My Name Is Khan Review – By Akhlaq

A very well-written unbiased review by one of our readers, Akhlaq. Worth a read.

********************************

Every life is a journey…pain; joy; love; hate, all are like milestones along the road. Starting points are different, destinations are different and even rout maps a re different as well, but irrespective of these differences, the four milestones are there in each and every journey. MNIK is nothing but such a journey, and what a journey it is !!! A journey of Smiles & Tears, Realism & Exaggeration, Love & Hate. This journey is not only physical, but has a beautiful soul in it as well.

First thing First, As a Muslim, I can confidently say that this is the most Pro-Muslim movie ever from bollywood. The references of Quran and Hadith are 100% relevant and correct. There are only few things which are not properly propagated…

A. Zakat is not applicable to non-muslims. But charity is very much allowed. A little bit more research in this aspect could’ve made the makers use the word charity or help instead of Zakat. Anyways this is just lack of accuracy and not at all a negative portrayal of Muslims.

B. The marriage between Muslim and Non-Muslim issue. Not allowed in Islam. But what can we say? majority of Muslims in Bollywood are married to non-muslims.

Mind it…Both of these issues are not at all portraying negative image of Muslims in anyway. Its just a lack of understanding. Otherwise Muslims have never been projected in a more positive way than MNIK. Even the Pakistani film “Khuda Key Liye” had more negativity about Muslims than MNIK.

Honestly speaking, when I saw the trailers of the movie, i thought that SRK is going to be way over-the-top in this role (as he has a tendency to do so). But I must admit that this is the very first time when I feel that he really deserves awards for this performance. I rate this performance by SRK above Chak De or Swades or a=for that matter any of his earlier performances. In a role that could easily made him go over-the-top, he restrains himself beautifully and literally makes you fall in love with his character. One of the rare characters for whom you really feel. In my humble opinion, this is his best work ever and this should work big-time in further strengthening his position.

Frankly speaking, I didn’t like Kajol’s performace that much. Well its not bad at all, but she has been doing much better than this. The scene where she tells Rizwan Khan to leave…well the scene was well written and well executed, but I felt that Kajol has gone a bit to loud and glimpses of over-performance. She looks elegant though.

The support cast is as good as it was allowed to be !!!

Direction wise, this is definitely Karan’s best work. No second opinion on this. Execution might seem a bit slow-paced to a few, but it is this execution which makes MNIK something special and unique. Loved it.

Dialogues are nicely written. Few of them are out-standing. (for example… “Namaz jagah aur logo’n sey nahi…Niyyat sey parhi jati hey” & “meri ammi ka dil kuch zaroorat sey zyada hi bara ho gaya tha”)

Music was in sync with the narrative and thank God there was no lip-syncing.

There are a few small aspects though which (if handled differently) could’ve enhanced the impact even further…

  1. The scene at the church where Rizwan speaks in Urdu and everyone understands him is hard to swallow. If you notice there is another scene later on in the film where Sonia Jehan (Rizwan’s sister in law) started wearing Hijab again. In this scene she’s speaking in English but Urdu is over-dubbed on it. Now that makes sense. If the church scene was also handled similarly it could’ve been better.
  2. I don’t know why, but the climax could’ve been better.
  3. I personally feel that rizwan’s relationship with his brother should’ve been a bit more deeply defined.
  4. The short episode of Rizwan gettign stabbed seems unnecessary.

Anyways… these are just minor things…which are minimal in front of the simplicity of the narrative, good story, brilliant execution and SRK’s career-best performance.

At the B.O. the curiosity factor and the wait of SRK fans will ensure a grand opening and then the movie itself has enough spunk to make it a Block Buster. Though i don’t think that it can break the records of 3 idiots at all, as the entertainment quotient and repeat value of this film is far less than 3 idiots.

For now, grab the tickets; soften up your heart and enjoy the spiritual journey of Rizwan Khan, who is not a terrorist.

My Rating: A confident Rating: ★★★★☆

Advertisements

71 Comments

  • waooo
    Akhlaq bhai congratulation for u so u r 2nd one after me who get this honer from indicine ….
    thx indicine
    but tell me do u think all other people who are giving review are biased ????

  • Nauman, not at all.

    Prayush, each article we publish is read by around 30,000 readers on an average. Akhlaq’s review was posted on the 4th page and would soon be lost, so thought it deserved to be read by many more. Glad you liked it.

