My most recent and rather
annoying experience with imbeciles relates to a delightfully sensible and
sensitive (yep, that’s the order in which the two ‘sens’ follow) called PK. PK
is about an alien that visits our planet, and more specifically our country. His
mission is to study the people of this planet and report back to his own. The key
to his return is a homing/tracking device that is stolen from him. Without this
device, his mother ship cannot pick him up. Thus begins his journey towards
finding this lost device which leads him to unravel the misgivings of self-styled
God men proclaiming to be direct ‘connections’ with God. I won’t delve much
more into the story, as that is not the purpose of this article. What I do
intend to do, is to vent my anger and frustration on the anti-social elements
that feels that this simple film is an insult to their religion.
What PK does is simple:
It exposes self-styled fraudulent
God men who influence the gullible masses with religious hokum. What I find
hard to believe is that a fairly large number of these followers are well
educated people. Now, one can and will argue that education has nothing to do
with the fact that one believes in a power higher than one’s self. That is a
valid argument as even some of the greatest minds of our times like Thomas
Edison and Albert Einstein believed in the Divine as well as in the concept of
Miracles. BUT, BUT, BUT. None of these great minds ever believed that a single
individual could be their ticket to ridding themselves of their problems once and
for all. None of these people were influenced into ‘donating generously’ to
attain Nirvana.
PK has many simple messages but
the most powerful message is that of helping one another live through life’s
challenges rather than putting all your Faith and Money into a never-ending
abyss of lies and deceit. God wanted us to look after each other and that’s why
he made us. It reminds me of another movie that deeply influenced my own
beliefs about God and our ways of worship. That film was called ‘OMG! Oh My
God!’ There is a beautiful song in the film which is sung soulfully by Kailesh
Kher called ‘Mere Nishaan’. The song is God’s lament about how human beings
have made it a business. Some of the lines in the song (translated below) are
very similar to the message PK has for us:
I no longer
live in the hearts of my people,
instead I am
sold everywhere in the markets…
…I made this
world with my own hands
not out of
soil but out of emotions
yet, here I
am looking for myself
OMG took a hard-hitting stand towards
some of the ludicrous beliefs that religions inculcate. Like instead of wasting
a liter of milk on an stone idol, why not give it to a poor person who hasn’t eaten
for days? PK makes a far more subtle statement about trying to build your own
connection to the divine by helping one another. About finding your own path
and not giving in to the devious and divisive ideologies that are communicated
through god-men. Oh My God openly mocks at Priests by rating their IQ
equivalent to the temperature of a room. The protagonist goes on to state God
has become a business and that this business is rampant owing to a constant state
of fear that is instilled into followers. Do this or you will go to Hell. Do
that and a place for you in Heaven is guaranteed. PK does the same. There are
of course, many more similarities between the two films but the biggest
difference between the two is this. PK at heart is a sensitive film that is
centered around loving, caring, and looking out for one another (just like PK
and Jaggu and even Bhairon Singh do in the fim). OMG scarcely relies on any of
the qualities or emotions that PK does. Instead, it takes the proverbial ‘bull
by the horns’ approach in dealing with Religion as a form of Crony Capitalism.
But what exactly seems to be the
problem with Religious extremist groups that want PK to be banned??? Well, it’s
not difficult to decipher (even for a person with the IQ of my bedroom). PK is
enacted by a Muslim- Aamir Khan. It’s funny how a large percentage of this
country nodded in agreement as Aamir, through his Television programme, ‘Satyamev
Jayate’ tackled one taboo topic after another. Most of these were some form of
social evil, Malpractice, Corruption or any other pressing Social need of the
country. The armchair activists of this country, from their higher moral
ground, applauded most of his efforts to bring these issues to the forefront.
So what was he then, An Indian or a Muslim? If he was an Indian trying to do
his bit to improve the world that we live in the TV programme, then how come
they have a problem against the same Indian trying to dispel the shroud of
darkness that has a sinister effect on the overall well-being of the nation,
through his film?
The problem does not lie in the
Religious prejudices. The problem lies in the fact that these Religious Extremists
wait for an opportunity to strike a soft target and therefore attract publicity.
They like to see the effect that the film has on the masses and then decide
whether it is in their best vested interests to ban the film or not.
The problem lies with the fact
that these groups will always prefer it if the larger population remains
uneducated and continue to be governed by completely irrational claims of
individuals being God’s favoured messengers. If the masses wake up to this fact
that God has indeed given us the opportunity to empower ourselves and carve our
paths, these organizations wouldn’t survive leave alone thrive.
The problem lies with the fact
that these extremists (and I include ALL religious extremist outfits) really
have absolutely nothing to do with Religion. It is a business that thrives on a
constant state of fear. Their highly treasured investments (God Men) won’t get
them the votes they so badly need to keep them in Power.
Last but not the least, nobody
will hear what they have to say because people will keep themselves busy by
helping each other out irrespective of their caste, creed or religion. And then
maybe we won’t find God, but we will for sure have more people say to us ‘Thank
God, for sending you J ‘ See you all in the New Year.
And if you haven’t seen PK yet, then do yourselves a big favour by watching the
film. And do watch OMG! Oh My God as well.
