My Name is Khan

The film is silly. Although I cried during a couple of scenes in the first half.

There is something about the way Shahrukh Khan says for the first time “My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist.” It brings a lump to your throat. But that is at the start of the movie. Before you learn about all the manipulations Karan Johar is going to unleash on the unsuspecting audience to get the tear ducts going, including the death of a child in a freak soccer accident that passes off as a hate crime. If that sounds complicated, the film is defined by such knotty twists and turns. The writers and the director are unable to make up their minds whether the film is about 9/11 aftermath or a hero who suffers from asperger’s syndrome.

It definitely is a Karan Johar film. For some time now we are being fed by the media that Johar as producer and a director wants to be associated with more worthy ventures. If by a serious cinematic venture he means a "Kurbaan" and "My Name is Khan," then he is certainly not serious. Johar caricatures everything in the film including a disability and the enormous hurt suffered by the Muslim psyche for being isolated and branded.

I have always liked Shahrukh Khan as an actor. Irrespective of the role he is playing, he gives you the feeling that off screen he is a man with a sparkling, wicked sense of humour. His latest avatar is no exception. This is good as well as bad for the character he is playing. Rizwan Khan needed to be essayed with a lot more honesty and integrity and that would have meant discarding the goofy grins that Khan rewards his fans with. On the other hand, you are riveted to the screen until the very end of this maudlin movie only because you hope he would grin one more time.

You can watch this one when they telecast it. Nowadays they show them fairly soon after the theatrical release.