Rajkumar Hirani has opened up about why he used an alien as the central character in ‘PK’. The filmmaker said his idea had little to do with how Steven Spielberg has explored aliens in his films. Hirani explained that the alien in ‘PK’ helped him tell a story about religion, belief and innocence without giving the character a fixed human point of view.
Rajkumar Hirani explains alien idea in ‘PK’
In an exclusive interview with Variety India, Hirani spoke about the inspiration behind ‘PK’ and how the film’s alien character came into being. The filmmaker recently 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 science fiction spectacle to the screen. Hirani said his reason was different. “My reason will be surely completely different to Mr. Spielberg’s reason to use them in his films,” he said.Hirani added that the alien became a useful narrative device because the character could question human beliefs without bias. “My reason to use one in ‘PK’ was purely that if there’s an alien who lands on earth, he would know nothing about the way we see God. Through his innocence, we’ll be able to tell a story about God in religions. Because if you were narrating the story from the point of view of some rationalist, he would have a fixed view.”
Rajkumar Hirani talks about children’s films in India
Hirani also revealed that the character was not first written as an alien. He said the early idea was closer to a Mowgli-like figure who grows up away from society.“He leaves the jungle after 20 years, nobody has told him what God is. So, he’s very curious. From there on, one fine day, that character became an alien. Yeah, 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 film because they might feel that there’s not a market. But I always feel there’s always one. It’s just what story you choose to tell,” he said.Hirani cited ‘Koi Mil Gaya’, ‘Krrish’ and ‘Chillar Party’ as examples of films made for younger viewers. He said nobody is deliberately avoiding children’s cinema, but studios and filmmakers make individual choices.