  • The reviewing is good but giving 4 stars to this film is a bit too much.. i guess 3 stars was appropriate…Anyways its a view of an individual and views can differ…so no problem..
    As this review itself says MNIK has less repeat value,i guess then it has least chances of being a superhit due to its huge cost.. I think it shud be an above average fare or maximum can attain a hit status.

  • My Name Is Khan First Day Business

    Saturday 13th Febuary 2010 15.30 IST

    Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network

    My Name Is Khan grossed an excellent 8 crore nett on day one as per early estimates. The film lost around 2.25 crore nett business on day one due to the problems in Maharashtra and a couple of other places where it was unable to get a clean release. The biggest losses were in Mumbai where it managed to release in just 50% of the theatres that were scheduled to release the film.

    Pune was another big casualty where it was not released at all. The first day losses from Mumbai and Pune are in the 1.50 crore nett region. A clean release would have given the film over 10 crore nett business on day one which would have made it the second biggest first Friday in history of Hindi cinema.

    The film has excellent business in Delhi/UP, East Punjab, West Bengal and South while Rajasthan is good and CP Berar, CI and Bihar just decent. Mumbai is also excellent wherever released but overall business in the circuit is not high as it is not running all over the circuit. Delhi/UP business is over 2 crore nett while Mumbai is under 2 crore nett and normally Mumbai is nearly double of Delhi/UP.

  • WOW. Now this is the most pleasant surprise I could’ve asked for. Indicine…Thank you very very much for giving me the honor. I just logged in to catch the updates on the main MNIK page…and got glued at your home page. I am highly grateful for having this honor by you.

    @ Nauman, Prayush, Deepak & Mn.

    thanks alot for your appreciation and love. As i’ve already once written on a page somewhere here…all of you are like brothers and sisters for me and what else can one ask if those who matter are appreciating him.

    Thank you indicince once again.

  • hayyyyyy bechara Akhlaq
    pata nahi kahan hai
    he does’t know that wht he achieved today, yaar koi us ko bata de if any one has his cell num.

  • *****************************************************

    In my opinion this film is quite good, specialy the way the makers had screen an issue of muslims injustice is breath taking, but i dont think so its up to the mark & it has lack of entertainment..

    I think this film has some positive points & as wel as negetive points like the way the director presents the particular issue or the performances are so so over the top specially done by the lead actors(shahrukh-kajol)…
    & one of the negetive point is why shahrukh helps to georgia shows, where is the force of america..??
    this is unneccesary to show the shahrukh positivity, it is unreal because if a person like shahrukh or media or the aam janta can help to that particular people then the government of US was look so poor in this film… & climax is flat, i was waiting to see let what will happen when shahrukh meet to the president but there is nothing than the introduction…
    .
    overall maximum 3/5 or not more than, hope everyone agree with me whoever read it….

  • look first clarify this the movie is very good but i will not recommend this to anyone as it has a documentary feel to it.

    it will fall in coming weeks because BOI are saying word of mouth is mixed not great

  • heyy Akhlaq bhai so u r here i thought u r not here.
    did u see ????
    tell me what are u feeling now ??? i was feeling same when indicine put my DDD review.
    indicine i think u shoudl start one compitition
    Best Review by Users….
    who will give best review u can post it on main page.
    it will increase our writing skills every one will try to write good and unbiased review.
    hows that ???

  • :) Nauman bhayee. The feeling is wonderful :) just can’t explain how good it is.

    Thank you so much bhayee for your encouragement and your support. Today is a wonderful day. this pleasant surprise plus my Parents (who live in another city) are coming today to stay with me and wifey :)

    Just going to receive them. All of you Thanks alot once again. C ya later Insha Allah

    Thanks Indicine.

  • so finally it is clear that mnik has not brocken 3 idiots opening day record.acc to boi it stands at no4 in the list of top first day openers.hai nauman,just wanted to know name of your website to checkout your review.

  • Guys, I saw this movie friday night show.. the viewers attendence was about 40%

    now here is my review:

    The movie has many pitfalls, some are listed below:

    1) Sharukh is shown suffering from disease, but his austin like acts are looking poorly imitative.. interistingly he is shown participating in functions, gives speech, does the routine works,etc .. very unconvincing, hard to beleive.

    2) Their son getting killed – is the worst ever picturisations.. its very violent to see the kids killing another in a soccer (football) playground.. and for no significant or strong reason .. ( director tries to convince, its because he is muslim, but its very poorly themed and picturised .. very bad really)

    3) He gives statements in Hindi to Americans present in a social gathering and they were singing and dancing afterwords (as if they have understood the ‘Hndi’ very well) .. its very unconvincing..

