My attempt at a movie review- My Name Is Khan

I just went and saw My Name Is Khan, Karan Johar's latest film starring none other than THE Khan, Shah Rukh.

Ironically, I think the entire hype that the Shiv Sena created by rallying against Shah Rukh Khan and threatening to boycott the film was the biggest boon to the producers, and a higher ticket-seller than any publicity stunts they could have possibly attempted.

Rizwan Khan is a muslim from a small town in India, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome (a variation of autism). He has a caring mother and a perfectly normal younger brother who is jealous of all the attention Rizwan gets. He goes to the US for higher studies, and as soon as their mother passes away, Rizwan joins him there, in San Fransisco.

It is here that he meets, falls in love with, and marries Mandira, a single mother of a young boy Sameer. The problem is that Mandira is a Hindu (I know, cliches galore... but in this modern day and age, the movie plays down the opposition to their match).

Then, in the midst of all this drama, 9/11 happens! Being a muslim in the USA isn't safe anymore, blah blah blah. A bunch of American kids beat up Sameer and he dies. Mandira is heartbroken, and blames it all on the surname she got when she married Rizwan KHAN. She asks Rizwan to leave, and in her fit of anger and grief, tells him not to come back till he says the words "My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist." to none other than the president of the United States. Khan sets out on a journey across the country, following president Bush to all his various appointments, trying to get a glimpse of the man so he can say the magic words and go back to his wife. Along the way, he meets several interesting people, among them an African American mother-son duo, who he later (somehow in the middle of the whole movie) goes back to save from a hurricane in the small town of Wilhemina, Georgia.

Again, in the midst of ALL this, the presidency changes hands, and Khan finally meets president Obama and says the golden words, "My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist"

Oh, did I mention he gets the wife back in between? There's just so many "major turning points" in the movie, enough to make one dizzy!

That, in a slightly huge nutshell, is the story of the movie My Name Is Khan.

I'm not trying to belittle anyone or put anyone down, and the acting performances were actually quite good. Also, the film has a nice message, albeit one which seems to flit in and out of the movie from within the many layers of themes it is buried under.

I may even go so far as to say the autism angle might have been used to make the movie seem a little less unrealistic, as it is quite hard to imagine someone with all their mental faculties intact doing the things that Shah Rukh's character does in the movie.

If you do watch the movie or have already seen it, I think you'll understand what I mean.

The movie was...... interesting, to say the least. It showed me that there is a very fine line between a great movie and a terrible movie, as it seemed to continuously jump back and forth across this line, as if with a skipping rope. There were a lot of relevant human themes, too many of them actually, and the fact that the director took this mish-mash of emotional, controversial topics ALL TOGETHER and still managed to produce quite a moving film is rather commendable, in my opinion.

Playing along with the tag-line of the movie, I would like to end by saying:

My name is Iyengar, and I do not do Yoga.