Cast – Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Arjun Mathur
Direction – Karan Johar
It is a late review of the film, so I am not writing everything about it. Most of the things have already been said about the film, so I don’t think it makes much sense to revisit them. The review might have a few spoilers as it describes a few scenes in the film.
For a change we have an Indian film where a character is suffering from a disease but we don’t have any lectures, or doctors giving lectures, on how the character would behave. SRK simply plays the role and lets the people understand on their own the behavior of the disease by seeing the mannerisms of the lead actor and hearing his voice-overs. The disease was never highlighted in the film and I really liked that fact very much.
Karan Johar tried to do something different in this film while still managing to bring in the right emotions. There is lot of emotional manipulation done in the film mostly in the second half. We can see Rizwan Khan feeling the pain of losing Sameer especially in the church scene in Georgia where he speaks about Sameer. SRK delivered a very powerful performance in the scene where he had to express sadness but could not cry because he had Asperger’s. He smiles while mentioning his son’s death and yet he manages to express his sadness. We can see tears in his eyes that were not able to come out because of his condition. In the penultimate scene where he finally meets Kajol in the hospital, a drop of tear that was waiting to come out for a long time finally drops from his eyes. So, even though the film had made some sacrifices when it came to the disease, it was very rich in emotions and worked well for me.
My Name is Khan may not be a perfect film, but it is a very brave effort by the team who almost pulled off 3/4 of the movie very well. There were some unwarranted moments like product placement of Reebok shoes in the film or the introduction of the lead characters in a suspenseful way. I don’t think that suited a serious film like MNIK at all. I don’t know what was the need for President Obama’s role in the film and if it would have mattered if SRK meets President Bush instead of President Obama. Introduction of Obama’s role unnecessarily extended the time period in the film from 2005 to 2008. Also I didn’t quite agree with the job of salesman that Rizwan Khan was asked by his brother to do. I read that autistic people don’t like meeting new people, but the job of salesman is nothing but meeting new people.
Also I don’t agree much with the screenplay of the film. I don’t think the film deserved a non-linear screenplay. It was a kind of film which should have been told in a sequential order so that the reason of the journey is clearer to the audience. It is clear to those who have seen the trailers of the film, but a few years from now, for a person who is completely unaware of the film and catches it on DVD, the non-linear timeline might not work too well.
For a change Shibani Bathija did a good job but again it was not perfect. The smaller moments like “Marry me” scenes were much better than the bigger ones like the hurricane scene. There were some cheesy dialogs like Kajol saying in the second half “Pyaar mujhe kamzor banayega, nafrat ladne ki takaat dega” which could have been written in a better way or simply could have been avoided because the film has been told mostly from Rizwan Khan’s prospective and the audience were made to sympathize for him. On one hand Rizwan traveled so much just because of her despite suffering from the disease, and on the other hand Kajol is made to say that line.
Almost everyone thinks that the Hurricane scene was useless and looked unreal. But I think the scene was used for a purpose and it served the purpose just like the Reservoir scene in Swades or the child delivery scene in 3 Idiots. These scenes were added in the films to make the character heroic in everyone’s mind. While the Reservoir scene worked well in Swades because it was film beautifully, the hurricane scene could have been made better though to make it look more real.
SRK and his chemistry with Kajol was the main strength of the film. While Kajol was very spontaneous in the first half, SRK played his character perfectly. In the second half, I thought Kajol was overacting a bit and the charm in her eyes and face was replaced by tears in the second half. I don’t know if her spitting ladoo in the ‘Sajda’ song was scripted, but her reactions were very spontaneous. SRK was superb in the entire film but the scene where he blushes after Kajol proposes and the church scene where he addresses people stand out as the best scenes in the film. The supporting cast – Jimmy Shergill, Arjun Mathur too played their parts very well. The songs were very well picturized and placed in the film.
Lastly – The use of PINK. Pink is so not my color. So, let’s leave it. 
I would say the film was 7.5/10. As I said, the film was good in most of the parts, but it wasn’t a perfect one. It could have been better. But it is definitely Karan Johar’s best effort.
