Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Zarina Wahab
Running Length: 2 hours 42 mins (approx)
Director: Karan Johar
Cinematography: Ravi K. Chandran
Music: Shankar Ehsaan & Loy
Genre: Drama
My Name is Khan (Khan from the epiglottis) and I am not a terrorist - The protagonist, Shahrukh carries it thru the long way encompassed by him in the movie till he meets the President of United States of America. And yes he stands for what he says and proves against all odds that he is Khan and he is not a terrorist.
When the trio of Shahrukh, Kajol and Karan Johar come together the expectations reach a level where till now only few movies have made it. Undeniably, even this time the trio has delivered a masterpiece par excellence. Finally, Karan Johar as a director ventures out to bring something new and fresh from the earlier directed family drama’s. This time Karan carves out a romantic saga of a person suffering from Asperger Syndrome on the back drop of 9/11 attacks and to an extent succeeds in doing it.
The Plot:
The movie revolves around Rizvan Khan, magnificently played by Shahrukh who otherwise intelligent, suffers from Asperger syndrome and shows significant difficulties in social interaction, fears loud music and the color yellow.
The movies starts at the ghettos of Borivali, Mumbai while Rizvan is still young and his mother (beautifully played by Zarina Wahab), knowing the deficiency in Rizvan, teaches him the ideal thoughts shared by Islam and Quran Shariff- Duniyan main sirf do tarah ke insan hote hain, ek accha (good) aur dosara bura (bad). Rizvan’s brother played by Jimmy Shergill, despite being benevolent and subtle, feels Rizvan gets remarkably high attention from his mother and the society, shifts to US after getting a scholarship and settles in San Francisco, owning a business of beauty products.
The world comes crashing down to Rizvan when he looses his mother, and shifts to his brother’s place in San Francisco. Rizvan, meets his sister in law (Sonya Jehan), by profession a psychiatrist, who deciphers the actual nomenclature of the deficiency. Here he meets Mandira ( Kajol), a divorcee with a kid called Sameer and falls in love with her. The true and the chaste heart of Rizvan makes Mandira to marry him and lead a very happy and a peaceful life, unaware of the fact that the day is not too far when, the change in the title from Rathore to Khan will change their lives for ever. The world was never the same for them after the 9/11, when Islam was considered to be a religion spreading hatred, Jihad and violence in the world. The panic and chaos of the communal attacks spreads like a flu in US which engulfs Sameer in era of hatred, making Rizvan and Mandira loose their most precious thing in their lives, their son and eventually their love.
Now starts the journey for Rizvan, who has by now understood that Ek begunah ke marne se poori insaniyat mar jati hai but still not understood what religion has to do with terrorism. The journey to reach the President of United States of America, just to tell him that he is not a terrorist despite being Khan, paves a way wherein Rizvan meets lot of odds and unknowingly becomes a Hero, having helped out Mama Jenne and a small village from the clutches of deathly hurricane and helping the FBI to catch some Islamic extremists wanting to spread havoc.
The first half of the movie is made extremely well, which not only mesmerizes the audiences but captivating them to their seats, the second half is a bit stretchy but one doesn’t mind to watch a well knit movie having all the ingredients which makes it worth a watch. The movie is not flawless and yes there are some flaws, such as Rizvan giving a dialogue in Hindi in a church in US, the open conversation of a group of extremists in a Mosque preparing for some big chaotic event etc.
A number of sequences in the movie are endearing. For instance, the romance between SRK and Kajol is subtle, yet charming. But it’s SRK’s relationship with Kajol and their kid that’s one of the best parts of the movie. Few sequences in the movie where Rizwan is detained & stripped by the cops when they fail to understand why he wants to meet the president are heart wrenching. Yes this journey of Rizvan to win Mandira back not only inspires optimism, ecstasy and eternal bliss in the hearts of the people he encounter, but also to the hearts of the people watching the movie.
Cinematography by Ravi K Chandran is at its best, capturing and depicting every moment in the film pooled with the essence of the movie. Music is hummable, could have been better considering a Karan Johar film.
My rating for the movie: 3 ½