After the success of3 Idiots (2009), Hirani and Joshi began scripting their next project; finding similarities with the plot ofInception (2010), they scrapped the film. It was later rewritten with a different angle and tone. During production, the film was initially titledTalli and laterEk Tha Talli before being changed toPK as the latter title was found to be too similar toEk Tha Tiger (2012). The film's soundtrack was composed byShantanu Moitra,Ajay–Atul andAnkit Tiwari with lyrics written bySwanand Kirkire, Amitabh Varma andManoj Muntashir.UTV Motion Pictures acquired the distribution rights of the film.PK was the first Bollywood film to be shot inBelgium.[citation needed]
A nudehumanoidalien lands on Earth on a research mission inRajasthan, India, and is stranded when the remote control to summon his spaceship is stolen.
That very day, in Belgium, an Indian woman, Jagat "Jaggu" Janani Sahni, meets a Pakistani man, Sarfaraz Yousuf, and falls in love with him. Her father objects to their relationship, citing their different religions, and consults their family astrologer,godman Tapasvi Maharaj, who predicts Sarfaraz will betray Jaggu. Determined to prove them wrong, Jaggu asks Sarfaraz to marry her, only to be heartbroken after receiving an unsigned letter calling off their wedding and not to contact him.
Jaggu returns to India and becomes a journalist. She is intrigued after finding the alien distributing pamphlets about a "missing" God. She earns his trust by rescuing him when he attempts to take money from a temple's donation box as a "refund" for God's broken promises, and he opens up to her. He stole clothes and money from a couple having sex in a car and befriended a bandmaster, Bhairon Singh. He learnedBhojpuri at a brothel by holding hands and exchanging memories with a prostitute and started looking for the thief who stole his remote inDelhi, where he earned the name "PK" (drunk) as people thought he was intoxicated when getting confused with different religions. When told only God can help him, he began practising many Indian religions, includingHinduism,Sikhism,Christianity andIslam, attempting to find "God" to no avail. He found out Tapasvi had his remote but refused to return it, claiming it was a gift from God. Believing his story after a brief hesitation, Jaggu promises to help PK.
After Jaggu pranks an unknown caller in front of him, PK naively conjectures Tapasvi and his other godmen must be unintentionally dialing a "wrong number" to communicate with God, advising the public against engaging in meaningless rituals for their prayers. Intrigued, Jaggu encourages the public to exposefraudulent godmen by sending their videos to her news channel. Gradually, this "wrong number" campaign turns into a popular mass movement, much to the dismay of Tapasvi. Meanwhile, Bhairon finds the thief in Rajasthan and informs PK that he sold the remote to Tapasvi. PK realises Tapasvi was a fraud all along, intentionally misleading people. Bhairon and the thief are later killed in a terrorist attack.
Tapasvi confronts PK on air, asking him what the "right number" is. PK claims people should believe in the "real" God that created them instead of other fraudulent godmen and their "duplicate" God. Tapasvi claims he has a direct connection to "God", citing his prediction of Sarfaraz's betrayal to prove Muslims to be liars. Having absorbed Jaggu's memories earlier, PK claims he can disprove his prediction and reveals Sarfaraz had not written the letter to Jaggu, citing the presence of another bride as a possible recipient that day. Shocked, Jaggu contacts thePakistani Embassy in Belgium, where Sarfaraz worked part-time, and learns Sarfaraz has been awaiting her call for a long time, proving he still loves her. It is revealed that Sarfaraz had found the same letter that day and, believing it to be from Jaggu, stopped contacting her. Jaggu and Sarfaraz tearfully reconnect while Jaggu's father realises Tapasvi's true colours, and forces him to return the remote to PK.
PK is able to return to his planet with his remote. When leaving, he takes two suitcases full of audio tapes, having filled them with recordings of Jaggu's voice. PK tells Jaggu that the recordings are of sounds from earth. However, Jaggu finds out that the tapes are actually of their conversations. She also finds the love note PK wrote for her earlier, realising his love for her, but reluctance to confess due to her feelings for Sarfaraz. She chooses not to confront PK directly and tearfully watches him walk towards his spaceship. After his departure, Jaggu publishes a book about PK, grateful for her experience with him. A year later, PK returns to Earth on a new research mission on human nature with more members of his species.
"PK" was the only film which began with a desire to say something. I can't say what that thing is. The battle was the other way round—how do you say such a serious thing in an entertaining way? For many years, we were struggling, until we finally found a way, where it will be entertaining, won't be offensive—will hit the right notes, basically.
