My Name is Khan: About Humanism and Love

Director: Karan Johar

Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Kajol

Rating: *** out of ***** 

The main character Rizwan Khan grew up as a kid with Asperger’s syndrome, which brought him problems dealing with people, intimate hugs, yellow color, loud noises, and crowded spaces. He was taught by his mom at a very young age that there’s no difference in terms of the superior of one religion over another. There are only good people and bad people. Khan moved to America to look for his brother after his mother’s decease. There he met his lover and future wife Mandira, an Indian single mom who works at a salon in San Francisco. They formed a family and lived a happy life. But everything changed after 9/11. Sam, Mandira’s beloved son and Khan’s only friend, was beaten to death in a vicious race attack because his taken on surname Khan. Mandira was devastated and blamed Sam’s death to her marriage with Khan—the name Khan brings discrimination to the whole family. Khan went on a quest for humanism and justification to meet U.S. president and tell him that “my name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist”, while Mandira dedicated every effort to justify Sam’s death. Khan’s insistence attracted attention from national media and the president. He and Mandira eventually met US’s first African American president Obama in front of thousands of people and voiced “my name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist”.  

On the whole, My Name is Khan delivers a strong message of love and humanity through a love story. By revealing American’s prejudice to Muslim, this movie tries to deliver that Muslims aren’t terrorists. No religion, including Islam, support violence. On one hand, Johar ditched the old masala movies style which usually embodies mindless songs, group dances, cliché love stories, and silly comic performances. Instead, MNIK transfers a very deep message and raises awareness.

However, I understand exactly what the movie tries to say but wasn’t impressed by the way how it said. Besides New York, this is the second film I’ve seen about Indians living in a paranoid America. It is interesting to see how Bollywood understand Indians’ living reality in America from a non-Indian, non-American perspective. But same as New York, I see a strong message but also awkward affectation in delivering that message—it tries too hard to combine too many random incidents and moments together that it feels unnatural. All the elements, not tightly connected, seem to be affectedly and purposely thrown into the movie so that it flows to the ultimate feel-good ending. Additionally, I wasn’t impressed by Shahrukh Khan’s performance-- for his performance as Rizwan Khan, he did everything right but not splendid. Maybe I was expecting more from him.

My Name is Khan has the best director and filmmaker, high-profile Bollywood stars, international appeal, and Fox Searchlight’s international distribution, all of which contribute to the film’s commercial success. Overall, My Name is Khan is not a flawless movie. Granted this movie will have far-reaching influence due to its theme, it is recommended only if you want to see a not-so-Bollywood Bollywood film with high profile casts and is nothing too impressive but just properly done.