We’ve never really been huge fans of Karan Johar films – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was good, K3G was okay, KANK was terrible. Hence we were slightly cynical about My Name Is Khan.
But the film is special for several reasons; it has one of the biggest stars in the country playing a not-so-perfect character and two, SRK and Kajol return for what could be their last outing together. Do they recreate on-screen magic with MNIK? Read on to find out.
Rizwan Khan (Shahrukh Khan) suffering from Asperger’s syndrome, moves to San Francisco after spending most of his life in Mumbai. Here he comes across Mandira (Kajol), a charming lady who steals his heart away. They get married and start a business together. Everything that’s happy and perfect suddenly turns upside down and turmoil starts creeping into his life after the 9/11 attacks. Muslims, now seen as idols of evil, devastates the life of Rizwan. Confused and upset of loosing his dignity and love, he embarks on a touching journey to win back his love.
What works for My Name Is Khan
- MNIK is inarguably Karan Johar’s best work to date. Its the simplicity of his narration that works for the film. There are times when certain scenes get over-dramatic, but Karan can be forgiven, simply because he gets it right more often than not.
- The Asperger’s disorder that Karan’s protagonist suffers from, works big time in favour of the film as you cheer for Rizwan Khan all through. Its the character’s innocence, charm and niceness that you willingly let your heart go out to him.
- Aided by the magical chemistry that SRK-Kajol share, the love story works like a dream.
- The music is good, Tere Naina and Noor-e-Khuda are the best tracks in the album. Karan has sensibly avoided lip synced song and dance routines.
- The dialogues (Shibani Bathija and Niranjan Iyengar) are effective and funny when its meant to be.
- Cinematography is excellent. Ravi K Chandran has captured San Fransisco very well.
Scenes to watch out for
- Almost all scenes involving Rizwan Khan – him selling products, first meets Mandira (Kajol), hospital scene, after the wedding – to name a few, all exceptionally well executed and equally well performed.
- Scenes following the tragedy.
- SRK – Kajol romantic portions in the first half are cute.
Some negatives
- While Karan in MNIK has tried his best to break away from the so-called filmi formula, he does succumb to the temptation on more than one occasion. (More on this later)
- The climax doesn’t work.
- The character actors don’t get much scope.
Performances
- Khan is King and he proves just why with a performance comparable to some of his best – Chak De and Swades. In MNIK, SRK the star is hardly visible, its Rizwan Khan all through. We think, its the greatest compliment you could ever give to an actor.
- Kajol is fantastic. She effortlessly slips into Mandira, her character and stays there through the film. The chemistry she shares with SRK is electrifying, not that we expected anything less anyway.
- Child Artistes : Both Tanay Chheda (young Rizwan Khan) and Yuvaan Makaar (Sameer) do well.
- The rest – Jimmy Shergill, Vinay Pathak, Sonya Jehan, Zarina Wahab – don’t get enough scope.
Overall, My Name Is Khan is an entertaining film that makes you laugh and shed a couple of tears. Its a journey that’s worth the price of your ticket and a bit more.
Rating: 
3 for the film, 1 for SRK and Kajol, they were brilliant!
hi indicine i think again youve got it all wrong.. this movi is the pits in the craft of film making.. its long tedious boring .meaningless with nothing commendable to say.. 50 mts into the movie and i started to curse myself for having bought the ticket.. the romance of srk and kajol was bugging me .. the rainman act was also getting to my nerves but later when the movie took to forrest gump .. that was it.. this has to be the most blatant copy of forrest gump and karan johar is eying international markets?? wonder fox studio saw this film before purchasing the rights of yhis film
the music was bad the acting was poor and the climax was sooooo disappointing .. amrican president meets khan without as much as a clothes search??? disgusting .. mark my words ..this is going to crash very badly worse than veer
Whoever say that MNIK is a boring movie is just a lyer
Whoever say that MNIK is a waste of time proves that he’s Shahrukh’s enemy and want the movie to flop
Dishonest ppl would say any thing, his haters would say anything but never believe what ppl write or say.. believe yr heart.. if u trust Shahrukh as a good actor, so go for this movie, if not for Shahrukh so go for Kajol ( she did a good job in this movie and she made me cry in one scene) you’ll enjoy it, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll leave the theatre and learnt something very important.. and that if u really (need) to learn from life, but if u don’t want to.. so whatever good movies u would watch wl never hv any impact on yr thinking or yr feelings
This is a completely different movie, nothing like the movies New York or Kurban, these two movies about terrorism, but MNIK is about humanity, and how an abnormal guy succeeds to convince the world that all muslims aren’t terrorists.. are NOT bad people.
