I went with lots of preconceived notions to watch MNIK. I mean how many of Bollywood movies do we see with some real research work done for the story. Being a mother of an autistic child myself, I had my doubts (about the grasp of the complex subject) from the Director/actors of the movie, but hats off to Karan Johar for picking up the facts correctly and to Shahrukh Khan for picking up the nuances very well, the character detailing has been done very thoroughly (in all the three Khans played by three different age group actors), the mannerism, facts about Asperger’s were a perfectly and effortless blended in the script without boring the audience with the complex details about the disorder.
Some may ask why was the main protagonist required to be a person suffering with Asperger’s and not some normal guy. But that is the beauty of this story.People suffering with Autism lack complex and abstract emotions(or at least unable to process them), they are devoid of cunning, hypocrisy, cynicism, for these are abstract emotions for them, and that’s why things or people are either good or bad for them and what is taught to them never changes. It remains with them through out their lives "unlike the normal us". Are we not told like Khan’s mother in the movie about the good guy and the bad guys but we tend to forget and that is what essentially the film is about and lets not try to forget it.
Though in the later half I think the director got carried away with the Hurricane Katrina episode which just dragged the movie a bit, but overall it has a very universal theme and I think lots of people world over would be able to relate with it.