About the Movie
The movie is about an Alien who is stranded on this planet; as it happens, his “remote” to contact his ship to come collect him is stolen on his landing. The rest of the movie is about his hunt for the remote and his adventures as he goes about it. It is a hard-hitting expose on human nature and modern life, or what we call civiliation. And, as we shall see, the movie ends with a punch to the gut, which leaves !ou almost feeling ashamed of being a human being on "arth. The movie gives !ou pride in being a #indu, or to be accurate, a $anaatan %harmi; but it ma&es !ou feel ashamed to be #indu 'eing living on this planet, all in (ust one shoc&ing dialogue, that ta&es !our breath awa! and leaves !ou retching in sheer disgust at humanit!. The Alien, who has been given no name, is from an advanced race that does not spea&, but communicates with telepath!. Thus, the! are unable to lie, or practice chicaner! in an! form. This poor fellow is loose in a land full of lies and uncaring people. )hen people, unable to understand, tell him * as& +od * he begins to uestion, who is this +od #e gets directed to a Temple, Temple, as this is the most m ost populous in India. #e as&s +od to return his remote to him and sits in the temple, waiting for +od to give it bac& to him * since that is what he sees people do as& +od, do this and do that for me/ #e then sees people doing all sorts of penance * 0lowers, 1il&, 2haader on a 1uslim 3eer Tomb, 2hurches * and he does all of this. #e sees people donate mone! to the Temple, and blindl! follows this. And then, when obviousl! no result is obtained, doesn4t get angr! * unli&e us. #e (ust assumes that +od is missing from these places of )orship, and distributes placards and posters with images of all +ods of all religions, as&ing “1issing”, if an!one finds +od, please contact me/
Towards the end, the antagonist or +odman Tapaswi 'aba, followed b! thousands of people including 5aggu4s father, who claims being able to spea& to +od, is exposed as having lied about 364s remote control device as his own. #e had also predicted that 5aggu will be (ilted b! her 1uslim lover from 3a&istan, $arfara, which also proves to be a misunderstanding. It happens during a live show, where the truth of 'aba and others li&e him surfaces as an e!e opener for people li&e 5aggu4s father. The most remar&able thing he learned from us in this planet is how to lie.
Reaction/Reflection
7eligion is onl! one of the two or three themes of the movie; to be sure, it is predominant theme * but it is one theme among two or three * but it is one theme among two or three nonetheless. And the picture is not about #induism, it is about 7eligion, blind faith, loot, lies and chicaner!. It (ust so happens that first, #indu people are the ma(orit! in their nation. 8ther religions have also been covered. $econd, can an!one imagine the reaction if such hard uestions were as&ed of Islam 8r, to an admittedl! much lesser extent, 2hristianit! Is it feasible to as& such hard uestions of Islam Thus, isn4t it a matter of tremendous pride for them $anaatan %harmis that the! are followers of an open faith, where such uestions can be as&ed The movie then acuires a compelling and rapid narrative, as 36 gets mixed up in politicied religion, and gets pitted against a powerful so-called +od-man. Also mixed in is a lovel! India-3a&istan love stor! that will tug the strings of !our heart. And the best part of this is that all these 9 narratives combine into one stor! effortless and naturall!.
The movie does not uestion the need for religion; neither does it uestion the existence of +od. It does not moc& an! religion; rather it moc&s the practices and blind faith that goes into the same. It does not uestion the core tenets of an! faith, let alone $anaatan %harm. It actuall! preaches that 1an does need to pra! to +od, and that +od does help. The movie is not an attac& on an! religion; it is an attac& on 1an&ind as it exists toda!. It teaches us to believe, to have faith in +od and that +od helps those who help themselves. Isn4t that what $anaatan %harm sa!s precisel! It teaches us the value of true love, of self-confidence, and of true faith; it teaches us to have faith in +od.
Analysis
36 gets first introduced to the concept of +od through a common proverb use in India, uttered b! a policeman who refuses to help him find his remote control b! sa!ing that policemen are humans not gods. This stri&es 36, who feels onl! +od can lead him to his loc&et:t!pe remote control device so he could return to his planet. This is when 36 sa!s that people on earth might have actuall! found out who had created them and he sees followers of multiple faiths and their corresponding places of worship. In a scene where 36 is shown in a temple 1udri&a temple<, he tries to steal mone! from a 2harit!-box which is &ept in almost ever! religious place in India<. In order to get awa! from being beaten up, he uic&l! pastes stic&ers of #indu +ods on his face, so people would not slap him and tells 5aggu, it is similar to wh! people draw pictures of gods on their walls from outside so people would not urinate there. This identifies a socio-religious practice of India, where civic sense is low and religious sentiments flow high, and this social realit! gets established in the next scene. After 5aggu inuires, he
sa!s that he is tr!ing to get a refund for the mone! that has been offering to various +ods so far for returning his remote control. #e calls this a =deposit4 for processing his reuest. As earlier he was told +od will help him, he started believing in +od and doing ever!thing to please him from bu!ing idols, to visiting temples, to offering charit!. Another is the wa! people dress is one of the representation of a religion. This is true even here in the 3hilippines. 1ormon men wear white polo shirt with nec& tie for the upper and slac&s for the lower and modest dresses for women. This became the mar& for 1ormons.
Refection/Analysis Paper on the movie PK
Submitted by:
METH ! TA"#$%S
Submitted to:
MRS! "A&M%E '! (A)$%"&TAS
