My Name is Khan - My Review

Hi guys, I just joined recently. Moslty hang out at the KhitPit, but Pardesi asked me to write a review for the movie, so giving it a try. Bear with me, this is my first ever review, and I''m not that great at writing.

MNIK has been my most awaited movie ever since it first came in the news. Main reason being SRK and Kajol. I have been a fan of this onscreen couple ever since Baazigar. So, to say I was excited to watch this movie would be an understatement. I also had huge expectations from the movie, with SRK playing an autistic character, and KJO claiming that the movie was different from his usuals.

So Karan Johar decided to be brave and tackled a complex story with various issues. Did he manage to make the story work? Well I feel he definitely succeeded in stepping into a completely different space with Khan. Saying that, there were a few KJo-ish flourishes at times, (case in point: hum honge kamyab) but those, rather than bothering me, were comforting. So in that way he's managed to be "different" and break out from his comfort zone (which he so desperately wanted to do), while maintaining some of the old charm. And although it was comforting to see glimpses of typical KJo spilling through various scenes, some parts just fell flat. I might be one of the very few, but I liked the Hum Honge Kamyab bit. What I didn't like were the many scenes which added absolutely nothing to the movie, and in fact, slowed the pace of Khan. Scene 1 would be the one with Vinay Pathak. That scene was not needed at all. 2nd scene would be when Rizwan gets stabbed towards the end, right when Mandira shows up. At that point, I had started feeling restless, thinking how much time was left for Rizwan to finally meet the President. Wish Karan had edited those parts out instead of taking out 10 minutes of SRK-Kajol's love story from the first half.

As you can see, my problem lies within the 2nd half of the movie. I loved the first half, would change nothing about it. Rizwan's childhood was nicely done, Rizwan and Mandira's love story was cute and the SRK Kajol magic was at its best. One scene that stands out is the one where Mandira proposes and Rizwan hides his face in his palms. Not only was that scene adorable, but beyond beautiful, and maybe that's my SRK Kajol love speaking. Their chemistry and scenes were terribly missed in the 2nd half.

Furthermore, I feel the Hurricane Katrina angle could've been done without. Rizwan going back to Mama Jenny, and being the only person their to help was a little too cliched to digest. A few scenes edited out, and Hurricane Katrina scenario scratched off, and Karan would have had a 10/10 in his hands. The 2nd half was a bit too long and dragging at parts.

One scene though, in the 2nd half that stands out is when Rizwan prays namaz in front of everyone. The dialogue "namaz log dekh ke nahi, niyat dekh ke padhi jaati hai" was a wonderful, powerful one!

On to performances:
Shahrukh Khan: No where in the movie did I see a fragment of this man, his persona - he shed it all and HOW! But it has to be said that it is the SRK charm that makes his awkward mannerisms into the details that you fall in love with. The way he managed to convey this character's inherent goodness and love with a blank expression, without shedding a tear, without holding his arms out perpertually for his lover to run into them... simultaneously managing to somehow portray an amazing loving hero of recent times! The script let him down in some parts, but SRK gave life to even those boring scenes. He made Rizwan so endearing and real.

Kajol: I want to start off with saying that Kajol was absolutely glowing in the movie, especially in the first half. Everytime she came on screen, she lit up the entire screen. Such a radiant beauty! Only after seeing her performance here do I fully understand what Karan has been saying all along, about why he needed Kajol to do this role and no one else. Her warmth and compassion on screen is just unmatchable, and as Karan has said, she plays a mother like no one else. Her "Time of death 8.05, time of death 8.05" was haunting. In fact that entire scene with her repeating that, and Rizwan murmuring facts on the spleen were brilliantly performed by the two.

The movie had its flaws, but the intentions were pure and noble. The message Khan tried to convey was understood and even appreciated. I was afraid Karan would turn this into a colossal mess, but he did show eons of improvement in Khan. On a whole, I give the movie 7.5/10.