'PK' has made many records for a bollywood movie all across the world! This kind of wholesome success all over the world is testimony to the fact that most of the people who watched PK have liked the movie. But, with all the success this movie also faced/still facing criticism from certain sections of the society as they felt offended by content of the movie. Many hindus claimed that it has insulted hinduism & their deities! Even some Christian & Muslim priest expressed their unhappiness for criticizing their respective religions. Fact that majority of world population is believer & in India majority of them are hindus, gives a bigger picture that common people all across the world & especially in India didn't get offended by the movie! I was not at all offended by the movie but, as I am an atheist, I just expected if they would have shown "God doesn't exists" as one of the possibility! But movie accepts the existence of God by default & never entertains the thought of non existence of God! Hence whatever I am going to say in this article will be by assuming the God concept as a reality (For the sake of argument) & won't be challenging concept of God at all! There are few very common points that are said to criticize this movie & one of the most common point & which made the most of the noise is that
"THIS MOVIE ONLY ATTACKS HINDU RELIGION & is soft on other major religions viz CHRISTIANITY & ISLAM!"
This movie sees the world, our earth, though the eyes of alien! This alien lands in India and because of some untoward incident he needs help to get back to his home! After seeking help from many people without any result, he is told that his problem is so complicated that only God can help him out. Hence he starts finding a God & in the process comes in contact with many religions that exist in India & their respective Gods! He follows all the methods that are taught to him by different priests of different religions of seeking/pleasing God to get his work done but without any effect. Further he is pitted against a hindu baba (Tapasviji) to get back his property which will get him back to his home but is now in possession of Tapasvi who won't give it back to him claiming as its his own. This all happens in India (obviously its a Bollywood movie!). The same India which has majority of population claiming themselves as belonging to Hindu religion! Which has so many Temples in every nook & corner of the city! There are so many advertises of babas/sadhus running on TV channels, printed in news papers, pasted on trains, buses & walls, claiming to cure all your miseries with all sorts of chains, bands, yantras & mantras etc. Its not that they all belong to hindu religion but nobody can reject that majority of these ads are related to hindu Gods as they show at least one of hindu God! So, the country with majority hindus & babas claiming extraordinary benefits from their tricks (totakas) & in return getting paid handsomely through donations of the devotees, it was quite natural to have a main antagonist from the majority religion, that is Hindu! Isn't it logical that somebody who is finding God will come in contact with more Temples than Churches or Mosques as Temples outnumber Churches & Mosques in India? Suppose PK had landed in America instead of India he would have found more Churches than Temples & if he had landed in Pakistan or any other muslim country he would have found more Mosques, quite naturally! Its very natural that majority religion will get majority of scrutiny!
SOFT ON OTHER MAJOR RELIGIONS?
I don't feel so! As explained above it was natural that majority religion will face majority scrutiny but Director Raju Hirani did an intelligent thing. For many rituals he filmed a beautiful song with PK performing different rituals from different-different religions to make God help him! He also showed that how different religions give different rules for what is right & what is wrong. Some say don't wear foot wears in place of worship. Some are perfectly fine with it! Some say pray hands together. Some say pray head down! Every religion gives their own book filled with information for what is right & wrong according to their own religion! In these portions Hirani isn't attacking any one religion in particular but rather portraying contrast between them only to strengthen the very basic message that he will give at the end of the movie that all these religions are man made hence they are different for different people! If they(religions) would have been inherent in the fabric of nature all the human beings from different parts of world would have developed same or at least similar religion with same criteria for whats right & wrong & would have pictured same God or at least similar God! But every religion has so much in contrast that it can’t be inherent in fabric of nature, because obviously its a man made thing! The other thing Raju Hirani does is that he critics all major religions for pressing issues they need to address immediately! Like, he has shown a bomb blast attributed to muslim terrorism, shown a muslim girl protesting fatwa against girl's education! He has shown an old man criticizing Christian priest for asking him to convert to Christianity by saying if God had wished him to be Christian he would have gave him birth in Christian family only! He has shown hindu Gurus & Baba spreading superstition in the name of God & religion! So, he has covered all pressing problems the respective religion has to address viz Hindu religion : Superstition Muslim religion : Terrorism, Girl education(women empowerment) Christian religion : Forced conversions In song 'Bhagwan hai kaha re tu' as mentioned above he has shows many rituals/blind faiths that are still followed in different religions!
WAS LORD SHIVA REALLY INSULTED?
