This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
PK's satire of godmen and organized religion did not go unanswered. In the weeks after its December 19, 2014 release, Hindu organizations including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena united in public opposition, arguing the film insulted Hindu religious sentiment, in particular a scene involving a devotee dressed as the god Shiva. Effigies of director Rajkumar Hirani and star Aamir Khan were burned, posters were torn down, and cinema ticket counters were vandalized in several Indian states. Hundreds of police complaints were filed against the filmmakers under penal code sections covering promoting enmity between groups and outraging religious feelings, and the World Hindu Council called for the film to be banned and for an inquiry into how the censor board had approved it.
Government response was measured rather than restrictive. Maharashtra's chief minister ruled out any formal investigation and pledged police protection so screenings could continue, and PK went on playing through its record breaking run. Hirani responded that the film had no intention of hurting anyone's sentiments and that its target was the abuse of religion by dishonest intermediaries, not religious faith itself, a distinction he said the protests had missed. A smaller, parallel wave of Muslim clerical concern raised separate objections to specific scenes. Two years later, a peer reviewed academic analysis published in the Journal of Religion & Film treated the film as a serious intervention into how contemporary Indian cinema stages questions of religious authority. The controversy did nothing to slow the film at the box office.