Subhash K Jha (DNA; December 23, 2014)

Both OMG! Oh My God (released in 2012) and the recently released PK take hard-hitting stinging swipes at organised religion. In fact, the resemblance between the theological arguments pertaining to God, godmen and godliness as a big business are quite similar.

There’s one more connection. “Abhijat Joshi, who co-scripted PK with Hirani, is the elder brother of playwright Saumya Joshi who works closely with Umesh Shukla, the director of OMG! Oh My God and and long-running Gujarati play Kanji Viruddh Kanji from which OMG! is adapted. In fact Saumya has written 102 Not Out, the film featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Paresh Rawal, that Umesh is directing in 2015,” says a source.

Apparently, Saumya had invited Hirani and Abhijat to see the play. “They saw and were very impressed by Kanji Viruddh Kanji. They immediately began to plan a film on the merchandising of religion. But then they got to know that Umesh was shooting a film based on his own play. Immediately, the script plan was revised. That’s how PK was born,” says a source.

In defence of the PK team, the source says, “Raju and Abhijat just liked the idea of religion as a commercial enterprise and wanted to use it. The minute they got to know Umesh was making OMG!, they changed track completely.”