My Name is Khan
Shibani Bathija and Niranjan Iyengar co-wrote the social drama My Name Is Khan, which was released in 2010 and was directed by Karan Johar. It is a co-production between India, the United States, and Hong Kong and features Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in the lead roles. The film narrates the fictional story in which Rizvan Khan (Khan), an autistic Muslim, sets out on a journey across the United States to meet the President after Mandira Rathod Khan (Kajol), his Hindu wife, suffers from Islamophobic discrimination following the September 11 attacks.
Johar began developing the film in 2007, seeking a departure from his previous romantic films; it is Johar’s first directorial effort which he did not contribute to the screenplay. Johar and Bathija extensively researched autism in preparation for the film, especially Asperger syndrome, as well as Islam. The film was co-produced by Johar’s mother, Hiroo Yash Johar, and Khan’s wife, Gauri Khan, under their respective production companies, Dharma Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment.
By May 2008, Khan and Kajol’s participation had been confirmed, and the remaining cast members had been assembled by January 2009. The filming took place in Los Angeles, Mumbai, and San Francisco, and principal photography began in December 2008 and continued until October 2009. Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy was the composers of the film’s soundtrack.
On February 10, 2010, My Name Is Khan had its world premiere in the United Arab Emirates. Two days later, 20th Century Fox released the film in theaters all over the world. The subject matter, direction, music, screenplay, cinematography, performances, particularly those by Khan, and social message all received favorable reviews. It became one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2010 and the second-highest-grossing Indian film of 2010, grossing 223 crore (US$48.77 million) worldwide. It was nominated for a lot of awards and won three of them at the 56th Filmfare Awards. It is used as a scholarly case study because of the way it depicts autism and Islamophobia in the cinema.
Plot
Rizwan Khan, an Indian Muslim, grows up with his younger brother Zakir and his widowed mother Razia in a middle-class family in Borivali, Mumbai. His autism leads to special tutoring from a reclusive scholar and extra attention from his mother, all of which leads to a heightened level of jealousy from Zakir, who eventually leaves his family for a life in San Francisco.
Despite this, Zakir sponsors Rizwan to come and live with him after Razia’s death. Rizwan is given the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome by Zakir’s wife, Hasina, and he starts working for Zakir’s company to sell beauty products to salons. He meets and falls in love with Mandira Rathod, a hairdresser and Hindu woman, who has a young son, Sameer, born from a previous marriage. Despite Zakir’s uncertainty, Rizwan and Mandira get married and move to Banville, with Mandira and Sam taking Rizwan’s surname. They also live next door to the Garrick family; Mark, the father, is a journalist, and Sam is best friends and schoolmates with their young son Reese.
Following the attacks on September 11, the Khans’ lives are disrupted a few years later. Mark goes to cover the war in Afghanistan, but dies there. At the same time, the Khans begin to experience post-9/11 prejudice, and Reese begins to avoid and eventually turn against Sam after Mark is killed. Sam, on the other hand, tries to make amends with Reese. This eventually leads to a fight at their community soccer field, where a group of older students attack Sam despite Reese’s pleas for them to stop. One of them kicks a football at Sam, rupturing his spleen and killing him.
A grieving Mandira starts to blame Rizwan, stating that Sam died solely because of Rizwan’s surname. She tells Rizwan to “just go”, as she never wants to see him again, insinuating that their marriage is over. When Rizwan asks when he can come back, Mandira sarcastically says he may as well come back after telling all of America and the President of the United States that his name is Khan and he is not a terrorist.
Out of naivéte, Rizwan sets out on a road trip to meet President George W. Bush and takes her request very seriously. Bush by following his campaign and fundraiser trail. Rizwan survives on odd jobs and repairs while hitchhiking across the country. Wilhemina, a fictional Georgian rural town, is visited by him on his travels.
After assisting Joel recover from a bike accident, Rizwan earns the trust of Joel’s mother, Jenny, whom Rizwan refers to as “Mama Jenny.” Rizwan enters a Los Angeles mosque to pray later, just before the president is scheduled to speak. While there, he overhears violent rhetoric from a doctor, Faisal Rehman, who is quoting the Hadith but inspiring his followers to enact violence.