    4) Kajol is shown with terrorist alignments… which is very bad, since childrens and woments are least involved in terrorist activities… it was really not required to be shown in movie.

    5) Lastly, the sentence “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist ” is repeated too many times.. you would struck with feeling, if the muslims are eally terrorists … another directorial failure.. it seems like director is trying to defend and protect this Khan only (you will loose interest as the message is not conveyed properly for all muslims)..

    This is very unfortunate to say that this highly hyped movie fails to deliver at every aspect.. the story seems to be revolving around 9/11 only, acting wise the stars have nothing to do but to narrate the story..

    The emothional quotient is temporary as the story treatment is poor and leaves no impact due to hard to beleive sequences/picturizations.

    This movie might only be liked by sharukh fans only, and others should skip this flic or may see it in fast forward mode from local dvd shop ..

    rating: strictly 2.5 out of 5

  • Aditya i cant disclose my site’s name it is against law and indicine didnt allow me ,
    now i will post name of my site when i will get proper permission form indicine and when i will compelete 100 % my site.
    sorry for that.
    but if u want to read my review then u can visit indicine review it is on page 1 . on the top.

  • hey NAUMAN!8cr nett seems very low for srk’ standard.i was really expecting it to do at least 10cr nett.
    what you have to say about this NAUMAN?

  • Great Review Akhlaq :)

    But first day a 8 cr. nett. Though, placed at 4th position. But when comes to no. of people watched it on first day it will be 5th.

    Top 5 acc to DS or no. of ppl watched on 1st day :-
    1. 3 idiots
    2. Ghajini
    3. Veer
    4. Love aaj kal
    5. MNIK

    3

  • Akhlaq bhai gr8 review..u hav da potential 2 be a gud critic.even i cn say dat ur review is beta dan nauman n indicine..plz dnt mind both of u..i realy found akhlaq review is da best.keep it up bhai..wish u best of luck..

  • Very nice review Akhlaq,but Indicine team,this is the fourth MNIK review article you are putting up here,
    which is very good because user reviews give a clearer picture of whether a movie is being liked by
    common people or not.But,my question is why didn’t you do the same for 3 idiots or Veer?I had read
    a couple of very sensible reviews in the comments section for both the movies.Hope you give this a
    top priority-and please let this be the final MNIK review.

  • now why on earth would we want to read a review from akhlaq ??? who is akhlaq ? who cares about akhlaq ??
    isn’t the main review thread not enough ???????!!!

  • All the idiots must read this ok……..

    Despite having a limited release in Maharashtra, Gujarat and parts of Madhya Pradesh on Friday, MNIK’s worldwide box office collections are estimated at Rs. 25 crores for Friday! This is the highest ever collections for a non-holiday Friday in Bollywood history. Trade analysts estimate that it could have easily earned an additional 5-6 crores if it had been released normally across India. With the film playing everywhere across the country from Saturday onwards and given the strong buzz, this number is only expected to grow.

    In this market, MNIK has broken the record for the biggest GBO preview figure for any Bollywood release. The biggest single day preview figure in the UK was previously KANK with £98k.

    The biggest total previews figure was 3 IDIOTS which had 2 days of previews (Wed/Thu) during the Xmas holiday period with £121k. MNIK single day previews are bigger than both days of 3 Idiots put together!

    It is expected to be the biggest opening Bollywood film ever in this market by the weekend

  • Akhlaq: good review.. thx brother ( but I didn’t read the negative points which u mentioned.. I didn’t read the story in any website even on this one because I don’t want to know all the details before watching it) although I still didn’t see the movie and I’m counting the days.. I just want to close my eyes and open them.. and see myself on Thursday.. the release of MNIK in my country.. I wish if I could skip these days.. fly over and reach Thrusday soon, in a glimpse, to see Shahrukh Khan in this movie.. I just wish that Kajol is not over acting like she did in her movie K3G.. I liked her acting in Fana and KKHH.

  • MNIK review of Komal Nahata –

    On the whole, My Name Is Khan is far from entertaining and also too boring for the gene­ral masses. It will be liked, probably even loved, by the Muslim classes and by the audien­ce abroad. But, for the heavy bud­get at which it has been sold, it will keep either its worldwide distributors (Fox Searchlight) or those to whom they have further sold the rights, in the red.

  • bad movie..

    saw this movie, e real nonsense.. atlast its visible now that sharukh has really some serious mental disorders..

    dont waste your time and money on this crap..

Leave a Comment