[hum] honge [kamyab] ek din
My Name Is Khan And I'm Not A Terrorist
So I never thought, that I could actually be speechless. I'm not one to ever run out of things to say, I can usually find something or the other to blab about, but walking out of the theater this afternoon, I had nothing to say. People in the theater with us would ask what we thought and if we were SRK fans (who isn't? :P Do NOT answer that even if you're not *mutters*) Anyways so my mom was like yeah my daughters a huge fan and I still couldn't talk. It's like my heart was just so touched by the whole movie, I couldn't put together coherent words to make any sense. That's just my insane first reaction to the movie, but seriously this has to be one of the BEST movies of this time. I'm not saying it's better than 3 Idiots (They're both so different, it's hard to compare) I believe both the movies had amazing messages to convey to the audience. If 3 Idiots was about young adults and the pressures we all face, MNIK was about all the pressures we face as a humanity. I don't have many spoilers, I kept it limited to what the trailers showeddd <3 Don't say I didn't warn you :)
Enjoy...
The first opening shot of the movie just starts in such a dramatic way with Khan looking for information about the President of the United States. The way Khan clicks on the keyboard and the mouse, you can tell that there was something different about him. Let's clarify this right now; Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is not someone retarded, or mental or even slow. He's very sharp and smart actually, he suffers from Aspergers' Syndrome, named after Dr. Hans Asperger. It's a syndrome similar to Autism but still different. The moment you see Khan walk from the check in counters in San Francisco International Airport towards the security, and the contrast shown in the rushed way the security officers were behaving, you knew that there would be a problem. Sure enough, Khan gets nervous and this is where we see his nervous habit of holding a few pebbles in his right hand and moving them around; he also recites a Arabic prayer. That triggers off the passenger in front of them who immediately thinks the worse. Khan is led to a private room and is stripped down in order to be searched. Of course the officers don't find anything, but the vulnerability that SRK shows through this sequence, immediately connects Rizwan with you as an audience. The main security officer, overhears Rizwan mumbling about how he missed the flight to Washington D.C. to meet the President. He asks Khan why he wants to meet the President and Khan says, he has something to say and when he says the line, "My name is Khan & I'm not a terrorist," you feel it down to your core. From the first flashback itself when Tanay is introduced you can tell that Rizvan is very lucky that he got his Ammi to help him understand the world. Tanay does an AMAZING job portraying the younger Rizwan; the mannerisms, the language, the dialogue delivery, everything is perfect. The way Zarina Wahab has played the role of the mother was perfect. Her every lesson to Rizwan showed easily how she molded him into the human being that he was in present day. The main lesson that is so true in the real world now is, 'duniya mein sirf do tara ke insaan hote hain, aacha insaan jo aache kaam karte hain, aur bure insaan jo bura.' It doesn't matter if you are a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jew, or follow any religion for that matter. We should be labeled in the world by the deeds we do.
Zakir Khan (played by Jimmy Shergill) is another character I was waiting to see unfold. In his initial appearance I was thinking that his character was going to have heavy shades of gray, but I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't the case. He was just a younger brother who was neglected by his own mother because his older brother needed more attention. The moment his Ammi talks about how she won't leave Rizwan and move to US, and he says he's sponsored his Bhai as well, you know that his character isn't a gray character, he just had moments where he felt neglected and that was a valid reaction. Hasina Khan (played by Sonya Jehan) was an awesome character. That's all I want to say firstly. I found her to be one of the most amazing characters ever. Hasina was a psychology teacher and so right from her first interaction with Rizwan who can see that she is going to try to diagnose him. She helps him overcome his fear of new places and new people. She also sees that he has a fear of loud noises and the color yellow. A color that is very common in San Francisco with the cabs and pedestrian crosswalks. When Rizwan comes to live with his brother and his wife, I was initially afraid of what job he might do, or how he might cope, but when Zakir took him to his office which makes beauty supplies, (Mehnaz Herbal Beauty Products to be exact) I was thrilled because I knew this was how Rizwan would meet his Mandira. Rizwan is the most naive innocent person I've ever seen. He took the beauty products and would test them all on himself first before going out to sell them.
Mandira Rathod Khan. No other Indian actress could've played this role better than Kajol, this just isn't possible. Kajol has made Mandira what she is. A single mother who works at a Salon. She had an arranged marriage at the young age of 19 and was divorced at the age of 22. This is a woman who has been torn by the world and the things she's been through. The first meeting between Rizwan and Mandira and you could already tell that Rizwan was smitten. Mandira's happy laugh sent his heart racing and that was when you know that even though Rizwan doesn't express his emotions, he could still feel them deep down. Their love story was growing from the first time Rizwan gave his speech at the salon where Mandira worked. Every day he'd come to her Salon and they'd meet and their friendship grew. He'd notice little things about Mandira and that would make his love grow. Unknowingly though Mandira begins to love him back. I found the hair cutting sequence to be one of the most sensual scenes SRK and Kajol have done together. Yes, there was no skin showing, nor was it intense, but there was something about the way she was looking at him and the way he was looking back. Rizwan has so many aspects to his personality that its hard to find just one thing to talk about. There are so many little moments that I want to talk about, but I'm scared to give too much away, so seriously whoever watches the movie and is in the mood to gab about it, I'm always willing to! I'm not going to say so much more about the storyline now, just know that what Rizwan says in the movie is true. The world was identified as BC and AD, but after 9/11, it made a new division in the world. A new division that brought no good to the world, instead it caused barriers between people who used to love each other and never feel anything different. I hope that through this movie, people realize that the world really only differentiates between good and bad, and not between other things. Those other aspects are meant to make us more unique as individuals, they are not a means to find things wrong in others, or to hate them because of what they believe in.
