Bollywood film fans fall in love with PK despite Hindu nationalist protests! Movie triggers joy and fury in India, with record box office takings and calls for arrest of star for allegedly defaming Hinduism
Aamir Khan and co-star Anushka Sharma in PK, a film about a stranded alien that gets sets about exposing a Hindu ‘godman’.
If aliens were to land in India today they would be greeted by a bewildering spectacle – while hordes of film buffs gather outside cinemas to see the latest Bollywood blockbuster, an angry mob waves saffron-coloured flags and calls for the arrest of the movie’s hero for allegedly defaming Hinduism.
PK, a hugely successful yet controversial film, is turning out to be the strangest phenomenon to emerge from a Bollywood studio. Even as Hindu leaders call for a ban on the film, it has grossed more than 4.82bn rupees (£49.1m) worldwide in its first two weeks, making it the second most successful Bollywood film of all time.
As it began its third week in cinemas on Friday, there was little doubt that if film fans continue to snub PK’s vociferous and occasionally violent critics, the movie will become the biggest money-spinner in Bollywood box office history, overtaking 2013’s Dhoom 3 (£54.7m).
Aamir Khan, one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, plays PK’s eponymous lead, an alien who gets left behind by his spaceship in the Rajasthan desert and stumbles on to the hypocrisy and deceit in organised religion. PK then sets about exposing a Hindu “godman”, a term for a particularly charismatic guru who may claim to have paranormal powers. The extraterrestrial social crusader resembles Mad magazine’s jug-eared mascot Alfred E Neuman, and often behaves like Mr Bean.
PK contains all the ingredients that a big-budget Bollywood film uses to attract audiences – song, dance, romance, melodrama, comedy, incredible plot twists. The rollicking satire also packs a message, something typical of films by director Rajkumar Hirani, who first had international success with 3 Idiots, also starring Khan.
Bollywood films have successfully lampooned godmen before, most recently in Oh My God! But PK hit the screens after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came to power last year on the wings of a strong popular mandate for its leader, Narendra Modi.
As a result, newly empowered radical Hindu organisations affiliated to the BJP pounced on PK after its release. Nationwide protests are being organised outside cinemas, even vandalising a few and forcing some to cancel screenings. Complaints have also been filed with the police and in courts demanding a ban on the film and the arrest of its director and star.
The influential yoga guru Baba Ramdev has even asked for a social boycott of everyone associated with the film. “People think a hundred times while talking against Islam,” he said. “However, when it comes to Hinduism any one gets up and says anything, this is shameful.”
PK (the title is a play on the Hindi word for being drunk) also has an elaborate side story that has further upset Hindu nationalists – the heroine falls in love with a Pakistani, is heartbroken when she thinks he has ditched her, but is eventually reunited with her Muslim boyfriend by the film’s lead. At a time when militant Hindu groups are conducting a high-decibel campaign against Indian Muslim men marrying Hindu women (a practice labelled “Love Jihad”), this is not a denouement that gets the approval of the religious right.
It does not help that Khan is an Indian Muslim of Pashtun lineage. So the hidden hand of Pakistan’s military intelligence agency ISI has also been sighted. “Who financed the PK film? According to my sources it is traceable to Dubai and ISI. DRI [India’s revenue intelligence agency] must investigate,” tweeted BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
Indians, however, appear to have fallen in love with the film, despite the protests, accepting Khan’s defence: “We respect all religions.”
Even Bollywood actors have tweeted support. “Is PK not an amazzziiiiing film?” said Salman Khan.
Source:http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/02/bollywood-film-pk-hindu-nationalist-protests-india-aamir-khan
PK, a hugely successful yet controversial film, is turning out to be the strangest phenomenon to emerge from a Bollywood studio. Even as Hindu leaders call for a ban on the film, it has grossed more than 4.82bn rupees (£49.1m) worldwide in its first two weeks, making it the second most successful Bollywood film of all time.
As it began its third week in cinemas on Friday, there was little doubt that if film fans continue to snub PK’s vociferous and occasionally violent critics, the movie will become the biggest money-spinner in Bollywood box office history, overtaking 2013’s Dhoom 3 (£54.7m).
Aamir Khan, one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, plays PK’s eponymous lead, an alien who gets left behind by his spaceship in the Rajasthan desert and stumbles on to the hypocrisy and deceit in organised religion. PK then sets about exposing a Hindu “godman”, a term for a particularly charismatic guru who may claim to have paranormal powers. The extraterrestrial social crusader resembles Mad magazine’s jug-eared mascot Alfred E Neuman, and often behaves like Mr Bean.
PK contains all the ingredients that a big-budget Bollywood film uses to attract audiences – song, dance, romance, melodrama, comedy, incredible plot twists. The rollicking satire also packs a message, something typical of films by director Rajkumar Hirani, who first had international success with 3 Idiots, also starring Khan.
Bollywood films have successfully lampooned godmen before, most recently in Oh My God! But PK hit the screens after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) came to power last year on the wings of a strong popular mandate for its leader, Narendra Modi.
As a result, newly empowered radical Hindu organisations affiliated to the BJP pounced on PK after its release. Nationwide protests are being organised outside cinemas, even vandalising a few and forcing some to cancel screenings. Complaints have also been filed with the police and in courts demanding a ban on the film and the arrest of its director and star.
The influential yoga guru Baba Ramdev has even asked for a social boycott of everyone associated with the film. “People think a hundred times while talking against Islam,” he said. “However, when it comes to Hinduism any one gets up and says anything, this is shameful.”
PK (the title is a play on the Hindi word for being drunk) also has an elaborate side story that has further upset Hindu nationalists – the heroine falls in love with a Pakistani, is heartbroken when she thinks he has ditched her, but is eventually reunited with her Muslim boyfriend by the film’s lead. At a time when militant Hindu groups are conducting a high-decibel campaign against Indian Muslim men marrying Hindu women (a practice labelled “Love Jihad”), this is not a denouement that gets the approval of the religious right.
It does not help that Khan is an Indian Muslim of Pashtun lineage. So the hidden hand of Pakistan’s military intelligence agency ISI has also been sighted. “Who financed the PK film? According to my sources it is traceable to Dubai and ISI. DRI [India’s revenue intelligence agency] must investigate,” tweeted BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.
Indians, however, appear to have fallen in love with the film, despite the protests, accepting Khan’s defence: “We respect all religions.”
Even Bollywood actors have tweeted support. “Is PK not an amazzziiiiing film?” said Salman Khan.
Source:http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/02/bollywood-film-pk-hindu-nationalist-protests-india-aamir-khan
Protesters burn a poster of the film PK outside a cinema in Ghaziabad, India.
The VHP has said Aamir Khan’s movie PK has several scenes that hurt religious sentiments of Hindus and has written to the information and broadcasting ministry demanding a curb on such movies and changing the character of the censor board. In a letter to the ministry, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad said “the movie has been made to hurt and provoke Hindu religious sentiments”. However, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani has hailed the movie as a “wonderful and courageous film”. A movie buff, Advani recently watched the film directed by Rajkumar Hirani.