PK review: It is well-meaning and amusing film

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PK poster is key part of the film, says Aamir at Panchayat Aaj Tak

The Bollywood actor, who was addressing a session 'Mumbai Ka Mudda' at Agenda Aaj Tak on Saturday, said we need to have better intelligence to stop terror attacks and need to curb violence against women.

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Sachin Tendulkar joins Aamir, Anushka for the special screening of PK

Aamir Khan's close friend Sachin Tendulkar came for the special screening of PK.

Many think that writer-director-editor Rajkumar Hirani has a magic wand which he flashes to make socially relevant movies that work for the masses without sticking to any formula. That wand has given Hindi cinema characters such as Munnabhai, Rancho and Circuit. Now there's another memorable one - PK

Spoiler alert. PK is indeed an alien. Hirani and his team for long kept secret who is PK, but he reveals the eponymous protagonist's identity in the first five minutes. A naked Aamir Khan arrives on an uninteresting space ship and lands on Earth, in India. He doesn't have a great start in Incredible India as his pendant, his ticket back home, is stolen. But unlike ET, Steven Spielberg's own endearing extraterrestrial creature who has to go back home to survive, PK adapts easily to the new surroundings. It is here, in the engaging first half, that Hirani and his co-writer Abhijat Joshi unfurl the magic yet again as they show us India, its people and their socio-cultural ways through the eyes of a complete outsider. Let's just say that we are a funny lot.

The observations are detailed and hilarious. India's voracious sexual appetite, which has seen it become the second populous nation, means it is full of "dancing cars" in isolated places, where couples make love. They give PK the opportunity to steal money and clothes. However, the best one is when PK thinks that Gandhi's photo in any form whatsoever can get him food, only to learn that he needs him to appear on a specific size of paper. Showing how the father of the nation is only valued in cash is ace.

During his search for the remote control, PK also finds the humans' a fascinating species. Of particular interest to him is their obsession with religion and the many faiths and its varied beliefs and practises. Like a child, he is bewildered and has multiple questions. They are pertinent but they irritate humans who think he is absurd. They name him, PK.

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Only one human, Jaggu (Anushka Sharma), is an exception. Initially, though her interests are selfish. She is a broadcast journalist who sees a story in P.K's quirky appearance and behaviour. Convinced that his story is real, she befriends him and comes to his rescue. While PK believes that God can get him his remote control, Jaggu thinks that PK's sound views make him the right candidate to take on Maharaj Tapasviji (Saurabh Shukla), a self-styled godman who runs an empire convincing (or fooling) people he has a direct connection with God.

Hirani and Joshi through PK's eyes and his helplessness show how God and religion have been turned into a lucrative business. Simultaneously, they also highlight the desperate ways we try to appease God. Hirani's fourth film has a chunk of charming moments but the truly brilliant sequence - think ET bike ride in the air - doesn't quite arrive. Walk out of the theatre, the magic doesn't linger long enough as it did with Hirani's earlier films.

For the first half Hirani manages to stay away from the dreaded preachy path but in the second he can't seem to escape it. The story loses steam and feels contrived. The unfolding drama in the talk show especially is hackneyed and drew a collective groan as the loose ends were tied. P.K isn't Hirani's best work yet but it is still a relevant one as it makes bold statements on the commercialisation of religion and the need for equality. It is also timely with the recent arrest of Rampal and controversial mass conversions lately in Uttar Pradesh.

After going over the top in Dhoom 3, Aamir Khan is back on earth and in form. PK is a tricky character and Khan never steps it over the line. His wide eyes keep audiences hooked to PK's journey and his fate. Unlike 3 Idiots, PK is entirely a Khan show. All characters other than his feel underdeveloped. Though in Sharma's Jaggu it is great to have an actress be the film's narrator and have more to do than be a significant other for the hero. The songs are forgettable. The loss of Sanjay Dutt to prison does appear to have hit the film hard as the story drags.

It may not entirely live up to the lofty expectations one has of a Rajkumar Hirani film, but PK is still very much a Hirani film. It is a feel-good, family entertainer with a charismatic lead. It is well-meaning and amusing film, occasionally brimming with great ideas.