Rizwan stands up and angrily defies Faisal’s statements, shocking the crowd and inspiring debate. He immediately walks out and reports Rehman to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Rizwan then moves to the front of the UCLA crowd to meet President Bush, where he shouts, “My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist!” several times. The cry confuses and scares the crowd, who disperse in a panic.
He is arrested due to misinterpretation as “I am a terrorist”, and is detained and interrogated for information about Al-Queda, which Rizwan naively wishes he knew more about, though Radha, the psychiatrist brought in by the FBI, believes he is innocent. Indian student reporters Raj and Komal, who find a journalist named Bobby Ahuja to run their story for them, launch a media campaign that results in his release.
Bobby demonstrates Rizwan’s innocence with the assistance of the students by revealing his attempts to inform the FBI about Faisal. Rizwan hears a news report after his release that Wilhelmina was hit by a hurricane. He returns to Georgia to help Mama Jenny and Joel as well as the entirely flooded and destroyed town, thus attracting media attention for his bravery. Reese finally admits to Mandira that he knows what happened to Sam and reveals the identities of the boys who killed him after seeing Rizwan on television for weeks as small towns received hurricane recovery aid.
The boys, including Reese, are taken into custody after Mandira informs Detective Garcia, who has been assisting her with the investigation. Mandira reunites with Rizwan in Wilhelmina, Georgia. Right as she arrives, however, Rizwan is stabbed by one of Faisal’s followers who accuses him of being a traitor to Islam, and he is hospitalized. Rizwan survives, and he meets President-elect Barack Obama, who tells him: “Your name is Khan and you are not a terrorist.” Rizwan responds by adding that his stepson, Sameer, was also not a terrorist; he also relays a sarcastic message from an airport security officer that he had promised to relay.
Cast
Credit – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Name_Is_Khan#Cast
- Shah Rukh Khan as Rizwan Khan
- Adarsh Gourav as teen Rizwan
- Tanay Chheda as preteen Rizwan
- Adarsh Gourav as teen Rizwan
- Kajol as Mandira Rathod Khan
- Jimmy Shergill as Zakir Khan, Rizwan’s brother
- Sonya Jehan as Hasina Khan, Zakir’s wife
- Zarina Wahab as Razia Khan, Rizwan’s mother
- Arjan Aujla as Sameer ‘Sam’ Khan, Mandira’s son and Rizwan’s stepson
- Yuvaan Makar as Young Sameer Khan
- Arif Zakaria as Dr. Faisal Rehman
- Vinay Pathak as Jitesh Pandit, a motel owner
- Kenton Duty as Reese Garrick, Sam’s friend
- Katie A. Keane as Sarah Garrick
- Dominic Renda as Mark Garrick
- Christopher B. Duncan as Barack Obama
- Arjun Mathur as Raj Burman
- Kavin Dave as Inder Patel
- Parvin Dabas as Bobby Ahuja
- Sugandha Garg as Komal Kukreti
- Navneet Nishan as Rita Singh
- Sheetal Menon as Radha
- Sumeet Raghavan as Rizwan’s attacker and Faisal’s follower
- S. M. Zaheer as Ahmadi Man
Our General Review
Alright, buckle up, because I’m about to take you on a wild ride through the cinematic landscape of *My Name Is Khan*—a film that’s equal parts tearjerker, social commentary, and Shah Rukh Khan doing his signature “I’m intense but lovable” shtick. This 2010 Bollywood epic, directed by Karan Johar, is a sprawling, emotional rollercoaster that tries to tackle autism, Islamophobia, love, loss, and the American Dream all in one go. It’s ambitious, it’s messy, it’s heartfelt, and it’s got enough melodrama to make even the most stoic viewer reach for a tissue—or a stiff drink. Let’s dive in.
First off, the premise: Shah Rukh Khan plays Rizwan Khan, a Muslim man with Asperger’s syndrome who emigrates from India to the United States, falls in love, and then embarks on a cross-country quest to tell the President of the United States, “My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist.” Why? Because post-9/11 America decided to slap a big ol’ “suspicious” label on anyone with a beard and a prayer rug, and Rizwan’s life gets turned upside down. It’s a noble goal for a movie—to confront prejudice head-on—but oh boy, does it take the scenic route to get there. And by scenic, I mean a three-hour detour through every emotion known to humankind.
