Bridge that missing link - i.e. show advance previews to press!!

Absence of advance screenings of Bollywood films leave journalists in US with no option but to accept PR material and work on them

Aseem Chhabra

Two weeks ago a group of journalists, gathered at Cisco’s office space in Manhattan for the global press day for Mani Ratnam’s Raavan. Using a new technology Tele-Presence, Cisco connected the film’s director and actors with journalists in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Dubai and New York.


I walked into the small conference room and was blown away with the new technology. I have participated in video conference calls, but this was remarkable. We sat facing three giant screens. Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were in Mumbai in the middle screen, while Ratnam and Vikram were in Chennai on the left. More important, the technology had erased the distances. It seemed as if the stars and the other journalists were in the same room, right in front of us.

Cisco’s Tele-Presence press conference for Raavan in New York
Maria Giovanna

There was a lot of friendly banter with general questions, such as whether the Bachchans discuss work when they get home or what was it like working with Ratnam? Finally one reporter asked Ratnam “What is Raavan about?” Ratnam’s response was “Haven’t you seen the preview?” Yes, the reporter had seen the preview, but nobody had seen the film, which explained the mostly superficial conversation.

Bollywood production houses do not hold advance screenings of their films and it is somewhat understandable. There is a concern that bloggers and others who moonlight as critics on social media sites may post negative reviews and thereby ruin a film’s chance of finding its audience in its opening weekend.

But that is where the production houses have to work at winning the confidence of journalists. In the US the concept of review embargoes works as film journalists almost always respect the guidelines. In fact, most PR firms insist that reporters have to attend the advance screenings before they can interview the film-makers. It helps the level of reporting, especially the feature articles that focus on film-making.

Lately more and more Bollywood stars and film-makers are travelling to New York to promote their films, but at each situation reporters accept the general public relations material that is fed to them. There is a lot of excitement having a star like Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan in our presence, but no reporter is prepared to ask specific questions about how and why certain scenes were written, acted, directed or shot.

There is access to Bollywood personalities in India and also here and yet there is hardly any intelligent conversation. The general discourse on Bollywood cinema is missing. Perhaps the producers and distributors like to keep the mystery about their films, but ultimately the audience loses out.

Last year Nikhil Advani told the press in New York that the soul of Chandni Chowk to China lay in the interactions between Mithun Chakraborty and Akshay Kumar. That evening I attended the film’s premiere – the first screening of CCTC and was surprised as I recounted Advani’s claims. The scenes between Chakraborty and Kumar were flat, lacking any emotional punch. I would have liked to talk further with Advani about the film he claimed was going to be the first crossover hit. But after the screening he was not available to the press.

There are some film personalities who continue talking about their films after the release. Karan Johar does not get tired sending out weekly Twitter updates that MNIK is doing well in various international markets. But that is a rare example. At the Raavan press day, Abhishek was exuberantly chatting with the reporters, but in the aftermath of the film’s debacle at the box office, he disappeared for a few days from Twitter, leaving his father to defend the film.

This week I received a screening invite for director Anusha Rizvi’s Peepli Live from a New York-based PR firm. Aamir Khan will be in New York in late July to talk to the press. The screening will enable journalists to have an open conversation with Khan about the film, his role as a producer and the reasons why he backed Peepli Live. It should only help the film as well as the audience.

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'MNIK is highest grossing Hindi film outside India'

Karan Johar, one of the most successful directors in India [ Images ] with all the four films directed by him starting with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai [ Images ] in 1998 is a super hit, was in America recently for the launch of the international edition of his biggest, My Name Is Khan.

But directing films is one of his several passions, he says. "I like to see directors and writers get a break through the films I produce," he says.

Though the films directed or produced by him have featured some of the best known artists in India including Amitabh Bachchan [ Images ] and his son Abishek, it is his association with Shah Rukh Khan [ Images ], who is there in the lead in all four films directed by him, has made movie history.

"When Karan says he has a film for me, I don't even ask for the script," Shah Rukh has said.

When My Name Is Khan opened over two months ago, there were some people and trade analysts in India who wrote that it had collapsed in the second week.

The film has grossed over $39 million worldwide; it is the highest grossing Hindi film outside India. We may reach $40 million. It is doing great as a DVD despite piracy in India. We have added over 20 minutes of deleted scenes.

Much of its success came from abroad.