Karan Johar, a man who has definitely graduated from his 'cotton candy/bubblegum' type of cinema. I would have never believed that such a moving, mature subjected film could come from the man who gave us Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham with the same lead pair. Sure he made a Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, but deep down, I don't feel that was a subject he truly believed in which led to people not appreciating it. The way he has handled this movie is something worth mentioning. His vision was brought to life with the writing of Shibani Bathija and the dialogues of Niranjan Iyenger; both people who have really helped shape this movie into what it is. Also Ravi K Chandran, the camera man behind this movie. He has done such an amazing job in the way that he made everything seem so large and huge.
All in all, this is a movie that everyone who believes in true humanity should see. This movie shows the true message that every human being should believe in. People become who they are by the things they do and every human should respect that.
These are all the little things that kept me in 'awe' throughout the entire movie. Firstly SRK and Kajol's acting, these two are literally FIRE ON ICE! <3 No one could ever come close to the chemistry these two bring to the screen. Him in every scene is worth mention, I could seriously go on describing each one in detail and explaining why he deserves every bit of recogntion and applause for this role but seriously people are just going to say, "Oh she's a die hard SRK fan of course she'll say that," But honestly, go see for yourself and decide why this man deserves to be called the "The King Of Bollywood" Kajol is a firehouse! This girl can make you cry with her, laugh with her, smile with her, and tug at your heart. Her every laugh was real, her every cry was real, her every glance was meaningful. There was nothing that could be deemed 'fake' or artificial. She owned Mandira down to the core. Jimmy Shergill was someone who PLEASANTLY surprised me in his underplayed role. He was perfectly apt as the younger brother who loved his brother. Sonya Jehan, someone I hope to see more of. She could easily make you sympathize with her through some of the things she went through. Zarina Wahab was the best on screen mother I've seen recently, she had nothing OTT about her, in fact she was so down played and real that you wanted to just embrace her and hope that the world would follow her ways of living. Sameer Rathod Khan, Mandira and Rizwan's son; a character I was amazed by. Initially I was meh, but s the movie went on and his character began unfolding I was in awe of the actor who played him. He was AMAZING, for a such a young person to handle such difficult emotional scenes is beyond my belief. Sara, who played Mandira's best friend in Banville, was a fun character. I loved how close knit the two families were to each other. Reese, played Sam's best friend. I think this character really drew me on, not because of what he did/didn't do but because of the way he was acted out. I could easily relate Reese to some people I know. People who see wrong when it's happening but don't have the courage to voice it. Mama Jenny, Funny Hair Joel, Imran, Sahiba, Komal, Raj, Bobby Ahuja. All of those actors/characters have been etched so brilliantly that you forget you are watching a movie and feel at times that this is real life events happening around you and with people who can see.
Here are the moments that touched my heart <3
The entire Noor-E-Khuda sequence, because of the brilliant way it was filmed, but especially at the one sequence where in different parts of the country, Rizwan is peering into a Salon window and Mandira is peering out of another one, but for that split second you feel a tug, knowing and seeing their love.
Mostly all the scenes with the two had a smile on my face, be it their happy moments or their sad ones, each brought a different emotion for me. I especially love the prayer scene between the two, where Rizwan is doing namaz and Mandira is doing pooja. I found that to be really touching the way it showed both the religions coming together in different ways.
Sameer's acceptance of the relation between his mother and Khan was something I found fresh. I had expected him to oppose but the way he openly accepted Khan into his life was really touching. The whole relationship shown between Sameer and Khan was something to be smiling about. They understood each other in a way that maybe people wouldn't see. Sam truly was Khan's best friend.
Rizwan's speech about Wadia and the way he pumped out the small chawl and everything, truly showed how Rizwan was and what he would be when he got older.
The way Raj and Komal find Khan and the way the entire story moves from that point forward is worth a mention because it was something I had not anticipated, nor had I anticipated the way it would all grow and the support it would bring.
I also loved the way Rizwan could sense when Mandira was near by the fragrance of her perfume. It showed that even distance could not change or tamper with his memory.
Rizwan's confrontation with Dr. Rehman in the Masjid/Mosque was a scene worth a huge mention. I was so frightened during the whole thing as to what the end result would be. I breathed a sigh of relief when Rizwan left, only to see that the end result wasn't done until the end of the film.
Hum honge kamyab ek din, this is something that's going to come back. An old phrase has been reconstructed to fit the new generation and the new world that we are all apart of now.
I could still go on, but I have too much to say, and I tried my best not to give anything away but seriously this movie is something that touched me. Even an hour after seeing it, I couldn't talk. I was just too choked up to say anything. I truly hope that no one finds anything in my review offending. If I've said anything wrong, I'll apologize right now, but I just hope everyone gives this movie a chance because if not for any of the actors, or for the technicians, go for yourself; if you truly believe in humanity, this film deserves a chance.
Meera