Film; My Name is Khan

My Name Is Khan

Theatrical release poster

Directed by Karan Johar

Produced by

* Hiroo Johar

* Gauri Khan

Screenplay by Shibani Bathija

Story by Karan Johar

Shibani Bathija

Cast

* Shahrukh Khan as Rizwan Khan

* Kajol as Mandira Khan

* Yuvaan Makar as Sameer (Sam)

* Zarina Wahab as Razia Khan (Rizwan's mother)

* Tanay Chheda as Rizwan Khan (as a young child)

* Jimmy Shergill as Zakir Khan

* Sonya Jehan as Haseena Khan

* Parvin Dabas as Bobby Ahuja

* Arjun Mathur as Raj Burman

* Sugandha Garg as Komal

* Sheetal Menon as Radha

* Christopher B. Duncan as President of the United States

* Kenton Duty as Reese Garick

* Michael Arnold as Reese Garick (as a child)

* Umesh Tonpe as Sandip Chotala (as a friend of Rizwan in US)

* Dominic Renda as Mark Garrick

* Katie A. Keane as Sarah Garrick

* Harmony Blossom as Karma Girl

* Arif Zakaria as Faisal Rahman

* Vinay Pathak as Jitesh

* Jennifer Echols as Mama Jenny

* Adrian Kali Turner as Funny Hair Joel

* Benny Nieves as Detective Garcia

* Sumeet Raghavan as Attacker

Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Cinematography Ravi K. Chandran

Editing by Deepa Bhatia

Distributed by Dharma Productions

Fox Star Studios

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Red Chillies Entertainment

Release date(s) 12 February 2010 (2010-02-12)

Running time 161 minutes

Country India

Language Hindi

Budget Indian Rupee ₹38 crore (US$8.25 million)

Gross revenue Indian Rupee ₹182.75 crore (US$39.66 million)

Plot

Rizwan Khan (Shahrukh Khan) is a Muslim child who grew up with his brother Zakir (Jimmy Shergill) and his mother (Zarina Wahab) in a middle class family in the Borivali section of Mumbai. Rizwan is different from other children; However, he has certain gifts, particularly a special ability to repair mechanical things. His difference leads to special tutoring from a reclusive scholar and extra attention from his mother, all which leads to a heightened level of jealousy from his brother Zakir, who eventually leaves his family for a life in the United States.

Despite this resentment, as an adult Zakir sponsors Rizwan to come and live with him in San Francisco after the death of their mother. It is at this time that Zakir's wife, Haseena (Sonya Jehan) diagnoses Rizwan with Asperger's syndrome. Rizwan also begins to work for Zakir and in the process he meets a Hindu woman, Mandira (Kajol) and her young son, Sameer or Sam (Yuvaan Makaar), from a previous marriage. Mandira is a hairdresser by profession. Despite Zakir's hostility to the match, they marry and settle down in the fictional town of Banville, where both Mandira and Sameer take Rizwan's last name as their own. They also live next door to the Garrick family. Sameer is close to their young son, Reese (Kenton Duty and Michael Arnold) while Mark (Dominic Renda) is a reporter and Sarah (Katie A. Keane) is a friend of Mandira.
Wedding of Rizwan (Shah Rukh Khan) and Mandira (Kajol)

The Khan's perfect existence gets disrupted, however, after the 11 September attacks on New York City. Mark goes to cover the war in Afghanistan and dies there. At the same time, the Khan family begins to experience post 9-11 prejudice in their community and Reese begins to turn against Sam as well. One afternoon, an argument between them turns into a racially motivated schoolyard fight between Sameer and a number of older students. Reese tries to stop the fight but is held back and Sam dies from his injuries. A shattered Mandira blames Rizwan for his death stating that Sameer "died only because his name was Khan." She then tells Rizwan that she no longer wants to be with him. When he asks her what he has to do to be together with Mandira, she sarcastically tells him that he has to tell the people of the United States and the President that his name is Khan and that he is not a terrorist.

Rizwan takes Mandira's request seriously, and thus sets out on a journey that takes him from one US state to another, in order to first meet President George W. Bush and later the new President-elect. During this quest, he travels to Wilhemina, Georgia and befriends Mama Jenny and her son Joel. Later, in Los Angeles, he prays in a Mosque and overhears violent rhetoric from Faisal Rahman (Arif Zakaria). He reports this to the FBI but there is no response at that moment. Later, while waiting in a crowd to meet President Bush and repeating again and again, "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist," Rizwan is arrested and placed in a prison by police who misinterpret his statement.

While in the prison he is interrogated as a terrorist suspect and meets the psychiatrist Radha (Sheetal Menon) who believes he is innocent. He is later released after a media campaign by some Indian student reporters Raj (Arjun Mathur) and Komal (Sugandha Garg) and Bobby Ahuja (Parvin Dabas), who prove his innocence by unearthing his attempts to inform the FBI about Faisal Rahman. After his release, he returns to hurricane-hit Wilhemina to help Mama Jenny and her son. His efforts attract media attention and numerous Muslims come to help as well.

