PK: FIR lodged against Aamir Khan, Rajkumar Hirani

If Aamir Khan’s nude poster wasn’t enough to put PK under the radar, the film has yet again invited the wrath of many for offending their religious sentiments. One of the most anticipated films of 2014 opened to mixed reviews after its release on December 19. While many praised Aamir’s stellar performance and Rajkumar Hirani’s theme of the film, others blamed the makers for being insensitive and portraying religion in a wrong way. The makers have yet again found themselves in the midst of a new controversy as an FIR has been lodged against the film section 153A, 295A of Indian Penal Code.

Prashant Patel, Secretary of Hindu Legal Cell has apparently lodged an FIR against director Rajkumar Hirani, Aamir Khan, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Sidharth Roy Kapur. Reportedly, Patel thinks that makers have portrayed Lord Shiva in a bad light. It does not stop here, he has further alleged that there have been disapproving comments on Hindu rituals that does not go down well with many believers. Also, the dialogue from the film, ‘Jo darta hai vo hi mandir jaata hai’ has been mentioned in the FIR.
But this is not the first time that the film has courted controversy. The film’s first poster which showed a nude Aamir Khan protecting his decency with a transistor attracted wrath. An FIR was lodged against the makers on charges of obscenity.
Aamir’s PK recently became a topic of debate on Twitter when many people expressed their views on the film. Many started slamming the film for offending religious sentiments and for promoting love-jihad, other section of social media came in support of the film.

In fact, Aamir Khan came out in defense of the film. He told a leading daily DNA that most of the PK crew was Hindu and none of them felt offended by anything.

He further added, “I think that this is a democracy where everyone has their own opinions and I respect everyone’s viewpoints, their feelings and their opinions. Having said that, I don’t think that any of us are talking about any one religion in particular. I think there have been utmost care taken in telling the story in a sensitive matter and not a sensational matter.”

Even film’s director Rajkumar Hirani has come to clear his stance. He said, “We have not done anything for which people can tell we have deliberately hurt anyone’s religious sentiments.”

He further added, “The core idea of the film is just that we are not born with a birthmark proclaiming we are Hindus or Muslims or Sikhs or Christians. It is just that like a baby is born without any per-conceived notions and is made to follow a certain lifestyle and perform certain rituals, we decided to have Aamir as an alien which meant he too did not have any idea or notions about what religion is here on Earth. A newborn baby is taught to follow certain rules and act according to one’s religious traditions. When they grow up and have their own set of ideologies, they think their ways or methods are right and others are wrong. To a Hindu, some ritual might be done in a certain manner or something might be considered sacred. But for Muslims, it might be something else. That is what we tried to portray that our ways are different, not by choice, but our faith remains the same.”

Despite the controversy surrounding the film, PK has set the cash registers ringing at the box office. The film has minted Rs.95 crore in just three days and pulling crowds at the nearest theatre.