Yes but it is also a huge hit in India. It was particularly strong in the United Kingdom grossing over $4 million. In fact, in the United Kingdom the three top-grossing films are directed by me.

MNIK did better business in the UK than 3 Idiots. And MNIK is still running in more than 100 theatres worldwide. We have just opened the international director's cut in America targeted at the non-diasporic audiences in America, showing the film first in New York and Los Angeles, and if it does well, expanding it to other cities.

What is the big difference between the director's cut and the standard edition?

[Chuckles] Fox Searchlight (the international distributor for the film) has edited out nearly half an hour from the original and they have done an excellent job. I was fully aware of the process and I was pleased to see the new version. Brevity may not be my forte. It is theirs.

Going back to India and the performance of MNIK there ...

We are surprised that it did beyond our expectations. This is not the usual masala film. This is not even a typical Karan Johar [ Images ] film. It is more thought provoking and deeply psychological film than anything I have done before. As I have said before, making this film make me grow more as a person than ever before.

What did Fox Searchlight do to this film that an Indian distributor could not do in the foreign markets?

Because of its vast network, Fox was able to show this film in the best of the theatres worldwide from Canada [ Images ] to Poland to Indonesia. Even in countries where Indian films are very popular but not well distributed, Fox did a remarkable job. From Egypt [ Images ] to Jordan to Malaysia, the film has performed strongly to a large extent because of the Fox distribution strategy and its ability to engage leading film writers in various countries to run stories on My Name Is Khan.

What are some of the territories have surprised you?

Indonesia, in particular. If a Hindi language film grossed about $75,000 there, it is considered excellent but our film struck a chord, and it became a sleeper hit grossing over $1.6 million.

In many Muslim countries, people were moved by what this film is trying to do: to remove a generalized, stereotype depiction of a religion. But extension, it speaks for any religion that is misunderstood an vilified. It offers a human message and it touches your heart.

I believe the film is enjoying a good run in Poland.

It grossed about $75,000 in its first week which is very good for a territory like Poland. I believe the second week is even stronger.

Playing a devil's advocate. Why would anyone care to see your film in Poland which has no history of watching Hindi films in big numbers?

My Name Is Khan is about humanity. It is a film about times and unfolds against the background of today's headlines. But above all, it is a film about the triumphant of goodness.

Are you working with Fox soon?

Right now I don't have any project but who knows what could happen tomorrow? Fox welcomed Dharma Productions and me as if we were family members. And surely if there is a project that interests a Hollywood studio, Fox would welcome us again.

Dharma has given a break to many directors

That is our pride. Last year we made Wake Up Sid [ Images ] directed by Ayan Mukherjee. Soon we have Punit Malhotra-directed I Hate Love Stories with Imran Khan [ Images ] and Sonam in release. I believe it is a sweet and funny film.

What is I Hate Love Stories about?

It is about this guy who hates Hindi movie love stories. But he can't believe that many things that happen in these films are happening to him in real life. And the movie becomes a quintessential love story.

I believe Sonam Kapoor [ Images ] is a luminous artist, the Waheeda Rehman [ Images ] of our generation but she hasn't yet got her due...

I hope our film will give her more exposure and success. She comes from an illustrious family and has firm values. And then there is also an excellent actress/

You don't shy away from discussing your hits and flops. What do you think went wrong with Kurbaan [ Images ] which was also the first film directed by Rensil D'Silva?

It came soon after another film dealing with the aftermath of terrorism in America was released and became a hit. Though Kurbaan was different from that film, still the audiences were hesitant to go and see it. Perhaps we should not have given it a wide release like showing it in over 300 theatres in the first week. The film might have worked better had the word of mouth had time to grow.

You have also said that as a producer you too take personal responsibility for the film's failure.

I feel that I wrongly projected the sexual violence as opposed to the emotional violence of the story. And yet the failure of the film surprised all of us. We still hear from people, not only in India but also in the Middle East, America and the United Kingdom who loved the film. But over all, the film did not take off.

What else have you learned from the reaction to Kurbaan?

I believe it is more important to accept the failure of a film than accept a success. For from failure, you learn a few things. But I also believe that one should never let a failure change one's outlook, as long as it was a credible failure, and Kurbaan was one such film; never to let the failure eat into your heart. We are proud of the way the film was shaped.

What else among Dharma Productions movies would you consider an honourable failure?

