PK ***

Dir: Rajkumar Hirani

Starring: Aamir Khan, Anushka Sharma, Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Sushant Singh Rajput

After the idiocy that was Dhoom 3 (but what do I know, the third installment of the Dhoom franchise still stands as the highest grosser in the history of Indian cinema - though PK is on the brink of going past it as I write this), Aamir Khan redeems himself with his latest pairing with writer/director Rajkumar Hirani.

The movie’s not perfect - the somewhat simplistic second half doesn’t match the excellence of the first half - but it is still hugely enjoyable and features a terrific performance from Aamir himself.

It is also a brave movie, willing to tackle (albeit in humorous fashion) the difficult and sensitive subject of organised religion and those who would exploit it for personal gain. It also has an extremely important message for these troubled and fractious times - the message of universal love and humanity. But in its simplistic approach to what is ultimately a much more complicated subject than it is made out to be here, the movie falls short of its lofty aims.However, Rajkumar Hirani is too good a storyteller and Aamir Khan too intelligent (where his good sense went when making Dhoom 3 I don’t know) and fine an actor for PK to fall into the pits of banality, even in the more prosaic second half.

The movie chronicles the adventures of PK, an extra-terrestrial stranded on Earth (don’t worry, this is not really a spoiler - PK’s alien nature is revealed the movie’s very first scene) looking for a way to get back home. Hirani and Aamir Khan have a whole lot of fun with the absurdities that abound on this planet.

Aamir is note-perfect and his mannerisms and Bhojpuri dialect he adopts for his character will have you in splits. Hirani’s script is witty and funny too, for the most part. The rest of the cast is fine as well including Anushka Sharma, as a TV journalist fascinated by PK’s tale though initially disbelieving of it (Ms. Sharma’s new lips, however, prove to be highly distracting and not particularly attractive either – she would be well-advised to revert to what God gave her lips-wise).

Unfortunately, the fine Boman Irani is wasted in his role of a television anchor/producer.

Ultimately, PK falls below Aamir Khan’s best works like Taare Zameen Par, 3 Idiots, Lagaan, and Dil Chahta Hai but it is still worth seeing.

Cut to chase: Superb first half, relatively simplistic second but still worth your while