Why Raju Hirani decided to keep PK's title a secret

Before the release of the PK, no one knew what it was about. Raj Kumar Hirani recalls, "Certain things, when included in promotions, aren't always very inviting to watch a film. For example, when we were working on Lage Raho Munna Bhai, the initial title was Munna Bhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi. At some point, I felt that the mention of Mahatma Gandhi might not seem very exciting for an entertaining film. People might not feel compelled to watch it and could even be repelled by the idea. I thought, let's first bring the audience in. Once they're in, they'll understand what we're trying to say. That's when we changed the name to Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

Similarly, for PK, we didn’t want to reveal upfront that it was a film about God and religion. I decided to let the audience come in first. As a result, there were a lot of speculations: maybe the film was about an alien, or maybe the title PK referred to a drunkard, or perhaps Aamir's character was a loony.

The confusion created curiosity. The way Aamir looked in the trailers made people wonder if he was a drunkard or an alien.I wanted the audience to come in and let the film speak for itself.”