PK (Tipsy) is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language science-fiction comedy-drama film edited and directed by Rajkumar Hirani and written by Hirani and Abhijat Joshi and jointly produced by Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the production banners of Rajkumar Hirani Films and Vinod Chopra Films, respectively. A religious satire addressing superstition and pseudoprophets, the film stars an ensemble cast of Aamir Khan (as the title character), Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla and Sanjay Dutt. Khan plays a humanoid alien who was sent to Earth on a research mission. After losing the remote with which he contacts his spaceship, he is told by the people of Earth to seek God's help - leading him to start a national movement which questions organised religion as a whole.
After the success of 3 Idiots (2009), Hirani and Joshi began scripting their next project; finding similarities with the plot of Inception (2010), they scrapped the film. It was later rewritten with a different angle and tone. During production, the film was initially titled Talli and later Ek Tha Talli before being changed to PK as the latter title was found to be too similar to Ek Tha Tiger (2012). The film's soundtrack was composed by Shantanu Moitra, Ajay–Atul and Ankit Tiwari with lyrics written by Swanand Kirkire, Amitabh Varma and Manoj Muntashir. UTV Motion Pictures acquired the distribution rights of the film. PK was the first Bollywood film to be shot in Belgium.
PK was released on 19 December 2014. Upon release, it received critical acclaim, with praise directed towards Khan's performance and the film's humour. The film received 8 nominations at the 60th Filmfare Awards, including Best Actor for Khan, Best Film, and Best Director for Hirani, winning two. Additionally, it won five Producers Guild Film Awards, and two Screen Awards. PK garnered the Telstra People's Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Produced on a budget of 1.22 billion, PK was the first Indian film to gross more than 7 billion and US$100 million worldwide. At the time of its release, it emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of all time. The film's final worldwide gross was 769.89 crore (US$118.92 million). It currently ranks as the eleventh highest-grossing Hindi film of all-time.
Plot A humanoid alien lands in Rajasthan, India, on a research mission but is stranded when a thief steals his spaceship's remote-control amulet. Meanwhile, in Bruges, Belgium, Indian journalism student Jagat "Jaggu" Janani Sahni falls in love with Pakistani student Sarfaraz Yousuf. Her devout father, a follower of fraudulent Hindu godman Tapasvi Maharaj, opposes their interfaith relationship. After Tapasvi predicts Sarfaraz will betray her, Jaggu proposes an immediate registry marriage. At the chapel, however, she receives an unsigned letter calling off the wedding and returns to India heartbroken.
Now a television journalist in New Delhi, Jaggu encounters the stranded alien, who distributes pamphlets seeking a "missing" God. After witnessing his arrest for attempting to recover money from a temple donation box as compensation for "broken promises", she secures his release. The alien explains that he survived by stealing clothes from couples, befriended Rajasthani brass bandmaster Bhairon Singh, and learned fluent Bhojpuri by absorbing memories through touch. His attempts to recover the amulet from various places of worship earned him the nickname "PK" (meaning "drunk").
PK explores Hinduism, Sikhism, Christianity, and Islam after being told only God can find his device, but none helps. He eventually discovers that Tapasvi possesses the amulet and falsely presents it as a divine relic from the Himalayas. After confirming PK's extraterrestrial nature, Jaggu agrees to help him retrieve it through her media platform.
PK concludes that religious intermediaries are effectively using a metaphorical "wrong number" to mislead humanity through fabricated dogmas and rituals. His campaign, supported by Jaggu's television network, becomes a nationwide movement exposing religious exploitation and threatening Tapasvi's influence. Meanwhile, Bhairon locates the thief, who admits selling the amulet to Tapasvi, but both are killed in a retaliatory terrorist bombing before they can testify.
Tapasvi challenges PK to a live televised debate. He cites his prediction of Sarfaraz's betrayal as proof of his foresight, but PK, having absorbed Jaggu's memories, recognises inconsistencies in the chapel incident. He deduces that the unsigned letter was delivered to the wrong pew and intended for another bride. Jaggu contacts the Pakistani Embassy in Belgium, which confirms that Sarfaraz found the same letter elsewhere and mistakenly believed Jaggu had rejected him. The broadcast exposes Tapasvi's deception, prompting Jaggu's disillusioned father to demand the remote control's return.
PK retrieves the device and prepares to leave Earth. Although he has fallen in love with Jaggu, he suppresses his feelings out of respect for her relationship with Sarfaraz, keeping recordings of her voice as a memento. Jaggu discovers his love notes but lets him leave, later publishing a bestselling book about his experiences.
One year later, PK returns to Earth with a new expedition from his species to continue studying human nature.
Cast
Production
Development
After the success of 3 Idiots, director Rajkumar Hirani and writer Abhijat Joshi started work for their next project. They had written a story about a character who had the ability to get into another person's mind to make that person a better human being. They spent one year to write a story, but it turned out to be similar to Inception (2010). After watching Inception, Hirani and Joshi were shocked by the similarities. Eventually, they decided to scrap the film, then Hirani and Joshi reworked on the script, changing the entire tone and angle. It took three years to write it.
