PK Movie Review: Oh My God

First things first - A little more than one star in the rating is courtesy Aamir Khan. With a lesser actor, the verdict may not have been as impressive. If 3 Idiots was a quintessential Rajkumar Hirani film where Aamir was a good value inclusion, PK rides mainly on the power of Aamir, save a sequence or two where one does see Hirani in action. Otherwise, for a good part of the film, one does wonder if it is indeed the master director in motion.

The film starts off well though. Aamir's entry followed by a quickfire love story of Anushka Sharma and Sushant Singh Rajput is established well. Once Aamir and Anushka meet and the flashback begins, you are totally hooked, though the songs do interrupt here and there. The sequence leading to the interval point is truly memorable and brings a lump in the throat. You do believe that a good series of events are round the corner.

What instead happens is complete stagnation in the narrative. Frankly, one just doesn't get moved in the manner Hirani would have expected from his audience. Neither the tears on screen nor the euphoria amongst characters turn out to be heartwarming enough to make you root for the proceedings. And no, the phrase 'wrong number' isn't going the 'all is well' or 'chemical locha' route.

However, even with such diluted narrative, one man who demands your attention is Aamir Khan. He changes his body language, mannerisms, facial expressions and dialogue delivery for the film while also working on his clothes. He is simply fantastic and can easily count this as one of his most accomplished performances till date. Anushka too has brought a turnaround in the way she looks as well as acts, and it is a complete new her that one gets to see. Sushant has a sweet and simple role where he justifies his presence while Sanjay Dutt has an extended cameo where he brings in a lot of weight. Boman Irani hardly has a role to boast of while Saurabh Shukla has presumably been asked to not go overboard (though he always delivers his best in that kind of characterisation).

With such good dedicated actors, a free budget and an ppen timeline in handy, Hirani could indeed have gone the whole hog. However, he just doesn't crack the second half right. As a matter of fact, in an obvious attempt to not make PK come across as OMG - Oh My God, the film seems to have been over engineered that leaves its tell tale marks. All of that would still have been okay had the climax carried a punch. That doesn't happen though as there is absolutely no build up towards the pre-climax and the climax. No wonder, before you know, the film is through.

At the box office, the film will do well, especially due to three open weeks ahead. However, when it comes to 'chasing excellence', PK does have other biggies of the year to contend with as well.