At the same time, Reese confesses to Mandira and reveals the identity of the boys who killed Sam. She informs Detective Garcia (Benny Nieves) who has been assisting her on the case, and Detective Garcia arrests them. Mandira later gets a call from Sarah to forgive Rizwan, "I've lost my husband, don't lose him."
Rizwan (Shah Rukh Khan) with Mandira (Kajol) meets the President (Christopher B. Duncan).

Mandira realises her error, she joins Rizwan in Georgia and their love rekindles. However at the moment she arrives, Rizwan is stabbed by a follower of Faisal Rahman (Sumeet Raghavan), accusing him of being a traitor of Islam, and Rizwan is rushed to the hospital. With Mandira's help, Rizwan survives and meets President-elect Barack Obama (Christopher B. Duncan) who tells him: "Your name is Khan and you are not a terrorist".


Critical reception

High profile screenings

My Name Is Khan was screened as part of 60th Berlin International Film Festival's Official Selection in February 2010, out of competition. The website eBay auctioned the tickets for the film's screening at the Berlin Film Festival for a record price of EUR 1,000 (INR 60,000) each. All the tickets were sold out in five seconds.

India


My Name Is Khan received generally positive reviews by top critics in India. It received 3.7/5 at Wogma. Yahoo! Movies has a user consensus grade of A-.

Subhash K. Jha (film critic and author of The Essential Guide to Bollywood) gave My Name Is Khan a rave review arguing that Rizwan Khan "repairs almost anything, including irreparably damaged relationships. But this film about damaged lives needs no repairing. My Name Is Khan is a flawless work, as perfect in content, tone and treatment as any film can get My Name Is Khan is no ordinary film. Long after the wary-of-physical-touch Rizwan has finally shaken hands with President Obama, long after the heat and dust of racial and communal hatred has settled down the core of humanism that the film secretes stays with you. Yes, we finally know what they mean by a feelgood film." Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India also gave it five stars, describing My Name Is Khan as, "indubitably one of the most meaningful and moving films to be rolled out from the Bollywood mills in recent times." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave My Name Is Khan four and a half out of five stars and argues, "When a film stars two of the finest talents of the country, you expect nothing but the best. SRK, well, how does one describe his performance? To state that this is his best work so far would be cutting short the praise he truly deserves Kajol is pure dynamite and casting her for this character was the most appropriate decision. No other actress could've matched SRK in histrionics the way Kajol has. In fact, SRK and Kajol complement each other wonderfully well and this film only proves it yet again. It's a powerhouse performance from this supremely talented actress." Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave My Name Is Khan three and a half out of five stars, arguing that "the film shamelessly tugs at your heartstrings and on more than one occasion wallops you to weep. Aided by solid camerawork, tight editing and a layered story, Johar crafts an engaging, stirring saga that is earnest and noble. With this message movie in the mainstream format, the director takes a step in the right direction." Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India too rated the film 3.5 out of possible 5 stars and stated, "‘MNIK’ is not the strongest screenplay to have been made into a film. But the message and the performances make it a movie you should really not miss" NkS Reviews It rated My Name Is Khan 3.5 out of 5 stars and said, "My Name Is Khan is among the best journeys in Bollywood. All of its angles like love, Islam, humanity, relationships & drama are done likeably. It is unbiased and outspoken with a steadfast message." Omar Qureshi of Zoom gave five stars and the comment "zoombastic".


USA

The film received mixed to positive reviews from U.S. critics and media outlets. As of 21 February 2010, the film has a score of 50 out of a scale of 100 on the review aggregate website Metacritic, based on seven reviews. According to user ratings, the film has 87% positive response. The IMDb website has given the film a user rating of 72%. Rotten Tomatoes lists an approval rating of 80%, with 4 positive and 1 negative review.

Rachel Saltz of The New York Times states, "Khan is one of a handful of Hindi films (New York, Kurbaan) about Indians living in a paranoid, post-9/11 America, and there’s something fascinating about looking at this country through a Bollywood lens, even when the story is a kind of fairy tale. (Most interesting here is the link made between black Americans and Indians, especially Muslims.) Skilfully directed by Karan Johar and with an evocative score by Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy, Khan jerks tears with ease, while teaching lessons about Islam and tolerance." According to Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter, My Name Is Khan is, "a film that delves compellingly into Americans' anti-Muslim hysteria" as it tackles "a subject American movies have mostly avoided -- that of racial profiling and the plight of Muslim-Americans. It also allows Shah Rukh Khan to display his talent to an even wider audience. It's well worth the 162-minute journey."  Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times argues that My Name Is Khan is "a potent, energetic heart-tugger and Khan and Kajol, major Bollywood stars, are highly appealing and equal to the demand of their emotion-charged roles." Jay Wesissberg of Variety describes My Name Is Khan as a "riotously overstuffed and enormously enjoyable drama" with "confident camerawork [which] is matched by exceptional production design" He also states that Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol are a "delight together and her natural warmth makes the relationship even more believable."


Big Thanks for Wikipedia


Well, Me, My Self, I like this film so much. This film wanna say that Islam is also full of Love, and Peace. Islam not a religion for terrorists. Islam is not taught to be evil.. There may be one or two parties who act anarchy. But it is same with everywhere else, don't it? Don't you see there are many Muslim that are so kind and generous? Who loves all people regardless of their differences?
And I also wanna say. My Name is Titah. I'm Muslim and I'm not a terrorist. ^__^