Let’s start with Shah Rukh Khan himself, because this movie is basically a one-man showcase of his ability to cry, charm, and carry a film on his superstar shoulders. As Rizwan, he’s awkward, earnest, and oddly endearing, with a stiff gait and a monotone delivery that’s meant to signal Asperger’s but occasionally feels like SRK accidentally wandered into a robot audition. Does he nail the neurodivergent portrayal with clinical accuracy? Eh, probably not—Bollywood isn’t exactly known for subtlety—but he sells the heck out of it with sheer charisma. You can’t help but root for him, even when he’s repairing a stranger’s roof or reciting random facts about humidity like it’s a pickup line.
Then there’s Kajol, playing Mandira, Rizwan’s love interest and eventual wife. She’s a single mom with a megawatt smile and enough sass to keep up with SRK’s quirks. Their romance is peak Bollywood—think rain-soaked confessions, slow-motion hugs, and a soundtrack that screams “FEEL SOMETHING NOW.” Their chemistry is electric, and for the first hour, you’re like, “Okay, this is a sweet little love story with some cultural flavor—nice!” But then 9/11 happens, and the movie shifts gears faster than a getaway car in a heist flick.
Post-9/11, *My Name Is Khan* becomes a full-on tragedy parade. Mandira’s son dies in a hate crime, their marriage crumbles, and Rizwan—bless his literal-minded heart—takes her sarcastic “Go tell the President you’re not a terrorist” as a literal mission. Cue the road trip, where Rizwan stumbles through America like a desi Forrest Gump, helping strangers, foiling plots, and preaching peace. It’s earnest to a fault, and while the message is loud and clear—“Don’t judge people by their faith, you jerks!”—the execution can feel like a sledgehammer to the face. Subtlety? Never heard of her.
The humor, when it’s there, is mostly unintentional. Rizwan’s literal interpretations of everything lead to some golden moments—like when he tries to sell beauty products door-to-door with all the finesse of a malfunctioning Roomba. And there’s a scene where he accidentally joins a gospel choir that’s so absurdly delightful, you’ll wonder if the movie briefly forgot it’s a drama. But for every laugh, there’s a gut punch waiting around the corner. Dead kid? Check. Racist neighbors? Check. A hurricane subplot that comes out of nowhere? You betcha. It’s like the writers threw every tragedy they could think of into a blender and hit “puree.”
Visually, the film is a mixed bag. The American scenes are shot with that glossy, slightly off-kilter vibe that screams “Bollywood’s idea of the USA”—think small towns with suspiciously perfect lawns and extras who look like they wandered off a sitcom set. The music, by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, is a banger, though. “Sajda” and “Noor-e-Khuda” will have you humming for days, even if the lyrics are basically “love is hard, God is great, let’s cry about it.”
Now, let’s get serious for a sec. The film’s heart is in the right place. It’s a bold stab at tackling Islamophobia at a time when Hollywood was still churning out “terrorist bad guy” tropes like it was going out of style. Rizwan’s mantra—“There are only two kinds of people: good people who do good deeds, and bad people who do bad”—is simplistic but poignant, especially when you see him live it out.
The movie wants to humanize Muslims in a post-9/11 world, and in that, it succeeds. But it’s also so busy being a MESSAGE MOVIE that it forgets to breathe. Every scene is dialed up to 11, and by the time Rizwan’s saving flood victims AND busting a terrorist cell AND meeting the President (spoiler: it’s Obama, sort of), you’re exhausted.
The supporting cast is hit-or-miss. Some American actors deliver lines like they’re reading off a teleprompter for the first time, while others—like the kindly Black family who take Rizwan in—bring a warmth that grounds the chaos. There’s even a cameo from a random Bollywood star or two, because why not? It’s a Karan Johar joint—excess is the name of the game.
In the end, *My Name Is Khan* is a glorious mess. It’s too long, too loud, and too in-your-face, but it’s also got a soul that shines through the schmaltz. You’ll laugh at its absurdity, cry at its tragedies, and maybe even cheer when Rizwan finally gets his moment. Is it a masterpiece? Nah. Is it a wild ride worth taking? Absolutely—especially if you’ve got a high tolerance for Bollywood’s brand of emotional whiplash. So grab some popcorn, brace yourself for Shah Rukh Khan’s puppy-dog eyes, and dive into this rollercoaster of a film. My name is Grok, and I approve this review.
People Review (Taken From Google)
