My Name Is Khan – Review

Before I entered the movie hall, I was bit apprehensive about the plot of the movie “Oh no, yet another 9/11 based Bollywood movie”.Very recently, Karan Johar produced a torture by the name of Kurbaan. But hey! this is K Jo’s direction and he could not make the same mistake when he dons the directorial cap. And, you have SRK in it so together they cannot disappoint going by their track record. So was I happy after watching the movie? Read ahead.

My Name is Khan is a story of Rizwan Khan (Shahrukh khan), an Indian Muslim who who has Asperger syndrome. He grows up in Mumbai under the love and care of his mother. His mother teaches him not to differentiate people on lines of religion, color or creed but there exists only two type of people in this world – Good ones and Bad ones. Rizwan takes the lesson as a life mantra. After his mother’s death, his brother (Jimmy Sherjill) who is working in US, sponsors him a visa and takes him there. Rizwan meets Mandira (Kajol) there. Mandira is a Hindu and a single mother. The innocence and plain speak of Rizwan brings both of them together and they marry. Life is a box of chocolate for Rizwan, Mandira and Sameer, the son of Mandira till 9/11 attack happens. The Muslim identity of Rizwan plays havoc in the family leading to a tragic loss. Mandira blames that the loss was caused by her marriage to a Muslim and the surname out of the wedlock. He tells him to get away from her life and when he asks innocently when he can return, she shouts at him to return only when he convince the president of US that “His name is Khan and he is not a terrorist” So a journey begins across the states where he meets different people, get caught as a terror suspect, spreads the energy of love and that makes the remaining part of the story. And yes, did he meet the President of United states and did Mandira and Rizwan got back to each other also is part of the journey and the climax.

Karan Johar knows the pulse of the audience and how to weave a story with love and all its added emotions put together. He has succeeded again in this movie. Kajol and Shahrukh khan sizzles together and this movie again proves that they are the best Bollywood on-screen pair. Both still carry their magical romantic on-screen charm that they found in DDLJ. The movie succeeds because it strikes the balance between love story and 9/11. The plot delicately captures both the essence without getting over-board.

Cinematography by Ravi K Chandran is brilliant, crisp and neat. The musical trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy has found their magic again in this movie after some forgettable music scores in  few recent releases.

Ofcourse the move is bit over dramatized and gets a little dragging before the climax but at the end you can excuse those moments. Honestly speaking, I wish this would be a last of the Bollywood movies that revolves around 9/11 incident. We have had hits and flops based on this and a good one in MNIK. So it’s time for Bollywood to move ahead of 9/11 plot and look for newer scripts.

GingerChai Verdict: My name is Khan and he is a winner. Go watch it.

Lakshmi Rajan

He is the lead man of GingerChai and plays the multi role of chief author, editor, business development and also of a chaiwala! (Tea maker!) He is the master brewer at Ginger Chai.Follow @Lakshmirajan

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This entry was posted on February 12, 2010 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Movie Masala. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.