PK - pure entertainment or hidden intentions?

Both OMG and PK deals with the same subject and both of them intend to convey similar messages but their treatments are entirely different. OMG was a constructive criticism but PK is out and out a destructive and derogatory in nature. In OMG, the storyteller very intelligently pits God Himself against the Godmen and God wins convincingly – fair enough. While OMG forcefully placed the point of view of non-believers, with that it also encouraged believers to go for introspection.

I just saw a panel discussion on IBN7 where everyone argued that Hinduism is so great, so tolerant, it has such a rich history of reforms and unmatched treasure of philosophy that extends much beyond any set of narrow rituals that those who are asking for a ban on the film actually do not understand Hinduism. What hurts hard is actually this – that the opposition for the film is being sought on a ground that film ‘intentionally’ refrains from conveying about Hinduism. Hinduism is equated with idol-worshiping and following Godmen only. While following mindlessly a book and its interpreters may be others’ approach but certainly not of Hindus. Very cleverly, on this ground Hinduism is ridiculed excessively as compared to other religions. The rich Vedic philosophy of life that extends beyond idols and the attention that even ‘atheism’ has received in our ancient culture of Hinduism has been completely ignored ‘intentionally’. The film puts monolithic ‘religions’ and our plural ‘culture’ on the same line – and that is what hurts those who believe in plurality. The stupidity in the treatment would become obvious when someone would ask us to avoid meeting a doctor just because a few of the doctors are caught in criminal acts. Will it be acceptable to ask people to do research themselves and invent medicines instead of going to a doctor and giving him a chance to victimize you?

There is nothing wrong till the film is taken purely for its entertainment value but when the support is given for the message that the film intends to spread then Hinduism would certainly find itself at a great disadvantage in this film. That the average film-goers in India is not as aware of our rich cultural heritage as those who are against it – thanks to our ‘secular’ approach – it only works against Hinduism. That a Hindu needs to go to a far off temple to seek solution of his problem is not universally acceptable in Hinduism and was only an advice by a Godmen, but one needs to go to Haj to book a place in heaven - is a religiously accepted norm in Islam. It was also strange to witness an unrealistic open atmosphere in a Pakistan embassy for an Indian girl. To prove a point the film goes on to show even a secular India in a poor light as compared to an out and out Islamic and terrorist state of Pakistan – and this alone raises many questions on the honesty of the filmmakers.

Just as ‘3 Idiots’ worked wonders in disorienting students and encouraged them to take studies non-seriously, this film also has similar targets against Hinduism. I just wish that the success of this film (unlike 3 Idiots) does not get translated in spreading its message against Hinduism and gets confined only against ‘dishonest’ Godmen.

the idiotic movie

Congratulations to HT and Sagarika ('idiot is as idiot does', Saturday January 16, 2010), at last I saw space given to some sensible discussions on the '3 idiots'. The discussion finds true relevance in the current situation when we are noticing some clear design to dilute our school studies (Kapil Sibal's?? vision) and also to wipe out the standard of our higher education (courtesy UGC-cum-Knowledge Commission efforts). While American President Obama urges his fellows to spend more time in the classrooms if they want to compete with Asian students, we are hell bent on aping them and lose our edge in this regard in the name of stress factor. I myself have been witness to the fact that even an average Indian student has always done very well in the West once he/she gets an opportunity. And this is precisely because an average student here spends much more time in studies than they do. Stress due to studies has always remained an urban phenomena in India. In my view, students do not feel the pressure of studies here, in fact they feel pressure for not able to justify their urge in spending time for unlimited fun that is at their easy-disposal in a metro-life. They find it difficult to get time for late-night partying, they do not get time for unnecessary biking and TV viewing, they get little justification for their urge for wasting time and money with their girlfriend/boyfriend in multiplexes, malls, useless video games and restaurants. Still these factors are much less compared to the avenues of fun that the students have at their disposal in the West. It is probably West's vision that if their students are not able to increase their time in studies then at least get the Asian students somehow out of the classes.
'bachpan toh gaya, jawani bhi gayi...ek pal toh hame jine doh' -- this great lyrics tells you that parents of the three idiots were still enjoying their youth while those idiots could not!!!! It was absurdly-funny to have those idiots seen as crying (instead of their parents!!!) that 'sari umra to mar-mar ke ji liye, thoda sa ab hame jine doh jine doh'. I have seen genius students in my more than 20 years of teaching career, but I am yet to encounter one who never prepares for any examination but still manages to top the class. As I understand, a genius of 'Amir'- kind, who is shown to be only interested in learning the subject, goes on to become a very good researcher, he can build a medical equipment using a vacuum cleaner but unfortunately it is only idiotic to show that he tops the batch by writing the answers better than the 4th idiot 'Chatur' and that too when the answer sheets are being marked by professors like Virus!