More than two decades ago my father (Yash Johar) produced Agneepath which did not do well. It was also a credible failure. Dharma productions soon launched another film. There was no time to mourn the failure. I always remember my father's attitude.

Amitabh Bachchan speaks very proudly of the film, and recites dialogue from it at his live shows?

Yes, he has told us again and again how dear the film is to him. And that is one of the reasons he has continued working with us.

People still remember your father decades after working with him, and many years after his death. Waheeda Rehman speaks about him as they are still friends.

My father was the production manager on Dev Anand's [ Images ] Guide (one of the best-known films starring Waheeda and made in the late 1960s). He played an important role in making the film what it is.

You have spent quite some time in recent years writing stories for films directed by others for Dharma Productions. When are you going to direct your own project.

I would say, soon, say after a few months. But I don't have any subject in my mind. I am using my sojourn in America to think about my next.

What kind of film are you inclined to make?

I think it would be a fun-filled film. It does not also have to be a film with many stars. But who knows? Beyond that I do not have any clue what the film is going to be, and where it would be made.

Arthur J Pais in New York
http://movies.rediff.com/interview/2010/may/12/karan-johar-gets-candid.htm

American version of My Name Is Khan to be shorter by 35 minutes

If the name Alan Edward Bell doesn't ring a 'bell' in your mind, then, let us tell you that, he is the same man who is responsible for the crisp editing of 500 Days Of Summer. And it is going to be this man who will very soon be the talk of the nation (or is that 'globe'?), as he is the man responsible for 'taming the hurricane'. For the uninitiated, we are talking about the climax of Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan wherein the characters get stranded due to a hurricane. Post the release of the film in India; while the story and screenplay were appreciated to the hilt, this was one particular scene that was panned by critics alike. But, for its US release, KJo has let Bell's hands to do the talking (read 'snipping').

Karan Johan candidly admits that he was expecting this scene not to work in the same wavelength as the film's story. He also added that, it was for this reason, that he let Bell to do his job (without any interference from him) since he wanted an outsider's perspective to the story. This has now resulted in the chopping of the hurricane scene in the US version of My Name Is Khan. Bell's work will be visible in the film, which releases on May 7th in the US, and will have its subtitles and voiceovers in English for the audiences there.

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Fox Entertainment rejoices Avatar, MNIK success

Last year, Fox Entertainment was celebrating the success of Slumdog Millionaire. This year it's toasting to the record breaking Avatar and has also broken new ground with its bollywood foray My Name is Khan (MNIK).
In an entertainment with CNBC-TV18, Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Entertainment, spoke about the relationship with Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment.
Below is a verbatim transcript of an exclusive entertainment with Jim Gianopulos on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: What is your relationship with Red Chillies Entertainment?
A: It materialized as a partnership and the film was expensive because so much of it was shot in the US and in multiple locations. The film is about a journey across the country. So those multiple locations and the cost of making that film certainly pushed the budget up higher than a normal bollywood film. It wasn’t one of this–here is the money, see you in a long time. We wouldn’t have done that they didn’t want that. There were many number of people who they could have sold the film to. They made arrangements for every one of their films.
Both of us wanted to try the relationship, improve that there could be a great partnership and the benefit of the synergies of coupling great talent and worldwide marketing and distribution. From the very beginning it was viewed as a partnership enterprise. There was deference, to the extent that we deferred to Karan and Sharukh in terms of how it was handled and how I was positioned here in India. They deferred completely to us in the rest of the world and particularly the US. This didn’t mean it wasn’t collaborative in every corner of the world that it was released.

Q: Are you happy with the collections?
A: Yes, very happy.

Q: When you look at the India Theatrical collection, while it opened really well, it kept falling by more than half in all the following or consecutive weeks, was that disappointing?
A: No because this was a movie which was intentionally looking to change the form and test the limits of the form. It wasn’t a conventional bollywood film and we heard it in some of the smaller markets and some part of the country where people said, I don’t get what is Shahrukh Khan doing in that role and why is the film in that sort of a narrative form. The fact that it didn’t play in some of the smaller markets in the country was really not a surprise because it wasn’t conventional and it wasn’t intended to be.

Q: So now movies are now going to be before Avatar and after Avatar, isn’t it?
A: That’s what they said about Titanic.

Q: Are you used to it?
A: I won’t go that far. It’s a very unique experience and a thrilling one.

