Rajkumar Hirani: ‘My Reason To Use An Alien in ‘PK’ Was Completely Different From Mr. Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’” (EXCLUSIVE)

When master filmmakers look to the stars, they often find entirely different ways to mirror human nature. Hollywood giant Steven Spielberg has spent his career deeply fascinated by outer space, using extra-terrestrial visitors to evoke childhood wonder and sci-fi spectacle. On the other side of the globe, Rajkumar Hirani took a completely different approach to the cosmos, dropping an alien right into the heart of India to create a brilliant social satire on religion and human innocence in “PK.” This shared cinematic fascination with life beyond Earth bridges two very different worlds of storytelling. 

Now, the Indian filmmaker is officially entering the world of streaming, having recently attended the launch event for “Pritam and Pedro,” an upcoming web series directed by Avinash Arun that he is backing under his banner, Rajkumar Hirani Films. In an exclusive interview with Variety India, Hirani speaks about his inspiration behind “PK” and the current state of children's cinema in the industry.
 

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That Spielberg loves aliens is known. Hirani uses them in “PK” and says, “My reason will be surely completely different to Mr. Spielberg's reason to use them in his films. He adds that the reason for the use of an alien as a narrative device in “PK” was incidental. He shares, “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.”

He adds that the character was originally written as a Mowgli-like character, who is born in the jungle. “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,” he offers.

Fewer children’s films are being made in India. And Hirani believes that market forces dictate filmmaking decisions. “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. For example in “Koi Mil Gaya” and “Krrish”, Hrithik and Rakesh Roshan went ahead and made beautiful films for children. Even for “Chillar Party”, director Nitesh Tiwari made a beautiful film. At the same time, I remember that they were struggling to sell it. I don't think anybody's deliberately not making it, it's a choice of individual filmmakers and studios to put it out there.”