After the success of3 Idiots, director Rajkumar Hirani and writer Abhijat Joshi started work for their next project.[12] 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 toInception (2010). After watchingInception, 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 five years to make the film and three years to write it.[13]
InPK, Khan played nine avatars (costume changes)[14] and, during the course of the film, the actor had to chew over 10,000betelnut preparations calledpaan. [citation needed] Betelnut is a psychoactive stimulant used throughout Asia and characterised by its ability to stain users' mouths red.[15] "In real lifepaan is not a habit, I have it once in a while but for this film I chewpaan for every scene. I would at times eat about 100paans in a day. We had apaanwala [apaan maker] on the sets," said Khan in the report. For every take, Khan had to eat a freshpaan to fill his mouth. Before beginning the shoot, he would eat at least 10–15paans to get the right color inside his mouth and on his lips.[16]
Viral Thakkar was the visual effects supervisor. The visual effects company was Riva Digital at a point employing 100 artists working on the film.[17]
In 2011, Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma signed on for the film.[18] Khan's nephewImran Khan andRanbir Kapoor were considered for a role which eventually went toSushant Singh Rajput before the release of his debut movieKai Po Che (2013).[19] Earlier reports said that Rajkumar Hirani had signedArshad Warsi for the film when it was reported[20] 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."[21] Before Rajput and Warsi were signed on,R. Madhavan andSharman Joshi were said to be cast in the film.[22][23] Junaid Khan, son of Aamir Khan worked as an assistant director in this film.[24]
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 learnedBhojpuri for the role[25] 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."[26]
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 inPK. 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".[27]
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."[28]
In 2011, in its initial scripting stage, Hirani named the filmTalli, then changed it toEk Tha Talli which he loved, but later on came to know thatEk 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 feltPK was not a good enough title. He decided to change the title toTalli. But after a few weeks of shooting, Hirani decided to go back to the original title.[29]
Firstpost comparedPK to Hirani and Khan's previous collaboration3 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."[30] 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 watchingInception, Hirani realized 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 playKanji Viruddh Kanji, which was being adapted into a film (OMG Oh My God). Ultimately,PK focused on promoting communal harmony, with both films exploring similar themes but through different approaches.[31]
According to Hirani,PK is a "satire on Hindu gods and their godmen".[32] The co-director Khan began looking for shooting locations in July 2012.[33] Second unit filming was set to begin in late 2012,[34] which was stalled after the rumoured departure of three department heads for the film and bad weather stalling initial shoots.[35][36] Hirani denied rumours that the film would be delayed, stating that principal filming had always been intended to begin in mid-January 2013 in Delhi and Rajasthan to "capture the winter of Delhi".[37][38]
Shooting officially began on 1 February 2013,[39] with the filming scheduled to occur over a 45-day period.[40] A one-week schedule of shooting ofPK was in June 2013 inBruges, Belgium.[41] A 26-day schedule of shooting ofPK started in Delhi from 27 September 2013.[42][43][44]
The film was marketed by a Mumbai Based company named Spice PR owned by Prabhat Choudhary.[45]
The makers released a teaser trailer on 23 October 2014.[46] It achieved 3.4 million views on YouTube within five days,[47] subsequently receiving 12 million views. It was regarded as the most viewed movie trailers onYouTube.[48] The teaser was attached with the filmHappy New Year (2014).[49]
In August, the makers found a new promotional strategy to interact with the audiences by introducing talking standees. This was the first time a Bollywood film used a talking standee at varied locations as a part of its promotions. The standee had Khan talking to people in a prominent places in populartheatres andmultiplexes.[citation needed]
On 7 December 2014, Khan began the city tour for promotions with Patna. The character he plays speaks in Bhojpuri which is the main language used for communication in Bihar. Aamir said at the event "I have decided to launch the promotional campaign of my filmPK from Bihar to connect with the language. My character speaks Bhojpuri in the film." Hence, the actor decided to start his promotional schedule from Bihar. Although he wanted to visit Bhojpur, which is 60 kilometres from Bihar, he could not because of security issues. In Bihar he visited a litti chokha stall. The visit resulted in a surge of customers to the shop, and the shop owner put up pictures of Khan eating the local delicacy.[50] Then the crew proceeded to Varanasi where they had a screening of their film3 Idiots and interacted with the people. Khan made an impromptu visit to Krishana Paan shop to savour a Banarasi pan. The actor specially removed time from his schedule to visit this place. He enjoyed a "mitha banarasi paan" there. After the crew visited Delhi, Ahemdabad, Raipur, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Indore, Bangalore and other locations in India.[51] Aamir and makers also promoted the film in Dubai.[52]
