 My Name Is Khan may not be as gripping as one expects it to be, especially with all the hype around its contentious release of late, but it manages to strike a chord and is quite a tear jerker - a signature with Karan Johar films, particularly since the advent of maturity to Dharma Productions.
One of the most highly anticipated films of the season, MNIK is perhaps the most simple and unembellished tale that Karan Johar has ever narrated, yet the most profoundly moving and erudite. Unlike other 9/11 tales that are drenched in wretched pain, this is a bittersweet story that holds no illusions towards the brutal reality we live in, as Rizwan Khan so aptly points out, "before the world was divided between AD and BC, but now there's a third determinant, 9/11", but offers solutions to how we can choose to live or rebuild our lives post this Herculean event.
It is a nuanced portrayal of the realities of our times; of relationships succumbing to political pressure, to the choices that define and shape our lives and determine the kind of existence we choose for ourselves. It is a story of pain and the struggle to overcome what is beyond us by accepting and embracing the humanity within us and the belief that this humanity will ultimately triumph and guide us forward.
Although the film carries a very heavy and pertinent message; the uni-dimensionality of the plot and characters and its languid pace, precariously edge it towards boredom. The story drags at serious junctions, and apart from the central characters of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, all others fall flat even though there is massive potential to weave them through the story - but only if the story could have been a bit more closely knitted together to its central theme.
Sonya Jehan, for instance, as an academic who suffers for taking on the hijab and her struggle to assert her identity as a Muslim woman would have added further depth to the story without the plot straying or taking attention away from the protagonist.
There is no doubt that the film belongs entirely to Shah Rukh; and it would be fair to say that this is the finest he has ever acted in all his films combined and will most certainly bag a coveted award for it. Although - and I may be stoned for this, his acting doesn't flow as naturally as does Aamir Khan's, and remains a bit stilted and contrived.
SRK's body language, speech and actions have been honed perfectly to depict the Asperger's Syndrome victim's (who, to give credit where it is due, comes off as hardly a victim, which is the typical perspective we hold of people with disabilities) naiveté and optimism in the face of the worst calamity that could have ever befallen him.
The humanity and perseverance that Rizwan Khan personifies, effectively demonstrates the central theme of the film, that there are only two kinds of people: those who do good deeds and those that do bad ones. One of the opening scenes of the film when Rizwan's mother draws two figures, one with a lollipop and the other with a baton, and asks who is Hindu and who is Muslim, with a perplexed young Rizwan replying he can't tell the difference, is a poignant and simple message; but an important one for our times when society is rife with differences that can be contentious at best, and fatal at worst.
Unlike all other 9/11 films, Karan Johar makes an active attempt to show the perspective of the marginalised, i.e. the Muslim community at large that has suffered extensively because of their religion, and in the case of Shah Rukh himself, his name.
"My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist" will defiantly be the mantra for the new age and how effective this mantra is will be a decisive element for Indian society and politics with the Shiv Sena huffing and puffing away. Also, on a lighter note, it will finally teach Indians how to pronounce the word 'Khan', as Rizwan says, "from the epiglottis". Thank god for the demise of the annoying 'khh' in 'Khan'.
By Hani Taha Salim |
