Chua, Kirsteen Nichole IS220 PHL01

Movie Critic:Pk

Religion is sometimes considered as an inappropriate topic to be discussed, but

through the movie directed by Rajkumar Hirani, starring Aarmir Khan and Anushka
Sharma, people’s perspectives and belief about religion were implicitly discussed.
The movie explored the the ideas of gods/ celestial beings, whether they are a myth or
true. Pk’s essence is not only limited to religion, but also in political and sociological
aspects. In political aspects, pk taught people about “wrong numbers” wherein wrong
information are given to the public. In politics, people vote based on the performance
of a certain candidate, but not everyone has access to information, leading less
financially stable people to vote/ believe in a candidate who is famous, instead of
voting for someone who is fit for the position. Pk’s social aspects that can be observed
in the film is that some religious sites are instructing people to spend more on
offerings or give grand offers for the believer’s wishes or prayers to be grant by their
god, instead of donating or helping less fortunate people. It can also be seen in the
film that statues or relics of god are sold at a high price, the bigger/ pricey the relic is,
the more it will attract good fortune and grant prayers often. Pk socially and
politically, made people realize to be more logical, instead of blindly believing things
or “wrong numbers”. Pk made people realize that instead of praying, fasting, or giving
grand offerings to god, people should celebrate humanity and help each other, rather
than believing solely believing that a celestial being will grant prayers and wishes.
Other than religion, pk’s essence also gave way to anti-racism, an Indian-Pakistani
relationship was portrayed in the film. Although it Indians are very traditional and
conservative, Rajkumar Hirani decided to include this in the film. Countless of
criticisms were formed because of the scene where an Indian and Pakistani couple
were openly kissing. Pk proved that humans create their own barriers through race
and through beliefs, that people should not generalize all races and religion based on
hear-says. It can also be observed in the film a tiny aspect involving sexual
harassment, since pk was an alien from our planet, he did not know the concept of
man or woman, not even the clothing for man and woman. In that short leeway, the
film depicted that there would be no malice unless a person think that such exist. It
also indicated that clothing exist for people to be protected during harsh weather, not
for dressing up as a girl or a boy.At the end of the day pk’s essence could always be
observed and seen in our daily lives, it taught us that in order for a society, whether it
be political or not, to function lies in the hands of mankind itself.

The moral dilemma of the story is that some people thought that the movie portrayed
is in favor of atheism. Different religions were represented in the movie that it raised
the questions: who is the true god?, Does god directly talk to people? Which god
should people believe in? Which religion’s god is “effective”. At first while watching
the movie, I honestly thought that the movie would be about rejecting religion, instead
it was more focused on the idea that religion divides people, but kindness and
celebrating humanity is the core of every religion, not division. Some religions
rebutted that they felt misrepresented in the movie, people who believed in the
religion of Hinduism felt that their religion was being attacked, for in the movie, the
parents of Jagat janani, were portrayed poorly and was viewed to be inappropriate. It
can be seen that some religious people are offended by the film’s idea because their
belief is blocking them to have an open mind about specific matters. In the movie
people saw pk as a nuisance and a complete lunatic for he was giving posters away
that said “ Missing: god”. He came into our planet not knowing the concept of
religion, so when he was introduced to it, he was fascinated by the idea that he
believed and worshiped all the gods of different religions just to come to his aid. By
the time he realized that the concept of religion is something far more sinister because
of his encounter with a priest, he decided that there is a possibility of a celestial being
existing but there are also people who make profit out of blind fate. He saw that some
priest are willing to use god for scamming people to gain wealth, and from then on, he
decided to prove to people that they were being fooled. People started to question
priests and other religious representatives and accuse them of” wrong number”.

The moral dilemma of the film can influence the nature of reality of man by
making them realize that the most important thing to understand is not god, but
humanity itself. Throughout the movie, unity of people can be seen through religious
activities, but when exposed to a different religion to collaborate with,
misunderstandings tend to occur. At the end of the movie, it made people realize that
religion was used to manipulate, cultivate money and serve as a divisor,when the
people realized that, they tend to be more open and loving of each other. They
discovered that religion has nothing to do with being a helpful, understanding and
self-less person. Examples of the movie’s influence on the nature of man: for instance
there is a person who strongly believes in Christianity and one who believes in Islam,
if they both watch the film, they would be exposed to the fact that they could be
friends instead of fighting each other, for they have more beliefs that are similar than
different. For example, there is an Atheist and a Hindu, if they both watch the movie,
the Hindu would not be estranged much towards the atheist, the Hindu would observe
that it’s not bad to not believe in a religion as long as you’re a good person who helps
people.