Indiagames, a part ofDisney India'sInteractive business, announced the launch of the official mobile game 'PK' based on the film. On 14 December 2014,Aamir Khan,Anushka Sharma,Rajkumar Hirani,Vidhu Vinod Chopra,Siddharth Roy Kapur, managing director ofDisney India and Sameer Ganapathy, VP and head, Interactive of Disney India launched the game at the Reliance Digital Store in Juhu amidst much fanfare.[53] The game was developed for both feature phones and smartphones. It was launched onGoogle Play,iOS App Store andWindows platform. In the game, the player gets to don many avatars of Aamir Khan as seen in the movie, along with a special avatar of Anushka Sharma, as he embarks upon an exciting endless running adventure. Set against an Indian background, the gamer runs amidst the by-lanes of Delhi, railway tracks in a desert (as seen in the movie), and collect a maximum number of paans (as PK is seen enjoying eating paan in the movie). The gamer has to avoid a number of obstacles on the way, which include cows, buses, Delhi trains, rickshaws, traffic jams, and more. The backdrops in the game give the player the feel of the movie.[54]
PK was earlier scheduled to release on 6 June 2014.[55] The director (who is also editor of the film),Rajkumar Hirani, wanted to spend more time editing. Besides, some portions with Sanjay Dutt were yet to be shot. Also, the second season ofSatyamev Jayate was to kick off from March. So Aamir Khan was not sure if he would be able to promotePK in June. Hence the makers settled for a December release.[56]
PK was released on 19 December 2014, as the 200thBollywood release in 2014.[57][58] The release was later expanded to 6000 screens worldwide, which included 5200 screens in India[59] and 844 screens overseas.[60]
PK was initially released in 4844 screens worldwide.[61][62][63][64]PK has been made tax-free inUttar Pradesh andBihar.[65][66][67]PK is the widest Indian movie released in the UK (198 screens), Pakistan (over 70 screens), Australia (35 screens) and outside of India (844 screens in over 40 overseas markets).[68]PK was released theatrically inChina on 22 May 2015 across 4,600 screens.[69] It had a dubbedMandarin Chinese version, withWang Baoqiang voicing Khan's role.[70] The film was released inSouth Korea andHong Kong on 3 September 2015,[71][72] and inJapan on 29 October 2016.[73]
The music rights were sold for₹150 million (US$2.46 million).[74]DNA reported, "Being the first film to use Rentrak, Khan has taken the first initiative to bring in a paradigm shift from the usual norms followed in Bollywood. He had clearly enforced the idea of Rentrak to be brought in to bring more accuracy when it comes to box office figures."[75]
The soundtrack is composed byShantanu Moitra,Ajay–Atul andAnkit Tiwari with lyrics written bySwanand Kirkire, Amitabh Varma and Manoj Muntashir. The song "Tharki Chokro" is the first single, released on 24 October 2014.[76] The video focuses onAamir Khan andSanjay Dutt,[77] with the song sung bySwaroop Khan and composed by Ajay–Atul with lyrics penned by Swanand Kirkire.[78] The second single, "Love Is a Waste of Time", which pictured Aamir Khan and Anushka Sharma, was released on 31 October 2014 on YouTube.[79] The song is sung bySonu Nigam andShreya Ghoshal, composed by Shantanu Moitra with the lyrics of Amitabh Varma.[80] "Chaar Kadam" was released on 2 November 2014 on the T-Series YouTube.[81] The song is sung byShaan and Shreya Ghoshal, composed by Shantanu Moitra with lyrics by Swanand Kirkire. The full soundtrack was released on 5 November 2014.[82]
Srijana Mitra Das ofThe Times of India gave the movie 4 stars out of 5.[83] Rajeev Masand ofCNN-IBN gave 3.5 stars quoting "It's a courageous film that sticks to Hirani's well-oiled formula".[84]NDTV gave 5 stars calling it "PK is a winner all the way, a film thatRaj Kapoor,Bimal Roy andGuru Dutt would have been proud of had they been alive. Hirani is without a doubt their most worthy standard-bearer."[85]Bollywood Hungama described it as "a solid entertainer that will surely entertain the masses and classes alike" and gave 4.5 out of 5 stars.[86]Raja Sen ofRediff.com gavePK 4 out of 5 stars and called it "a triumph" and argued that Khan "soars high".[87] However, Sukanya Verma of the same publication called the film "a mixed bag of spunk and sentimentality", while still giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars.[88] Rohit Vats ofHindustan Times gave 4 out of 5 stars and said "Khan steals the show with his performance".[89] Rohit Khilnani ofIndia Today gave 4.5 stars, and said "Go watch the film & watch it ASAP!"[90] Edmund Lee ofSouth China Morning Post gavePK 3.5 stars.[72] In Japan, Yuri Wakabayashi ofEiga gave the film a positive review in 2016.[91]
