The New York Times
MOVIE REVIEW My Name Is Khan
A Hero Begins His Quest, and Then the Trouble Starts
By RACHEL SALTZ Published: February 13, 2010 The message of “My Name Is Khan,” an effective exercise in Bollywood high emotionalism, is less political than movie-ish: there are two kinds of people in the world, good and bad, a distinction more important than any other differences, like those between Hindus and Muslims.
All is not well when the film begins, with the Muslim hero, Rizvan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), roughly searched at the San Francisco airport. (His mantra, “My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist,” spooks the guards.) But, like most Hindi movies, it ends well, with the election of a black American president, presented as a moment of hope and triumphal healing. The world may be an ugly place, but in the words of a song heard throughout the movie, “We Shall Overcome.”
At its best “My Name Is Khan,” set mainly in America, is an affecting fairy tale about the perils of goodness. Rizvan, a kind of holy fool played mostly with restraint by Mr. Khan, has Asperger’s syndrome. His condition makes him a single-minded worker on the side of the angels, but it also gets him and his family into trouble: he cannot tell a lie, or keep his faith hidden. After 9/11 that’s dangerous for a man named Khan.
The film is propelled by a love story and a quest. Rizvan falls for and weds a divorced single mother, Mandira (Kajol Devgan, a frequent co-star of Mr. Khan), a Hindu who accepts his oddities even if by marrying him she seems to be taking on another child. (Then again the true Bollywood romance is the one between mothers and sons.) Rizvan, a kind of genius, may have trouble expressing emotions, but he has them, and with a copy of “Intercourse for Dumbos” gets through the wedding night. After her son becomes a victim of an anti-Muslim attack, Mandira throws Rizvan out, and he takes her command literally: go tell the president that your name is Khan and you’re not a terrorist.
He wanders in the desert and somehow lands in Georgia, providing the movie with its most improbable detour. A small black community takes him in and, later, when a Katrina-like flood hits the town, Rizvan proves that not only is he not a terrorist, but he is also the only man in America willing to help those in need.
“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.) Skillfully 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.
Ah, tolerance. In India, a firestorm surrounded the film’s release on Friday. The Shiv Sena, a fundamentalist Hindu party, is angry with Mr. Khan, a Muslim, who is probably the biggest star in Bollywood. Why? Because Mr. Khan won’t apologize for remarks he made about Pakistani cricketers being allowed to play in India. (He is part owner of a team.) But the Shiv Sena’s threats and promises to disrupt the movie’s Mumbai opening didn’t stop crowds from going to see the film. Chalk one up for Bollywood.
My Name Is Khan
Opened on Friday nationwide. Directed by Karan Johar; written by Mr. Johar and Shibani Bathija; director of photography, Ravi K. Chandran; edited by Deepa Bhatia; music by Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy; production designer, Sharmishta Roy; produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan; released by Fox Star Studios and Fox Searchlight Pictures. In Hindi and English, with English subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Shah Rukh Khan (Rizvan Khan) and Kajol Devgan (Mandira Rathore).
-- My humanity is in feeling we are all voices of the same poverty. - Jorge Louis Borges