A very well-written unbiased review by one of our readers, Akhlaq. Worth a read.
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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…
- 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.
- I don’t know why, but the climax could’ve been better.
- I personally feel that rizwan’s relationship with his brother should’ve been a bit more deeply defined.
- 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: 
i am faisal, syed faisal and iam not a terrorist…..ek or baath samaj nahi aayee, if sharookh afraid from yellow color, then why he didnt afraid when he is talking with kajol at beach and there is one sign boat in yellow color & so many places where yellow color is there but he not afraid, lagta hai director ki marzi se sharook bhai darte thay….
Komal Nahta is bad he liked RNBDJ and now he didnt like MNIK …
bullshit
@nauman.but komal nahata’s most predictions came true.he predicted rnbdj will be a great profitable hit n even that time there was bomb blasting also.btw,i like his predictions but not his B.O report.
Faisal
no one make perfect movie.
cameron also did lots of mistakes for making avatar.
every movie has some mistakes .
so why you r showing yourself as a good critics.plz
this is cinema not any real thing so plz calm yourself.
unknown,
may be u r rite , but let me know wht did u say abt boxoffice ?
@nauman,komal always gives less number than boi n his counting of hits n flops r different n also very strict which i dont like.for example – in his report j.a is only a comission earner not even hit,sik is only a hit,lak is a semi hit,wanted n apkgk r comission earners etc…
@nauman,first i thought mnik will easily do a 120core in india.but now even 80 core looks unlikely.wat do u think?
Unknown, RNBDJ wasn’t hard to predict at all. It was a blockbuster before it released, due to the costs being so low.
Nauman, so what if he didn’t like MNIK?
@indicine,how is mnik doing?wat r u expecting from mnik?
Indicine Team,
because RNBDJ wan’t good movie it was really crap and you can compare it with Tashan , MAMK , Yuvraaj and Delli 6 ,
MNIK is good movie like 3 Idiots, London Dreams , Love Aajkal , Namaste London.
i liked a crap movie and didnt like a good movie.
what do u think about it .
unknown
my prediction about MNIK was 90-100 cr if good , but audience report is mix so i thing 70-75 cr. it can get the hit status , but super hit or BB , is very unlikely.
Unknown ,
how many stars he gave to MNIk and which web site ????
i use to be watch his reviews in 2000 , in sab tv program “movies at 2000″ some thing like this , on that time i never liked his reviews because he revealed all story ,
and now i watched some times his program face to face or some thing like this , in that prog he called srk and gave a review abt rabne … and he praised alot , even srk said ” itni detail se achi tarha aditya ne bhi mujhe story nahi sunai thi jitna aap suna rahe hoon”.
@nauman,he doesn’t give stars (may be now a days).n u will find his reviews in ‘film street journal’.and yes,woh abhi vi sab bata deta hai.very desparate.he he…..:)
hahahha
Unknown,
then who said him critic , if he reveal every thing , i didnt watch his review for a long time last time rab ne n cc2c , he didnt like cc2c and he liked rabne , and before that i watched his program in sab tv it was 2000, since that time i thought he is nothing but ……..
@indicine,wat is the report card saying,can mnik go close to ghajini or can it be a superhit?
@nauman,i think he wants to prove that only he has seen the film, others not…..:)
unknown , u r rite , he wants to proof it he is the only one who watched this movie till end , rest of others came out while movie was showing.
btw what is ur name and where r u from ?
@nauman,call me unknown,n i m from Bangladesh.
unknown , did u get any saturday news ??? any fall or pick ??
6 cr or 10 cr ???
it is too late i think now i need to sleep
unknown see u tomorrow same time same place , we will have again good chat like today ,
Nauman,i think there r chances of fall.cause somewhere i read that saturday morning show was started with 40-50 percent occupency in some halls for shiv sena fears.though in late those halls got houseful.n audiances hav mix response about the film.so saturday can show a fall.
@ RG RIZWAN keep s saying the staatement my name is khan and not terrorist because autist peoplen tend to say so repeatedly they also repeat actions ive seen an autist who do an action for more than half an hour without being tired
mnik ran to packed houses here in the u.k.. in fact the weekend shows were completely sold out in 90% of cinemas. not even three idiots was able to do this in the u.k.
so it looks as though mnik will break some records overseas, and there is a possibility it could beat three idiots overseas record. also, there were a lot of white folks in the cinema halls, watching the movie. so shah rukhs appearance on the jonathan ross show worked.
i love you shahrukh
Nauman..what do u think…abt Mnik???Is is dropping down?
Hina..where r u?I miss u yaar..
Amish..Where is your statistics…?How is the business going on??
Adiii..Sharukh was gd..but truely speaking..u should be agrred abt this could be better..
@Akhlaq: Nice review, congratulation.
@ Vicky, Imtiaz, Kanishka, Fatiha, Usman Solo,
Thank you so much for your appreciation.
@ Spiderman
LOL. Really loved your comment regarding “who is this akhlaq…”. Seriously loved your vitt and honesty in expressing yourself.
May Allah bless you all.
nice review I must say, very honest
Thanks alot Masa :)
shame on muslims which like this cramp movie said no difference between hindu and muslims.This movie totally against islamic concepts and promoting to finish religion values.For god sake muslims dont watch this movie in which totally mentioned muslim can do marry with hindu.
Please boycott this cramp (SRK (dont know weather muslim or not)) and his movies.In quran it mentioned clearly muslims which will support such act also out of this one and only true religion.
1 thing i can say about mnik that it is not that bad some r saying.srk did his part very well.the film deservs 3.5/5 stars only for srks best act.but other sucks in the film.though 1st half reminds me of forest gump n a beautiful mind.this time haters should also support him,otherwise he will return to his crap romantic films.so best of luck for mnik…..:)
you know im happy that mnik flopped,becoz as a muslim you should not do sajda to another mankind except allah, because you must only SAJDA allah. and last time i saw on LIFT KARA DE shahrukh did sajda to KARAN JOHAR. now allah wont forgive this, he is out of islam.