You can call this a review of My Name is Khan for a lack of any better term but it remains my creative self expression (CSE). This term defines the movie My name is Khan for me.
It is creative self expression of a filmmaker who is growing beautifully into someone who thinks, loves and understands Cinema and its dynamics - Karan Johar. It is CSE of an actor who is making choices now that form and expand his legacy of being the most loved star of India today – SRK. It is CSE of an actress so brilliant that her mere presence on screen is more precious than the enormous fees that some queens of Bollywood rake up annually - Kajol.
Not that they are not flawed in this film, it is human and they have erred at places. Karan Johar loses the grip at times with not so crisp editing, some camera angles and usage of music affects the story movement – the whole hurricane incident looks forcefit to take Khan to the President and end the film. The setup in america alienates the film to Indian audience to quite a degree. Shahrukh’s performance is brilliant but the character’s disability is not practically etched. Kajol is sunshine on screen but her character again shows no insight into how and why she bonds with this different man. Now that the nitpicking is done, let’s get back to the good part.
My name is Khan is not KKHH, K3G or KANK, neither does it want to be nor does the audience today want it that way. The world is fast changing and truth of today needs to be brought to the big silver screen. This movie attempts to do so more than any RGV flick being dished out in the name of real cinema.
All said and done, My name is Khan is CSE of the change that we all are facing today and our beliefs through a medium we all connect to – a film. I saw My name is Khan with a kashmiri muslim single woman who i call baji (elder sister in Urdu). It was two of us with little to do on Saturday without our usual bunch of friends and party hopping drive. We entered the theatre on second weekend not because of the controversy or being an ardent fan of cast & crew mentioned above. It was because we both wanted to see what Indian cinema is dishing out today.
We saw Rizwan, smiled through his journey from Mumbai to America. His world was different to say the least. His world reflected our core beliefs in goodness of all humanity- something we expect out of an Iranian or European cinema – not Indian of course. He coped with his fears much like all of us once we leave homes and face the world – something we see in American and british entertainment dished to us through satellite invasion. His hopes were shattered due to a bigger event (death of Kajol’s son) so much like our lives which go through constant upheavals due to bigger changes (every family has had a death that changed lives connected with the deceased). Rizwan didn’t choose to yet move ahead in life and pretend that no change affects him. He dealt with the changes and explored his connection as a change maker upholding his belief through every situation.
We had both seen forrest gump enough number of times but this wasn’t him. It was Rizwan Khan clearly – his identity echoing every Indian muslim who ventures out hoping to camouflage his difference due to misnomers of the masses hungry to brand them violent, regressive etc.
When we left the auditorium, we could reflect on the issue rather than talk about the scenes, length of the movie, acting, cinematography or xyz that we would normally discuss. It was back to our lives where her identity as follower of Islam and all its rights were never questioned as much as my being a hindu (Nicherin Buddhist practitioner) and wrongs of Shivsena. We could see and agree that it has been a norm to see muslims in a wrong light more easily for quite a while now in our daily lives too. There is a certain hitch that a hindu landlord in Mumbai feels while renting his apartment to a Muslim family.
I remembered the times she has told us about the peace loving aspect of Islam along with Zakaat and other heartening aspects being misinterpreted. I remembered her anger every time some discrimination happened to the good stick figures with candy because of evil stick figures with canes. The movie was over and we had changed. We were conscious of our identities – good people who must convey it to others in no uncertain terms that we choose to be good. Our way forward was clear too - to be with good throughout life.
The movie might be considered good, bad or ugly – a blockbuster or just a marketing case study, it gave me just one heartening thought thanks to Karan Johar & Shahrukh. Our names might be Samina, Praful, Savio or Surjit – we are all khans. We all have to be the change we want to see outside in the world