In PK, Khan played nine avatars (costume changes) and, during the course of the film, the actor had to chew over 10,000 betelnut preparations called paan. Betelnut is a psychoactive stimulant used throughout Asia and characterised by its ability to stain users' mouths red. "In real life paan is not a habit, I have it once in a while but for this film I chew paan for every scene. I would at times eat about 100 paans in a day. We had a paanwala [a paan maker] on the sets," said Khan in the report. For every take, Khan had to eat a fresh paan to fill his mouth. Before beginning the shoot, he would eat at least 10–15 paans to get the right color inside his mouth and on his lips.
Viral Thakkar was the visual effects supervisor. The visual effects company was Riva Digital at a point employing 100 artists working on the film.
Casting In 2011, Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma signed on for the film. Khan's nephew Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor were considered for a role which eventually went to Sushant Singh Rajput before the release of his debut movie Kai Po Che (2013). Earlier reports said that Rajkumar Hirani had signed Arshad Warsi for the film when it was reported that Arshad will be playing an important role. In 2013, Warsi said in an interview "I couldn't have worked out on dates. I wouldn't refuse Raju for anything. In fact, when he offered me the film, I did not even ask for the script, I was like I am ready to come on whenever you want. So that is the connection I share with Raju." Before Rajput and Warsi were signed on, R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi were said to be cast in the film. Junaid Khan, son of Aamir Khan worked as an assistant director in this film.
Characters PK: The titular character was written to be a Chaplinesque, bumbling alien and meant to provide an outside view to the quirks and hypocrisies of the Indian society. To further accentuate the alien look, Khan developed a distinct appearance and mannerisms including wearing green contact lenses and not blinking while talking. Khan learned Bhojpuri for the role with the help of the language expert Shanti Bhushan. Rajkumar Hirani said in an interview, "When we write a script we usually visualize the characters in the film. How they look, talk and walk. But PK is one such character which was very difficult to visualize. We didn't have a reference point. PK was one such character, who didn't have a reference point. A character like him wasn't there in any book, nor did we meet someone like him in real life. We only knew that we wanted the character to be innocent and child-like. Now the question was, who is that actor who could look like a child. Someone who is perfect for the role of PK. The answer was obvious – Aamir Khan." Jagat "Jaggu" Janani: PK's friend and confidante, Jaggu is a television news reporter and is instrumental in spreading PK's message. She was envisioned as a fun-loving yet mature and independent woman. The producers wanted a distinct look for Jaggu and ended up trying several options over a few days before settling on one. Sharma said in an interview "Raju Sir wanted me to look happy, chirpy and peppy in PK. Keeping his brief in mind, the team came up with this look." She revealed that she was not required to cut her hair by remarking, "I have long hair, so hair stylists just wrapped my hair and tucked inside the wig". Bhairon Singh: Makers wanted somebody tall and sturdy for the role of Bhairon Singh and that's why Sanjay came in the picture. Vidhu Vinod Chopra shared, "The character Bhairon Singh is shown to be PK's good friend. The idea was that since PK is a tiny person, we wanted someone who in contrast is very huge. Such that, when Bhairon hugs PK, it looks funny as the tiny man would go completely unnoticed in Bhairon's arms."
Title In 2011, in its initial scripting stage, Hirani named the film Talli, then changed it to Ek Tha Talli which he loved, but later on came to know that Ek Tha Tiger was already in production (released in 2012). He dropped the idea and, after many titles, he came up with a title that only had initials, PK. After starting the film, Hirani felt PK was not a good enough title. He decided to change the title to Talli. But after a few weeks of shooting, Hirani decided to go back to the original title.
Themes Firstpost compared PK to Hirani and Khan's previous collaboration 3 Idiots, as they both involve "A socially awkward and 'different' young man—who walks and talks in a strange, enthusiastic childlike manner—observes the system, questions it, asks you to look at the many ludicrous things that inform it, and eventually brings about a minor revolution."PK review: 'Alien' Aamir, peppy Anushka in a funny but flawed satire . Firstpost (20 December 2014). Retrieved 15 April 2015. In an interview, Rajkumar Hirani revealed that initially, the plot involved the alien protagonist falling in love with a girl early on, which led him to question religious divisions when he encountered her father’s prejudice. He used his powers to change the father's mindset. However, after watching Inception, Hirani realised the concept was too similar and scrapped the original second half. The filmmakers also decided against a storyline involving a case against God, as it closely resembled the play Kanji Viruddh Kanji, which was being adapted into a film (OMG Oh My God) written by Joshi's playwright brother Saumya. Ultimately, PK focused on promoting communal harmony, with both films exploring similar themes but through different approaches.
Filming