Movie Review: My Name is Khan - Too emotional!
“Mr. President, my name is Khan, and I’m not a terrorist”
The above statement pretty much sums up the movie.
Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is a very intelligent Muslim Indian immigrant living in the United States. He suffers from a rare disease called Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. He meets Mandira (Kajol), a beautician living in San Francisco. When he just settles down in life with her in a San Francisco suburb, he becomes victim to an act of hate-crime in the post 9/11 United States. Devastated by this experience, he follows the US President’s itinerary in a hope to meet him and tell him “Mr. President, my name is Khan, and I’m not a terrorist”. It is this journey that forms the back bone of the movie, with his flash backs and the challenges he faces along the road.
This is probably one of the most emotional movies I’ve watched in my recent memory – too emotional to be called an entertainer! There are very strong emotional sequences when a challenged person has to undergo the atrocities of life, which almost makes you cry! Shah Rukh has performed decently well as an autistic person, but I guess he could not help but bring his lover-boy image (being a Karan Johar movie and all..) - which contradicts and leaves you in a confused state – is he an autistic person to pity for? Or a lover boy to dream about? Kajol is not very convincing in her role – as a single mom who decides to marry an autistic person. Though the character is powerful, the screenplay doesn’t give her much opportunity to showcase her acting talent. Being a Karan Johar movie, Shah Rukh dons bright and colorful clothes, even dances to catch tunes, and tries to lure those starry eyed youngsters – in spite of being an autistic person, which spoils the message of the movie. I think this movie is Karan Johar’s attempt to reproduce the magic of Forrest Gump, a simple challenged person achieving great success, but the movie has simply failed to even come close.
Though the movie has a lot of promise, I think the movie utterly fails to deliver any of it. Unless you want to watch an emotional movie and cry a lot, you would be better off considering something more entertaining.
Recommendations:
The above statement pretty much sums up the movie.
Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is a very intelligent Muslim Indian immigrant living in the United States. He suffers from a rare disease called Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. He meets Mandira (Kajol), a beautician living in San Francisco. When he just settles down in life with her in a San Francisco suburb, he becomes victim to an act of hate-crime in the post 9/11 United States. Devastated by this experience, he follows the US President’s itinerary in a hope to meet him and tell him “Mr. President, my name is Khan, and I’m not a terrorist”. It is this journey that forms the back bone of the movie, with his flash backs and the challenges he faces along the road.
This is probably one of the most emotional movies I’ve watched in my recent memory – too emotional to be called an entertainer! There are very strong emotional sequences when a challenged person has to undergo the atrocities of life, which almost makes you cry! Shah Rukh has performed decently well as an autistic person, but I guess he could not help but bring his lover-boy image (being a Karan Johar movie and all..) - which contradicts and leaves you in a confused state – is he an autistic person to pity for? Or a lover boy to dream about? Kajol is not very convincing in her role – as a single mom who decides to marry an autistic person. Though the character is powerful, the screenplay doesn’t give her much opportunity to showcase her acting talent. Being a Karan Johar movie, Shah Rukh dons bright and colorful clothes, even dances to catch tunes, and tries to lure those starry eyed youngsters – in spite of being an autistic person, which spoils the message of the movie. I think this movie is Karan Johar’s attempt to reproduce the magic of Forrest Gump, a simple challenged person achieving great success, but the movie has simply failed to even come close.
Though the movie has a lot of promise, I think the movie utterly fails to deliver any of it. Unless you want to watch an emotional movie and cry a lot, you would be better off considering something more entertaining.
Recommendations:
For frequent movie-goers: Don’t Recommend
For moderate movie-goers: Don’t Recommend
For rare movie-goers: Don’t Recommend
For rare movie-goers: Don’t Recommend
posted by Girish @ 11:02 AM
1 comments