Indicine Team: I didn’t understand what u meant exactly by saying: The climax doesn’t work! why?
Why the climax didn’t work for us.. Well, good question..
Because the stabbing of SRK in the end was unnecessary. Also, didnt really understand why the actual point in meeting the president of the Unites states..? What was the message there ? The whole thing lacked impact, you hardly felt for any of the characters there.
Nice replay to Fathiya Indicine. Cheers.
Indicine Team: Stabbing Shahrukh because the guy who stabbed him was one of those bad muslim guys, was in the group of the terrorists..with the dr. at the mosque.. when Shahrukh goes there to pray and the dr. gives exmaple about Phophit Ebrahim and his son ( did u know what he meant with that?) he just meant: let’s send our ppl to revenge and kill the americans, suicide bombing, etc.. and if one muslim died wl be like Ismail, when Pr. Ebrahim agreed to do what God asked him and God was just testing him.. that he has to kill his son, so Shahrukh here screams and says: Sheitaan.. Sheitaan.. you’re a sheitaan ( and he meant that you’re encouraging yr team to kill innocent ppl) and then Shahrukh at the end reports about this man and his group.. so.. it was the “revenge”.. there4 they stabbed him ( I don’t know if u heard about the story of phophit Ebrahim with God or not.. if u didn’t then it’d better that u read this story then you’ll understand all the points in the movie)
About why Shahrukh wanted to meet the president: if u were tortured by ppl and you were innocent, if your son got killed and he was just innocent.. was a victim because of “hate” for muslim ppl, so you’ll need to see the president of the country to explain for him that they’re wrong.. probably everyone would not think of that because it’s not easy to meet the president of any country.. but because Shahrukh was abnormal, living in his world of love and innocence and thinking that it’s easy to meet the president like meeting one of yr friends! there4 he was insisting of meeting the president.. and the good thing about the movie is that: this abnormal ill guy could do and achieve what other normal ppl couldn’t.. that’s the beauty of this film.. it just needs that u understand the concept.
MNIK crashed badly on 8th day. The movie did around 43 Crores business from India in its 1st week but it is showing huge drops in its second week. The movie still has to do 37 crores business more to be declared a clean hit in India. I personally think that the movie will be declared average or below average in India as 37 crores seems to be a huge task now…. It will surely be a good hit in Overseas..
Once again a good movie doesn’t do well at the box office……Indian Janata is only looking for entertainment these days……Serious subjects are becoming very risky day by day boxoffice wise…
I hope “Rajneeti” does well at the box office as that movie is looking very promising but it is also made on a very serious subject….
@ Hina,
Excellent review sis.
Extremely sorry for not relpying earlier as i was sick during the last week.
Well, i think you didnt read my response to your comment on my initial review. The points you have mentioned in your review are exactly the same points i highlighted in my review. I suppose these points were not clear enough in my review, so i explained them in detail after your initial comment of my review being diplomatic. :)
So please i request you to read my comment on page 8 (page 8 of the new version) and maybe you will not think as bad of me as you do at the moment.
:)
now that the film has crashed what dies one say now>?
fathiya your comments will not save the film …it is an atrocious movie..believe me..let it flop…
and where does it make you laugh???
this movie is the best movie i have ever seen it depicts the story of abaarrahman zeitoun and srk dilemma and many many ppl around the world
Shahrukh always make controversy as his film coming as publicity stunt like my name is khan vs shivsena.and veer zara vs amitabh ,om shanti om vs bansali
My name is khan is a very nice movie all I can say…
This film has broken asomlt records internationally and globally.And shahruk khan is going to get kinds of awards and honours,,,,By SharafMKOthukkungal,Malappuram,IndiaKaran Johar and King Khan are on a roll with the massive success of the film My Name Is Khan. The film is reported to earn a gross income of $18 million in its first By SharafMKOthukkungal,Malappuram,India
why are you guys goin out of the topic? The comments are supposed to be based on the movie.
I think its a good movie. Good to watch for 1 time. I will give it 3.5/5