I had bad luck yesterday, first of I left like 1 hour early for the movie and there was a traffic jam which lasted 30 mins to get out of, here is me thinking I will miss the whole movie, thank god it started moving and I drove there in high speed to go there and see a queue like I have never seen before. I was thinking we were not going to get good seats by thank god I saw one of my friends in the front and me and my girlfriend jumped in the front with them. Trust me I have never seen a movie packed out just like this, it was crazy.
Well the movie started late and now I am on to my review, this is my review of my name is khan.
The movie is about a man (Rizwan Khan) who has Asperger’s syndrome and is a story of his journey to win back his love by going through a journey to meet the president of the United States. He needs to tell him that His name is Khan and he is not a terrorist”. The movie starts off at the airport and then we have a flashback scene to back into his childhood which was very impressive, the childhood scene ends with his mother dying and him moving to USA with his brother and bhabhi, he works for his brother selling beauty products where Rizwan meets Mandira at a salon and he instantly falls for her, they start a new friendship where both start falling in love then gets married. Mandira has a son (Sam) and Mandira, Rizwana and Sam live happily ever after until the 9/11 incident happens and one more major incident that changed both their life forever. Mandira is Shook up by this and tell Rizwan Khan to leave her in an outbreak and tells him to tell the president he is not a terrorist. Rizwan embarks on a journey to get to the president and to give him a message the rest you will have to see what happens.
My name is khan is a good idea and good story which makes the movie a winner, the movie is not perfect in fact the first half is just average, it is the second half that it really kicks in, the movie is a message of humanity and only if you have an open heart and love for humanity you will embrace this film and maybe call it your favorite film, let’s put it this way if Gannd-hi, Mother Teresa or even Michael Jackson saw this film, all people that love the world and humanity they would ball there eyes out, it really depends who you are. This movie is a social message saying one thing and that is “in this world there are good people and bad people and that is it, that is the only difference, don’t just go upon religion”. With that message the movie worked for me.
The first half starts off very well with the impressive Rizwan childhood story and when Rizwan first comes to the states and almost gets run over by the tram, when he meets Mandira was well shown as well, but he easily falls for her. After the Tere Naina song it all falls apart for me, until it picks up after the break, the only thing which was good was the Sajda song in the middle of first half.
Second half wins me over with it getting serious and the talks of the Islamic religion, the 9/11 after math was very well shown even better then NEW YORK AND KURBAAN which seemed anti-USA to me then this movie. The second half made up big time for the first half and put the film into the bag for me as one great movie it made up big time for the Below Average first half. The climax was awesome to say the least and at the end of the movie the cinema stood up and clapped, My girlfriend cried a few times in the movie and she agreed it was a great message and it did touch me in a way. Rizwan is a true winner and the movie delivered what it had to say and Bollywood should be proud of this movie.
Spoilers of points I did not like in the movie
.Mandira I think falls for Rizwan too easily and asked him to marry him to easily, did not seem so real to me
. Many scenes missing from the Promo which was not in the movie at all I have no clue where they went.
.First half was a little rushed to me, it was not boring but seemed rushed, the love story between Rizwan and Mandira seemed very rushed, a few more scenes added to build it up would have been better. (which I think they cut out, as looking at the promo a lot must have been cut out)
.Sam’s Death was a bit weird, I mean come on? Dying coz getting kicked by a football? He must really be weak, It didn’t even seem hard, but the fight before there was very good.
Spoilers of points I did liked in the movie
.The Story of Rizwan’s Childhood and he bond with his mother. Very touching and very gripping great way to start the movie off
. Sajda and Tere Naina song was well done
.Sam’s Horrific death at the hospital (which I knew before the movie started because someone on star Plus blew this part of the movie to me) Kajol crying over her sons dead body was just painful and this is where I had a lump in my throat.
.Rizwan Praying in the sunset outside the cafe and the whole nor-e-Khuda song just gave me Goosebumps.
.The mosque scene
. Hum Honge kamyab ek di song in the church another Goose bump moment and Rizwan speech before that
.Rizwan getting mistaken for a terrorist and the whole time he was in prison was well shown and the starting of investigation of the RIZWAN KHAN STORY.
. The flood scenes were well done and when the Allah Hi Rahem song kicks in just pure Amazing
. Rizwan Reuniting with Mandira for him to only get stabbed and him having flash backs of his journey to show how far he came.
.Rizwan Finally cries, Yes he finally cried when Mandira Hugged him, I had lump on my throat and a few claps was heard round the cinema hall
.The climax and The “HOWDY” line
Like I said the film makes up for the below average first half and it works big time, Shahrukh Khan and Kajol chemistry was amazing especially the final two scenes in the movie, there Jodi is the best in Bollywood and no one comes close even when they just look at each other it is pure magic. Kajol Does a brilliant job as Mandira, outstanding is a great word to use for Kajol especially over Sam’s dead body and her crying a performance she can really be proud of no one else could have played Mandira like she did, also did I mention she looked stunning?
Shahrukh khans performance is out of this world, I did not see SRK one bit as Rizwan Khan all I saw was Rizwan khan, to describe his performance would be no words at all, I read a few review where people say he is trying to hard? To those people do you know what Asperger’s syndrome is? My mum works with many kids who has Asperger’s syndrome and I have seen a few kids on the bus where my mum supervises them and SRK was spot on the way he did it, He played it so well that I have no words. Rizwan Khan is a character which will live on as one of SRKS best work till date
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The movie has a message and it said it well, Remember there are good people in this world and bad people, it’s up to you to decide which one you are and if religion is the answer to people’s behavior. You will find out it does not matter what religion you are, just be a good human being and you well eventually win at the end.
4/5