Ultimate Bollywood » Bollywood Features » 2010
The film My Name is Khan is particularly relevant this week on the occasion of the 9th anniversary of 9/11. It is particularly befitting with the recent release of the DVD of the film -- first Bollywood production to gross $4 million.
by Raj S. Rangarajan
How five months make a world of difference. When My Name is Khan was released early in Spring this year Bollywood-watchers were waiting with trepidation – if not suspense – whether this film which such an obvious title would make it big at the box office. Now, after 150 days the Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer continues to raise eyebrows in terms of storyline and box office value.
The film from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is now available on DVD and on Amazon.com and is the top Bollywood film for 2010 with $4 million gross. According to Gitesh Pandya the film guru who monitors and reports on Bollywood films, My Name is Khan surpassed SRK’s earlier record of $3.6 million for Om Shanti Om, released in 2007. It is also director Karan Johar’s biggest film ever.
But, with the new controversy over the mosque to be built at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan hogging the headlines in some sections of the media with pro- and anti-Muslim adherents, its anybody’s guess as to how DVD sales will be affected.
SRK and Kajol deliver powerful performances in this romance that proves true love knows no boundaries. Shah Rukh Khan (Rizvan Khan), an Indian with a unique way of looking at his world and Kajol Devgan (Mandira Rathore), a vivacious single mother, are the main characters and their chemistry on the screen is well-known.
They form a special bond and fall in love against all odds, but fate and tragedy conspire to tear them apart. Just when it appears as though all hope is lost, Rizwan embarks on a remarkable journey across America to win back the love of his life.
Made with a sensitive touch, the movie carries a polarizing influence perhaps more because of the theme and title. The fact that Khan’s last name is Muslim is perhaps incidental but that’s not how some cinemagoers view the movie whether they live in downtown, New York or in downtown Murfreesboro, Tennessee where a mosque was recently vandalized.
The film is particularly relevant this week on the occasion of 9/11’s ninth anniversary. After September 11, 2001, more movies with a “terrorist” theme seem to sell better in the United States. Remember New York, the film, starring John Abraham and Katrina Kaif and Kurbaan 2009 with Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor.
After their mother’s passing in India, Rizvan’s younger brother, portrayed by Jimmy Shergill invites Rizvan to move to San Francisco. When Rizvan wants to marry Mandira who runs a successful hairdressing outfit, Jimmy’s character objects but never explains why. A major twist in the story occurs when Mandira’s son is beaten up in a playground by boys of Caucasian origin. Motives are attributed to the incident without adequate explanations even by the law enforcement authorities.
No investigation is conducted by anyone and soon the boy’s death is a closed chapter for the authorities. But, not for Mandira who has been personally affected. The racial profiling mindset in the movie is telling in that when Mandira declares, “if my son’s name was Rathore – not Khan – he would have been alive.”
People who experience overt discrimination in some degree or other can relate to this movie directly. Each parent and child in North America has his or her own defence mechanism to deal with such real-life situations and this movie drives close to home. One cannot judge whether the incident was racially-motivated or whether it was the effect of a smaller boy – a South Asian kid – taking on a bigger boy, who happened to be Caucasian.
While Rizvan Khan is constantly muttering that he is not a terrorist but wants to meet the American president it is never explained why he wishes to meet the leader. Is it because his mother had inculcated in him a desire to do so? Or is it because Mandira, in a fit of pique, challenges him to do so. Kajol sparkles as usual and SRK tends to overact.
The Director’'s and cameramen'’s subtle nuances are touching. Niranjan Iyengar'’s dialogue is pithy and cinematographer, Ravi K. Chandran has proven once again that he is a classy performer.
An uplifting story of understanding and tolerance, the movie is mostly shot in San Francisco and runs 185 minutes. The DVD is closed-captioned and carries subtitles in English, Spanish and French ideal for any weekend viewing.
[Raj S. Rangarajan is a New York based freelance writer. He covers trend stories on art, reviews books and films for media based in New York, Toronto, Republic of Korea and India.]
