My Name Is Khan makes two strong statements…
The first Statement: BC and AD are designations used to label years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. There’s a third designation now — 9/11.Post September 11, the world stands divided. Terrorist outfits continue to strike in the name of religion and the common man, not even remotely associated with these groups, is bearing the brunt. The world is not a safe place anymore.
The second statement: There’re two sets of people in this world - the good and the bad. No matter how strong the evil forces are, good always triumphs.
My Name Is Khan mirrors the era we live in. Not a day goes by when you haven’t heard or read or watched news of terror attacks and innocents being killed. The movie strongly states not all Muslims are terrorists.

So you have Rizvan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) suffering from what Dustin Hoffman experienced in Rainman – autism or more specifically Asperger Syndrome. He is intelligent enough to comprehend situations but too innocent to understand people. After the death of his mother in India, he shifts to US with his brother (Jimmy Sheirgill) and sister-in-law (Sonya Jehan).

Pyaar Impossible happens as Rizvan marries Mandira (Kajol), a divorcee with a kid. Post 9/11 attacks, Karan’s candyfloss treads on Hope and a Little Sugar track as Muslims are abused and attacked randomly in US. A tragedy alienates the couple as Rizvan sets on a journey that he believes would reunite him with Mandira.

My Name is Khan follows a storytelling pattern which is simple and comprehensible but at the same time remains one-dimensional for a major part until the reasoning behind Khan’s impractical journey is unveiled, late in the second half. Post that as the film focuses on his journey, the proceedings gain tempo with the narrative branching out into multiple sub-tracks. The less-evolved IQ of Rizwan with which he sets on an unwarranted journey that subsequently gains him global fame is evocative of Tom Hank’s Forrest Gump .

There’s just one word to illustrate Karan’s direction — exemplary. One of the finest storytellers of our generation, he deserves brownie points for deviating from the ‘Karan Johar brand of cinema’ and attempting a film that knocks on your heart and stimulates your mind.

SRK, well, how does one describe his performance? To state that this is his best work so far would be cutting short the praise he truly deserves. In fact, no amount of praise can do sufficient justice to his portrayal of Rizvan Khan. The only compliment that I can think of is that SRK has a new screen-name now. Raj is passe, Rizvan it is.Kajol is pure dynamite and casting her for this character was the most appropriate decision. No other actress could’ve matched SRK in histrionics the way Kajol has.

My Name Is Khan is a fascinating love story, has an angle of religion and a world-shaking incident as a backdrop.

Video Source: PDVD
Host: wmv
Chapters: 4

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4