. Your "typical hindi film hero" who speaks only Bhojpuri throughout the movie and eats paan and happens to be an alien! How. cool. is. that!! You know, the glaring anomalies in tradition, culture and society, for Hirani to point that out he would have needed an outsider, say a foreigner or firang because well they are not aware of what is acceptable and unacceptable in our culture just like we would be ignorant to theirs (unless ofcourse we googled it.) But that would have been controversial or tricky too - "Western culture is different from ours or is poisoning or destroying our culture which is obviously richer than theirs." So he went a step ahead and brought in a "real" outsider who happened to be out of this world literally! A real "foreigner" An alien. Alien to our way of life and thinking. Now to his objective, detached, third person point of view everything seemed bizzare, often contradictory so he shocked, riled and provoked the fury of the bigots by innocently questioning the validity or even by simply following the social norm or "protocol." I found myself raising my eyebrows at Hirani's guts to depict and laughing loudly at the obvious humor in the scenes. Poor thing being chased around, assumed delusional or drunk. All the while, side by side smartly highlighting the differences in perceptions. Smart. I also liked the, how i like to call "jugadu" alien when he learns how to obtain food and "taking" clothes from frisky travellers. Again the Brilliant hard-hitting satire about the importance and "value" of a picture in a currency vis-a-vis a book carrying the same picture. Or how a picture becomes a tool of "self defense" from the very same extremists now having realized he has bright chances of being chased or beaten because of his ignorance and innocence. What a chaloo alien! Also committing petty crimes for self sustenance, using prison as lodging and boarding, free food and stay (at the cost of hard-working tax payers money!) - very very smart. Or in the end where he instructs other aliens about the strange ways of our strange planet where love-making should be hidden and is a taboo but you can be openly violent and everyone can watch, no shame in that! Hirani - I love you.
Innocent but not dumb. He understands the "goodness" of the heroine and therefore agrees to help her. Goodness or "humanity" as we like to call it are such universal concepts that even aliens who may not understand language understand the difference between right and wrong. Touching on so many topics like you dont need to communicate with God via an agent. You have and develop your intensely personal and direct relation. Explaining this complex yet simple thought via a concept of "wrong number." Genius! Showing how religion is now being used as a tool to exploit the gullible and run businesses by instilling "fear" instead of love. Comparing the hardworking tea vendor's earnings, raw materials and cost of production to simply using a stained stone in a thriving environment, the cost to profit ratio explained in the name of fear - I am running short of adjectives here so again, Brilliant! Destroying the very credibility and existence of "differences" we create in our minds by searching for stamps on a baby's bottom, did God stamp and send you or did you assume an affiliation to a particular sect/group after coming here on the planet? Clever! Boundaries related not just to religious differences but even borders and how we have stopped looking at one another as just human beings but through many labels and coloured myopic glasses of race, religion, nationality, etc. etc. And just when i thought this is it, he couldnt get any better, Hirani hits me with his brilliance again. Up until this point the movie is all fun and frolic as the alien is still a detached observer but he goes ahead and makes the struggle personal for him, and therefore alongwith him for the audience as well. By shockingly killing the alien's only best friend here on the planet in a terrorist attack. It baffles the alien and us, the audience that when did religion that teaches non-violence, respect for all life forms and most importantly tolerance become the most powerful medium to cause differences and violence. The direct dialogue - The One who runs forget just your tiny planet but this entire Universe and many such universes doesn't need you to go to battle to "protect" Him or His name - At this point i wanted to get up, whistle, applaud and throw coins at the screen out of awe and respect for Hirani. And finally uniting the heroine with her true love, sacrificing his own affections, coming here and leaving this planet better than what state he found it in was what he gave us and what did we give him in return? We taught him how to lie - Master stroke!
Hirani as a film-maker has given us not just entertaining movies but "powerful" concepts that stay with us and have become a regular in popular culture and everyday parlance like "Jadoo ki Jhappi" honey catches more flies than vinegar, "Aal is well" may not solve the problem but will give the strength and hope to search for a solution, try "Gandhi-giri" instead of Dada-giri and now "Wrong number" where you dont need an agent to reach God. He is the pride of our nation and the film fraternity. A rare gem, who can accomplish the super tough Herculean feat of making an entertaining film without preaching or boring but using simple ideas that become so popular because they can reach and touch the uneducated masses as well as the "intelligent" movie viewers. He has that Midas touch. He is gifted, a genius of our times. And for that alone i want to give him a jadoo ki puppy. Salute!
- S. Chaudhary
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