PK has created controversy, but snatched audience attention.
By Akanksha Warrier
MUMBAI: Aamir Khan knows pretty well how to get audience attention. The first poster of the Rajkumar Hirani movie, PK, has been trending ever since it was revealed. If shock value was something the actor and filmmaker were banking on, they were right: PK’s poster has hit the mark spot on.
Incidentally, the poster has been shot at a real location in Rajasthan and not in a studio. It’s a real picture and not a chroma background. After scouting for locations the team found a non–operational track in Rajasthan.
The track was couple of hours away from the nearest city. The team zeroed in on the location and went great lengths to get the required permissions to shoot. The shoot details were kept under wraps and even the crew for this shoot was kept to a bare minimum. The handful of people from the film’s crew that were allowed on the set were made to go through an elaborate security procedure. Even after being made to leave their phones before leaving for the location, when they reported on sets, they were all frisked.
But has the effort been worthwhile considering all the mixed reactions this poster has managed to work up?
In Mumbai ,Vile Parle Congress legislator Krishna Hegde ‘dressed’ up the actor’s poster and a cutout before a large number of people who cheered and clapped their approval. Terming the actor’s posters as “distasteful and against Indian culture,” Hegde formally ‘clothed’ Aamir in the poster in a bright green pair of shorts and a grey T-shirt.
As if objections of indecency weren’t enough, online buzz suggests the poster is “inspired” by a Portuguese musician’s cover art in 1973.
The old poster, which the musician Quim Barreiros apparently used for his album promotions, shows a man posing nude holding an accordion to hide his modesty, bearing resemblance to the teaser where Aamir is seen naked with a tape-recorder.
Finally, whether you like it or not, Aamir has certainly got everyone’s attention.PK has become one of the most anticipated films this year . It marks the return of the 3 Idiots team. Besides Aamir, the movie – slated for a December release – features Sanjay Dutt, Anushka Sharma and Sushant Singh Rajput.