I first learned about this film
while watching Riz Khan on Aljazeera: saw a clip, listened to Shah Rukh Khan on
the interview, and knew that I needed to see it. Then I did but that excellent
intro put the film on a pedestal it wasn’t supposed to be on in the first place…
“A
noteworthy performance, a strained plot, a political fairy-tale.”
The Rundown
Behind
the name: Title to
the main character’s goal of gaining acceptance with his name.
Country: India, 2010
Genre: Drama
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Directed
By: Karan Johar
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)
Compare
to: That stereotypical film
attempting to incite sympathy
Hate
it or Love it? Appreciate it
Synopsis in a Sentence: A man who
suffers from Aspersers syndrome tries to overcome hate, rejection, and repression
in his native Pakistan; after becoming as an ex-pat in the US, he faces
injustices as a Muslim in the post 9/11 social sphere; following a tragic
incident he embarks on a journey to meet the president, to drive home the idea
that a name does not determine one’s character…
The story is good,
and it touches serious and true concepts in Western and American society. Many
can relate to its story and message, and many should acknowledge and reverse
the injustices it uncovers. The story is good, but the execution of film does
not do it justice.
On Writing: The Plot
It would have been good.
It should have been good, but quite frankly, it isn’t.
The plot had all the ingredients for the perfect soup that suffers from too
much salt. The plot suffers from too much of everything—too much of everything
good—it tries so hard to be perfect that it over does it. It:
(i) Practically pleads for sympathy with its use of
black-and-white, flat characters, rather than attempts to earn our empathy with
true-to life, round and multifaceted characters,
(ii) Waves its abnormally flawless hero and main characters
in our face, which simply makes it unnatural, and a bit unrelatable,
(iii) Tries so hard to tug at our hearts that it claws
at it, leaving such a pathetic overdose of fake ‘sympathy’ that we are forced
into ennui rather than compassion…
How does the saying go? “Familiarity breeds contempt,”
and this film tries so hard to ‘get familiar,’ that it fails.
Could have been good, but it isn’t.
And when the time for comedy comes, it pauses as if to
say ‘Insert laughter here’ and it clicks its fingers at us, expecting its
audience to laugh along with it—and it does the same with drama throughout the
film too—you’ll sense it 30 seconds before it happens, as though the movie
tries to mock your intelligence, and in a way, it does.
Quite frankly, the plot is shallow.
(3.5/5)
On Acting: The Cast
It’s a good cast. The lead actor and actress carry the
entire film on their shoulders (which is not a small feat for 162 minutes of on-screen
performance) and the movie is worth watching for them alone.
 |
| Shah Rukh Khan |
 |
| Kajol |
Shah Rukh Khan and
Kajol play their roles admirably, while unfortunately, the rest of the cast
fall short of their merit. It is almost painful to watch the excellent actors
and the amateurs side-by-side, particularly the younger cast, as you can see
right through them. With great effort, they play their characters
transparently, reminding you that they are aware that they are supposed to be
playing a role. Perhaps the plot doesn’t help either.
But regardless, the film is worth it for the lead
actors alone—excellent performances that walk you throughout the story with
ease.
(3/5)
On Production:
A great production. Really good production design,
great shots, nice symbolism, good lighting—this might have been the film’s
highlight.
(4/5)
On Resolution: The
Conclusion
What do you think? With a sorry plot, an almost good
delivery, and great production, how do you think a film like this will end?
Well of course, the plot encompasses the whole film,
which is fortunately unfortunate. Before the verdict, I should say though, that
the plot itself is good, it intended to be good, but it was delivered badly,
and so, the entire film suffered for it.
(3/5)
The Verdict: Falling short of
a fairy tale, My Name Is Khan tries to tackle serious political and
socio-religious injustices in a clumsy manner, and either succeeds in insulting
its audience, or alienating their sympathy for its cause.
If you really want
to understand the post-9/11 injustices Muslims face living in the west, might
be best to pick up a book that knows and explains more than this film does.
Overall Score = 13.5/20
Don’t quite believe me? See what some IMDB reviewers
had to say about it:
1.
Sharuh Khan tries to be Hollywood, fails miserably. I understand that there are major differences when it comes to the
background of the people. I also understand that Bollywood just happens to have
a different agenda to Hollywood, However, the creators are trying to do the
impossible here, bringing together Bollywood's simplicity and joie de vivre
with Hollywood's showmanship and superficial but poignant narrative of social
problems. It does succeed in not being Bollywood. It's very apologetic about
even the slightest sign of this being an Indian movie, and does it's best to
act like it's a western one.
In that, it falls straight on it's face. I
would expect these sort of one-dimensional characters in Bollywood and I would
be happy to go with them. If -however- we measure them by western storytelling
standards, then the actors are rubbish. This must had the worst cases of
overacting I've ever seen from a western movie. The story is entirely
predictable, the protagonist first succeeds against incredible odds, then falls
against some hardship they've been building up for a while, after which he
succeeds again, to find an even greater happiness and recognition throughout
the country. This in itself is not necessarily bad, I can name several great
movies with the same dramaturgy. The problem here is that narrative itself
feels empty. No great truth is being searched here, beyond "prejudices are
bad". Example: The plot is so thin, that the "wisdom" being
repeated "There are good and bad people in the world" is one of the
deepest thoughts of the whole story.
I can't find a single character who had any
life in them or wasn't made up of primitive stereotypes of personas. The
lovable mentally handicapped, the struggling single mom who finds it hard to
trust a man again, the conflicted, neglected brother vying for success and
attention, even the motel-owner who has to fight people off with a shotgun all
the time. These clichés might be new to a certain audience, but I've been
watching them since the day I was born and if you're reading this, chances are
you have too. (Andras Gerlits- UK)
2. There are
only two kind of people in the world: GOOD people who do good things and BAD
people who do bad things. In this world where the definitions of good and bad
are changing everyday by those who are in power and those who want the power,
most of us just go with the flow and believe the values which are most
convenient to us.
But there exist some people who are gifted(or cursed; depends on your point of
view) to see things as they are without their interests hindering the view of
their souls. One such soul belongs to the protagonist of this movie who will
touch your heart for sure.
Without giving any details and spoiling your experience I would like u to go
and watch this movie without presuming anything.I am not saying that it is
without flaws: you may find the lead actress a bit too shrill at times, the
editing a bit finer and the background score too loud in two or three scenes
but watch this movie for its intent and its message that there is nothing in
this world which holds as much power as an emotion: LOVE. (Anonymous)
4.
My name is Khaldoun and I'm not a terrorist.... still movie fails
To like or to hate the movie isn't based on your
background, I'm an Arab Muslim and my name is Khaldoun, and I'm not a
terrorist... still movie sucks. The message could be delivered in a much better
way and shorter. Some stuff I really couldn't stand in the movie: 1. The long
songs 2. Going to whataver city after been hit by a flood 3. The meeting with
Barak Obama was a joke, and it wasn't funny (it's like when Harold and Kumar
met George Bush, but that was a comedy film) 4. His stepson's death! What an
Indian coincidence 5. I still don't know if the movie was in English, Hindu, or
Urdo, thank God I had arabic subtitles... because all of 'em sounded the same
6. How the hell, he is considered to be an American citizen? he will never get
a green card before 3 years. In short, the script, the production, the cast was
a total failure.... I wasted a thousand hour from my life watching this movie (Khaldoun
Rayyan- Jordan)
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