Rajkumar Hirini He explains why he used an alien as the protagonist in ‘PK’. The filmmaker said his idea had little to do with Steven Spielberg’s exploration of aliens in his films. Hirani explained that the aliens in ‘PK’ helped tell a story about religion, faith and innocence without giving the character a fixed human perspective.
Rajkumar Hirani portrays the alien idea in ‘PK’
In an exclusive interview with Variety India, Hirani talks about the inspiration behind ‘PK’ and how the alien character of the film came about. The filmmaker attended the launch event of ‘Pritam and Pedro’, an upcoming web series directed by Avinash Arun and backed by Rajkumar Hirani Films.Spielberg has often used aliens to bring wonder, emotion and sci-fi spectacle to the screen. Hirani said his reason was different. “My reason, surely, Mr. Spielberg’s reason for using it in his films will be completely different,” he said.Hirani added that the alien became a useful narrative device because the character could question human beliefs without bias. “My reason for using one in ‘PK’ was that if there was an alien landing on Earth, he wouldn’t know anything about how to see God. Through his innocence, we can tell a story about God in religions. If you were to tell the story from some rationalist point of view, he would have a fixed view.“
He talks about Rajkumar Hirani kids movies in india
Hirani also revealed that the character was not originally written as a foreigner. He said the initial idea was closer to a Mowgli-like figure who grows up away from society.“After 20 years he leaves the jungle, no one has told him what God is. So he’s very strange. Then, one fine day, that character became alienated. Yes, that was the only reason,” Hirani said.The filmmaker also spoke about the lack of children’s films in India. He said studios often look at market demand before backing such stories.“Studios hesitate to make a movie because they feel like there’s no market. But I always feel like there’s always one. It’s the story you choose to tell,” he said.Hirani cited ‘Koi Mil Gaya’, ‘Krrish’ and ‘Chillar Party’ as examples of films made for young audiences. He said no one deliberately avoids children’s cinema, but studios and filmmakers make individual choices.
