PK Movie Review

5 years after 3 Idiots, arguably the most entertaining film of the last decade, Aamir Khan, Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi (writer) return with a film titled ‘PK’. Expectations of a wholesome entertainer are sky-high. The buzz around PK has slowly but surely built up and the trailers have created tremendous curiosity amongst the audience. Comparisons with classics like Munnabhai M.B.B.S, Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots will be inevitable. So does PK fulfil all those lofty expectations? Let’s find out!

Story: Jagat Janani (Anushka Sharma) encounters a strange man (Aamir Khan) with strange habits and an unusual lingo while traveling in Delhi. He says his name is PK. He says a lot of things which makes Jaggu feel that he is lying. No sane human would take his words as the truth. He pees in public places to get himself locked up in Delhi lockups to escape the rains. He steals money from beggars. He doesn’t understand how life on earth works. He is looking for a thing very dear to him. He asks God for it repeatedly, but doesn’t get any reply. There begins his journey to understand life and in that process he makes us all understand what life is all about.

First things first, when you go to watch a Rajkumar Hirani film, the yardsticks are different. You don’t just pay to get entertained, but also to get enlightened, as each of his films carry a social message. In that regard, PK falls well short in the second half after an outstanding first. The first half is rip roaring and brings the house down with plenty of trademark Hirani moments. In the second half, the pace begins to dip. (Spoiler alert) The bomb blast scene was unnecessary and you fail to understand the purpose it served. The romantic angle between Jaggu and PK was definitely not needed when a cute friendship would have sufficed just as much. The second half felt a little too similar to ‘OMG: Oh My God’ and the TV show scenes just did not hit home the point as well as it should have. It wasn’t even clear what Hirani was trying to say. Was the film about inter-religion marriage, atheism or superstition?

Anushka Sharma, Aamir Khan - PK

Anushka Sharma, Aamir Khan – PK

The technical aspects of PK are top notch. The cinematography is excellent. Both Delhi and Bruges are captured beautifully. The editing by Hirani himself is spot on although the duration could have been cut short by a further 5-10 minutes to speed up proceedings in the second half. The music of PK suits the tone of the film and the songs are pleasing to the ears.

PK has to count amongst the best ever performances of Aamir Khan. To say he is amazing in and as PK would be an understatement. The type of commitment he has shown in the film is terrific. His mannerisms, his expressions and his hold of Bhojpuri sets an example for other actors to emulate. PK will always be a special Aamir Khan role. Anushka is very good as Jagat Janani although there are shades of her character from Jab Tak Hai Jaan in PK. She is charming and lovable. Sushant Singh Rajput plays his part well. Saurabh Shukla is a knockout as the main force of opposition in PK and is probably Hirani’s all out black character. Boman Irani has an insignificant role. Sanjay Dutt has a small role to play, he does well.

Overall, if the first half of PK made us feel like Hirani was at his very best, the second could possibly be his worst so far. It felt like the post-interval portions were directed by a different director and not Hirani. One of the hallmarks of a Hirani film are the strong supporting characters and PK has no character that stands out. There was too much focus on PK and that’s what undid the film. Having said that, PK is definitely better than 95% of the films that are made in Bollywood. It deserves a watch but doesn’t have the repeat value of 3 Idiots or Munnabhai films. Don’t make the mistake of expecting too much and PK will keep you hooked.

Box office: PK is expected to create history with 3 open weeks at the box office, and the goodwill of Rajkumar Hirani and star-power of Aamir Khan will help tremendously. However, the lack of repeat-value, limited appeal towards the masses and a poor second half, might affect the film in the long run.

Rating: ★★★½☆ Way better than most films this year, but you expect more from a Hirani – Aamir film.

Advertisements

107 Comments

  • @Lisa
    I agree with you but in this case it is not only indicine that was expecting extraordinary but everyone was expecting something grand…At last agree with you reviews should not be based on expectations..

  • What happened to Indian people??? Films like HNY winning awards and crores but films like PK Queen sre falling short….PK was much better than crapy HNY…

  • Films like HNY winning best action film award and SRk winning best Action actor where as films like BangBang which has probably best action scenes bollywood has evr produced winning nothing…Pls stop these non-sense things…Go and watch best films like PK

  • @myanmar yangon,well said bro.you revealed perfaketionst’s fake wat to get big movies.but salman holds PhD degree in direct copy paste remake and amir becomes learner in ghaini.both of career would have finished till now if films like wanted/ghajini wouldn’t have made,lol.

    @divya,@sky,indicine members have brain that’s why he gave 4 star.if bjp workers wouldn’t have distributed pirated cd of HNY all over country,then HNYN would have broke d3’s life time.in order to understand the value of HNY you will require brain that you don’t have.still it has no very direct and not have so many twists which made it average.but but for me leading hero’s performance in those kick,pk,bang bang is very average compared to KING KHAN’S exceptional performance in a an average movie HNY.but being a raju hirani movie pk is a below average movie an unofficial remake of OMG.also amir’s act is below average in pk something like copy of barfi/chalrlie Chaplin not a world class act like in MNIK.,LOL.I saw the movie I watched till end due to hirani otherwise I would have left theatre in 1st half due to the highly overacting of amir pk.what I want to speak is performance of amir which got 3.5 star instead of having raju hirani and KING KKHA’S got 4 star even having Farah khan.that much says enough who is THE KING OF ACTING.

    @tiger,always loves to watch bhojpureans in hallucination state,lol,ii’s.too much fun.

  • I came back from cinema now.. hilarious film.. well done Aamir Khan.. I loved your film and enjoyed every scene of it.. one of the best films of 2014 for sure and million time is better than Dhoom 3 which he didn’t fit in the role.. that’s your baby Aamir.. he fits in such roles.. we all enjoyed watching it, family members and it really deserves 4.5/5 specially that it’s got a great message for the audience in whatever relates to belief, religion.

    Indicine: as usual.. I don’t agree with your review.. u give sometimes crap films 4.5 rating and only 2.5 or 3.5 for some excellent films!!!

    people go and watch this film, u all will have a good time.

  • @indicine bomb blast scene was the most significant one as it brought the ever burning topic of terrorism under light and didn’t you hear the protection offered to God….

  • Must watch movie . Much more better than crap movies like happy new year and kick . Not expected from incidine give Hny more stars than pk . Giving 4 Stars to Hny is not expected . Farah khan se expection nhi thi is liye kisi movie ko 4 star dena what a crapy reason and giving 3.5 Pk because of more expected from aamir and hirani great slaute incidine . Hahahaha . Watch pk one of the best picture of year .

  • Its always wrong to compare two films actually. As no films are intended to be similar.PK brings about the idea how a person or alien would describe life on our lovely earth. In the 2 half film drops out a bit but is still able to give a message quite strong which some people might never understand
    I think PK is paisa wasool.

  • Seen PK quite late, with our friends, not a dull movie at all, but not spectacular either. Comedy is forced, most irritating aspect was making mockery of various religions that too in name of entertainment. Sci fi effects are mediocre. The Director of film should have focused on the concept which could been much better if characters refrained from over acting. Aamir K is a talented & a very senior artist, box office collections surely reflect whopping success but is the film whether really deserves such return could be question mark for many people who appreciates a good movie.

  • So Indicine now forced to eat its own words after PK has already gained a cult status with humongous collections everywhere. What a stupid website Indicine is. You gave 3 stars to 3 Idiots and 4 to HNY. I can’t believe I spent this much time on this BS website.

Leave a Comment