In 2019,Film Companion ranked Khan's performance among the 100 best in Indian film for the past decade.[92]
PK had its box office figures tracked byRentrak,[93] a United States–based company that specialises in audience measurements.PK became the first Bollywood film to earn₹1 billion (US$16.39 million) net from online bookings.[94]PK grossed₹183.09crore (US$28.955 million) worldwide in its first week.[95][96] It became the highest-grossing Indian film, in both domestic as well as international markets.[97][98] The film's final worldwide gross was₹753.36 crore[99] (US$118.92million). It was the 71st highest-grossing film of 2014.[100]PK was the first Indian film to gross more than₹7 billion[101][102][103] andUS$100 million worldwide.[104][97][105][106]
PK earned₹266.3 million net on its opening day.[120] It showed growth on its second day, earning around₹303.4 million net.[121] On its third day, the film brought in₹384.4 million net, bringing its weekend take to₹954.1 million net.[122]
PK had the highest collections for a Hindi film on its first Monday, earning around₹212.2 million net.[123] Over the next two days it grossed₹193.6 million and₹195.5 million net respectively, taking its total to₹1,555.4 million.[124] On Christmas Day the film earned₹275.5 million net, taking its first week total to₹1.831 billion net.[125][126]
On its second Friday,PK brought in around₹144.8 million net.[127] The film kept growing in its second weekend, earning₹171.6 million on Saturday and₹218.5 million on Sunday, taking the weekend total to₹534.9 million net.[128] It earned₹100.8 million on its second Monday,₹91.1 million on Tuesday and₹90.5 million on Wednesday. With this, the film took its total to around₹2,648.2 million net and became thehighest-grossing film in India in just 13 days.[129][130] The film set a record second week figure of₹957.8 million, taking its total to₹2,788.7 million net.[111]PK made an all-time record in the Mumbai circuit by grossing there more than₹1 billion net.[131]
The film netted around₹267.5 million in its third weekend, reaching₹3.0562 billion net in seventeen days.[132]PK went on to net₹3.175 billion in India and grossed₹1.53 billion overseas for a worldwide gross of₹5.77 billion in three weeks.[133][110] The film earned a final domestic gross of₹448.74 crore (US$73.53 million),[134] including a domestic net of₹3.408 billion.[135]
PK had a second phase of overseas release inEast Asia, most prominently inChina.[144][145] It became an instant hit, grossing US$5.14–5.3 million in first three days of release due to good word-of-mouth—a record for an Indian film (previously held byDhoom 3), debuting at second place at the Chinese box office behindAvengers: Age of Ultron.[146][147]PK became the highest-grossing Indian film in China in just 72 hours[147][148] and grossed US$19.5 million (Rs 1.22 billion) in China.[144][149][150][151][152] It became the first Indian film to pass the 100 millionyuan ($16.11 million) threshold, which is considered rare for a non-Hollywood foreign film.[153]
The film grossed¥119million[113] (US$20million)[154] in China. In addition, it grossed US$0.3million inSouth Korea, US$870,000 inHong Kong, and US$289,000 inTaiwan.[107]PK was also a hit in Japan when it was released there in 2016, particularly inTokyo; inShinjuku, for example, it was the year's second highest-earning film atCinema Qualite.[155]
Director Hirani has confirmed that a sequel will be made starring Khan and Ranbir Kapoor. He said, "We will make the sequel. We had shown Ranbir [Kapoor's character landing on the planet] towards the end of the film, so there is a story to tell. But Abhijat Joshi (the writer of the film) has not written it yet. The day he writes it, we will make it."[166][167]
When the shoot was going on in Chandni Chowk area of Delhi, anFIR was lodged against the makers of the film for allegedlyhurting religious sentiments in October 2013.[168] The objection was regarding a scene where a man dressed as the Hindu deityShiva, pulls the rickshaw with twoburqa clad women as passengers.[169]
In July 2014, the film's poster sparked a controversy[vague] as it featuredAamir Khan posing almostnude with only aradio cassette recorder covering hisgenitals.[32][170] Although theCentral Board of Film Certification had cleared the film, aPIL was filed in the court by the All India Human Rights and Social Justice Front to ban its release saying it promoted nudity and vulgarity. TheSupreme Court of India dismissed the plea and gave the film a green signal.[171] A case was lodged against Aamir Khan and Rajkumar Hirani undersection 295A in Rajasthan.[172]
Swaroopanand Saraswati in January 2015 raised questions with theCensor Board about the film, demanding that theCBI investigate how the film received its certification from the Censor Board despite several members of the Board requesting that the film be reviewed again, but with no action taken.[181]
The Sunni clerics of theAll India Muslim Personal Law Board demanded the removal of some scenes of the movie which they believed were hurting religious sentiments.[182]
^Chowdhary, Y. Sunita (18 January 2015)."The right breaks".The Hindu.Archived from the original on 22 May 2018. Retrieved31 August 2019 – via www.thehindu.com.
.svg)