Star Cast: Shahrukh Khan,Kajol,Soniya Jehan,Jimmy Shergill,Zarina Wahab,arvind Dabbas,Arif Zakaria, Navneet Nishan,Sheetal Menon,Tanay Chheda,Arjun Mathur,Sugandha Garg,S. M. Zaheer,Vinay Pathak,Sumeet Raghavan,Tarun Mansukhani,Christopher B. Duncan,Benny Nieves,Katie Keane, Kenton Duty,Yuvaan Makaar
My Name Is Khan opens with a strong message that this world consists of two kinds of people, good and bad and goes on to say that ultimately its always the good people, who win in this world. And whereas it’s the bad people who as terrorists kill others in name of religion, it’s the ordinary men having nothing to do with these attacks, who suffer the consequences. The film also states that we sitting here in India may not recognize this, but the world has changed for a lot of people after the attack on New York’s World Trade Centre.
My name Is talks of the present day era, of a world where innocent people are being attacked by terrorists on a daily basis and many or rather most of these attacks are associated with people from a particular religion, namely, Muslim. Yet, it would be wrong to call all Muslims as extremists.
But the film also shows the other side of the story and takes a very realistic look towards the delicate issue of Islam and terrorism. It says Yes, there may be some Islamic fundamentalists, who may seem ordinary but are involved in extremists activities and need to be exposed.
My Name Is Khan is about a man with Asperger’s syndrome Rizvan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), who is loved by his mother (Zarina Wahab). He has to move to San Francisco to live with his brother [Jimmy Shergill] and sister-in-law [Sonya Jehan] after his mother expires and takes up a job of selling herbal beauty products, whose agency lies with his brother. One of his customers is a beauty parlor where Mandira (Kajol) works. Soon, Rizvan falls for this girl, who buys all his products at one go and asks her to marry him irrespective of whether she has been married before and has a son. And after much persuasion, Mandira agrees to marry him.
But, just then, the New York’s 9/11 attack takes place and the entire United States blames the Muslim community for the devastation in their country. This hatred also spreads to Mandira’s son, who has to suffer after due to 9/11 as he has become a Khan – a Muslim after his mother married Rizwan. Soon, Mandira’s son dies due to this hatred. Mandira looses his cool at Rizwan and tells him to go and prove it to the President of USA that he is innocent. Rizwan embarks on a journey to prove to the President of USA that he is innocent and goes through various ups and down during this journey.
The story and screenplay of the film is really very tight. Every scene and sequence of the film is equally important and you don’t want to miss anything. You get hooked to the film from scene one itself as the airport sequence in the beginning of the film is very attractive.
But, My Name Is Khan is not only about Islam and terrorism. The subtle love between Rizwan and Mandira is so charming that you just love it. Its not only the love between Rizwan and Mandira but the healthy relation they have with their son has also been beautifully shown.
But, if the charming scenes have been filmed well, so have been the serious scenes. Whether it’s the scene of the death of Kajol’s son or Kajol’s outburst on Shahrukh, they have all are equally attractive.
The best part of the film is that you get so involved in the film that you live every moment of the film as it unfolds. When Rizwan laughs, you laugh with him and when he cries, you cry with him. Within seconds, Rizwan involves you so much in the film that you forget that he is not a real character.
But if you thought that the film does not have its drawbacks, you are wrong. The two sequences where Rizwan first meets the lady, whose son has lost his life in war in middle-east and then him going to save her life, seem rather out of context. The film could have done without them. The sequence where journalists try to help Rizwan come out of police custody is also very long.
Karan Johar’s direction is generally good. Though, Karan has tried his best and succeeded to a large extent in trying something new, there are still a few trademarks of Karan’s style direction, which rather than being an advantage prove to be a drawback. Typical of Karan, the film at various points becomes rather too emotional. Karan could have avoided this.
The film is also good on technical side with Shibani Bathija’s screenplay Shibani and Niranjan Iyengar’s dialogues Ravi K. Chandran’s cinematography and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music being able to hold you on through out.
Among those on screen, one can easily say that Shahrukh’s performance of a person with Asperger’s syndrome is one of his best ever. Shahrukh has reached a new high with this performance. And to give Shahrukh’s character the power it needed, it was necessary that he is supported by a powerful female lead opposite him. A responsibility Kajol has undertaken with remarkable ease and perfection. Two other actors, who need special mention here are the two child artists in Tanay Chheda [young SRK] and Yuvaan Makaar [Kajol's son Sameer], who leave a mark with their excellent performances. The supporting cast including Zarina Wahab, Sonya Jehan, Jimmy Shergill, Arjun Mathur, Parvin Dabas, Arif Zakaria, Sugandha Garg, Navneet Nishan and Vinay Pathak have all done justice to their roles.
On a whole, despite dealing with a serious subject, My Name Is Khan is an entertainer, which is worth giving a watch.