Many people, even before watching the movie were spreading messages to boycott PK! Most of these people saw edited picture of PK's character chasing a man dressed as Lord Shiva! But many of them mistook it as movie has shown PK chasing actual Lord Shiva & were offended & angered thinking it is insult of Lord Shiva! In an interview Raju Hirani gave very good example as how it is not an insult to Lord Shiva. He asked, suppose PK was looking for Sachin Tendulkar instead of God & he sees look a like of Sachin & starts chasing him considering him as real Sachin Tendulkar, would that insult Sachin Tendulkar? Obviously not! So, how can PK chasing a man dressed as Lord Shiva would be insult to Lord Shiva?
MILK ISSUES!
One of the major criticism for the movie came from the scene where PK doubts that whatever rituals he was being asked to do were actually not commands of God but some fake guard is receiving the prayers instead of God & giving misleading solutions! He says, why would the God who is creator of us all will tell such petty things to do for our prayers to be fulfilled? Why would he ask us to roll down at his entrance? Why would he ask for milk bath? Instead, he would like if that milk is given to a needy, hungry poor! A real father wouldn't tell his kids to do such petty things just to fulfill their wishes! Some people got offended that why only reference to hindu rituals? There are such rituals in other religions as well! Yes sure there are! But don't we have to name a few to give the idea that these rituals are not coming from God! The God is neither asking you to roll down at entrance nor he is asking you for milk bath! The only essence of this scene is that whatever rituals whichever religion tells you is not word of God! God isn't going to be happy or reward you with something precious if you do these rituals or any rituals! All these rituals are man made things (they may have some logical base to it or may not have) & not something that God wants/demands! This same milk wasting logic was given in 'OMG : Ohh My God!' Paresh Rawal who played the lead role as Kanji Bhai actually showed how the milk poured on to the Shiv Linga goes down the drain into the gutter! & how a hungry beggar was sitting by side of that gutter! None of people who are crying now for this scene cried then when OMG released! Why?
LOVE JIHAD?
Some hindu organizations claimed that this movie is spreading love jihad because a Pakistani muslim boy falls in love with Indian hindu girl!
Anybody looking at earth from very high above won't see any nations! No boundaries! Only land & water will be seen. These all boundaries are result of thousands of years of political history that human race has! They are not natural but they are mere convenience for us to organize & administrate pockets of considerable size of population! Over the thousands of years these pockets have developed into different countries, segregation of population of over the centuries have developed into the group of people having their own way of living, their own sets of belief & rituals! When these set of beliefs & rituals became organized into a particular system, then it came up as religion! So both, countries & religion are not naturally inherent but evolved with time because of segregation of pockets of population! They are here for our convenience & not for dividing this world for the differences they developed while evolving! Two people who love each other, who want to be with each other should be allowed to be with each other irrespective of their nationality, religion, cast, creed etc. & India is a democracy matured enough to understand & allow this!
OMG! SAME TO SAME?
This criticism isn't from any religious angered population (Phew!). But some haters who just want to criticize it for any personal reason! They claim this movie is a copy of "OMG! Ohh My God!". Some say its a copy of [OMG + Koi mil gaya]! So, did Raju & Abhijat plagiarized? Thematically OMG & PK has a similarity! Both target malpractice in religions. In OMG this is done by cynical atheist who is angered by 'Act of God' clause by insurance companies! In PK it is done by an innocent alien! In OMG, there is lot of debate as it takes court case as medium to target religion & God! In PK, debate happens only at the climax & its brief. In OMG, at climax has shown that God actually came & saved the dying Kanji Bhai so giving an form to God & ultimately nodding yes to God doing miracles which ironically being criticized & questioned throughout the movie! In PK, it is stated that, exact form of God is not known as nobody has yet seen the God in person but affirming that there is a God who created humans & this universe. Then PK observes that there are Gods which are created by humans which are nothing but reflection of what we humans are & they, these so called God exhibit similar characters as us as they are nothing but reflection of what we inherently are, with all our goodness & badness! So thematically both may be similar but plot, narration, conclusion of both movies is completely different! As for Koi mil gaya I don't need to explain that it isn't a copy! Only an alien coming to earth & living with people here is the common thread. Rest everything is completely different!
THANK YOU!
Why? Because you have stood with me in this long length argumentive explanatory blog & I hope you are not feeling sleepy by now! I would like to end this blog with ultimate lines by PK, "Joń bhagwan humka banaya upey bishwas karo aur jeka tum log banaya uń dubliket guard ko hatai do!"
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