I just watched three classic Aamir Khan films from the first decade of the new millennium, and I wrote about them in my last article (LINK). After enjoying this Bollywood experience, I looked up the updated list of the biggest box-office hits among Hindi films to see what I should see next. I was amazed to see that three of the Top 5, all within this current decade) were actually all on Netflix, and all also starred Aamir Khan. Therefore, it was logical that these were the three films I had chosen to watch and write about for this article.
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani
Written by Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi
In a remote arid area in India, there was a human-like alien who set down by his spaceship. Unfortunately, his remote communication device was stolen by the first human he encountered. Since then, the alien (who had since earned the name of PK, or "Tipsy," because of his strange drunken behavior) went into a long arduous search for this precious item, all the way to New Delhi. A female TV journalist named Jaggu saw him on the train distributing leaflets looking for "God" When she heard his story, she thought his unusual alien logic would be a big hit on TV news.
With a worldwide gross of $140M, this is now the 4th biggest grossing Hindi film of all time. It was the first Hindi film which broke the $100M ceiling back in 2014. When I first read the synopsis that it was about an alien and saw Aamir Khan's Mr. Bean-like facial expression, wide-open eyes, raised eyebrows and all, I thought that this was going to be a wacky comedy. Well, there were a lot of comic moments, some even raunchy gags (like the "dancing cars" and the brothel). However, I was really surprised at how deeply philosophical the central topic of religion had been dissected by the script. That incredible montage of PK joining ritual practices of various religions was one simply epic sequence of images. Talking about religion is tricky business and potentially offensive, but the popularity of this film proved that the filmmakers' bold risks paid off. As the naively confused yet sensitively perceptive alien PK, Aamir Khan gave what could be the most powerful performance I've seen him in. The side story about Jaggu (the elegant Anushka Sharma) and her Pakistani boyfriend Sharifar (a charming Sushant Singh Rajput) was such a touching romantic aspect. 9/10.
Directed by Nitesh Tiwari
Written by Nitesh Tiwari, Piyush Gupta, Shreyas Jain, Nikhil Meharotra
Mahavir Singh Phogat, was a national level wrestler who was forced by his father to give up the sport in order to work in an office. Since then, he wished for a son to pursue his dream of winning India a gold medal in an international competition. He gave up his dream when he and his wife only had daughters. One day, his older daughters Geeta and Babita beat up two boy bullies, which made Mahavir then realized that his dream may not dead at all. Despite all the taunting they received in their neighborhood, he began to train his two girls to become wrestlers.
This currently holds the record for the biggest ever box-office earnings for a Hindi-language film with a massive $311M take worldwide (more than $210M from China alone). This is also said to be the highest-grossing sports film in the world, which is another amazing statistic. The story was based on real-life female Indian wrestling champions from this decade. Like all sports film, it followed the usual formula of the protagonists' experience of how they triumph despite severe adversity. However, the familial and cultural aspects in this story gave it an extra sting. Aside from his usual intense acting performance, Aamir Khan really bulked up to have a paunchy "dad-bod" to play Mahavir. Geeta was played by then 14-year old Zaira Wasim in her debut film as a young girl, and Fatima Sana Shaikh as a young lady. The execution of all the wrestling action was incredibly real yet dramatically powerful, especially from these two young actresses. 8/10.
Directed by Advait Chandan
Written by Advait Chandan
Insia Malik, a 15 year-old Gujarati Muslim girl, who dreamed of becoming a famous singer, a dream which her selfless mother Najma (Mejer Vij) fully supported. However, her abusive father (Raj Arjun) only wanted her to concentrate on her studies, and was very much against her music. Insia posted a video on YouTube of her playing the guitar and singing her own composition, while wearing a niqab to hide her identity. Her music videos soon became viral, eventually catching the attention of a notorious big-time celebrity music producer based in Mumbai, Shakti Kuman, who soon offered her a recording deal.
This is currently ranked #3 in the list of all-time biggest box-office hits among Hindi films. If Aamin Khan's character in "PK" seemed to be inspired by Mr. Bean, his character here was an exaggerated Simon Cowell. He was brazenly cocky and outrageously loud (in behavior and costume) as pompous music producer Shakti. However the main protagonist here was Insia, played by Zaira Wasim. If Wasim's wrestling skills were very realistic in "Dangal," so were her guitar and singing skills here as "Secret Superstar." (Those crystalline vocals were actually rendered by Meghna Mishra.) If there was one familiar sub-theme I had observed in many of these Bollywood films I had seen recently, there was always an abusive father as an antagonist, and the same is true here. The focus of the film was unexpectedly turned to another character at the 11th hour, which gave the film a richer emotional impact towards the end. 7/10.
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