Q: Have you already derived USD 2.5 billion?
A: We have derived USD 2.7 billion.

Q: Give us an idea of what it means because on one hand we are talking about MNIK which is some USD 40 million and you have USD 2.7 billion on the other hand?
A: Someone once said to me that the business transactions were quite substantial. We said the difference is that there are more zeroes. This is the difference between those two films. So this is an incredible experience that we have been involved. We have the very much the same pride with My Name is Khan because that doesn’t happen every day.
To be able to take great talents like Kajol and Sharukh and expose them to the rest of the world is really a great source of pride. There was one moment when we had the biggest local movie in China and the biggest in the world with Avatar. The only place that we weren’t number one that weekend was in the US.

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Screen syndrome

The hero with a debilitating condition may not be entirely convincing. But the city welcomes him in any case.

Rizvan Khan is afraid of new people and new places. He can’t stand loud noises or the colour yellow. He does his tasks by the clock and does not understand most of what people say or do. He can’t cry. Rizvan has Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, and is the hero of My Name Is Khan (MNIK). His biggest USP? He is played by Shah Rukh Khan.

Having lost his stepson to a racial attack for bearing the name Khan in the aftermath of 9/11, Rizvan sets out on a seemingly impossible journey to meet the American President and tell him: “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist”.

When Rizvan finally meets the President — of course since it’s a Hindi film the President comes to meet Rizvan — you get all misty-eyed.

Made with Rs 55 crore, the film collected Rs 150 crore in the first week in India and abroad, say initial reports.

In these troubled times, when “twitter” reminds you more of cows on planes than birds in the woods, and “wave” has more to do with social networking than with the seaside, the Hindi film hero needs some more ammo to pack in his punch. He must have a debilitating condition, rare and incurable, and preferably unpronounceable.

Novelty factor

In Paa, the 12-year-old schoolkid Auro suffers from progeria, a severe genetic condition where the body ages must faster than is normal. It is an extremely rare condition that affects one per eight million live births. In India, there is just one known instance — a family from Bihar now based in Calcutta with five children who suffered from progeria. Four of the kids have died. Ekramul, the fourth child, was supposed to meet Amitabh Bachchan after the release of Paa, but died before he could. He was 23.

In Paa, Amitabh’s handsome face is hidden behind layers of make-up, the commanding height shrunk with some superb cinematography and the rich baritone replaced with a raspy whisper. The film, made on a “tight” budget of Rs 14.75 crore, grossed Rs 3.5 crore in just nine days.

The Hindi film — and Amitabh Bachchan — has “evolved” since 1974, when the Salim-Javed scripted Majboor had Bachchan ready to face the noose for a murder he didn’t commit to secure the future of his wheelchair-bound little sister, played by Farida Jalal. Bachchan could only be whole then, and a saviour of the disabled. Now Bachchan is the disabled protagonist.

Disability sells, as the box office says. But is that such a bad thing?

According to trade analysts, the trend started with Aamir Khan’s directorial debut in December 2007, Taare Zameen Par, which had Darsheel Safary as a schoolkid with dyslexia, who stole all hearts. Made on a budget of Rs 12 crore, the film earned Rs 131 crore.

Of course, in 2005 there was Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black, though the portrayal of Rani Mukerji as a deaf-mute-blind girl in the film was more a caricature than a representation of disability, many felt.

But if Aamir the director was sensitive in the portrayal of dyslexia in Taare..., Aamir the actor followed it up with Ghajini a year later, a blood-and-gore tale of revenge, set apart by the hero’s inability to remember anything beyond 15 minutes — anterograde amnesia. With a budget of Rs 45 crore, Ghajini raked in around Rs 100 crore in the first eight days.

And now schizophrenia has come calling with Karthik Calling Karthik.

Box office

Moinak Biswas, a teacher at the department of film studies at Jadavpur University, feels the string of disability-based movies coming out of Bollywood is an “abominable trend”. “These films are nothing but a manipulative, commercial venture. I don’t understand why Hindi films need to preach so much,” he says.

There are other questions. The disabilities are either rare, or picturesque, or both (though dyslexia is an exception, as are Guddu’s stammer and Charlie’s lisp in Kaminey, but that was not the point of the film).

Asperger’s syndrome is a high-functioning form of autism and those living with it have much more cognitive and speech development than others on the autism spectrum. Had Karan Johar decided for Rizvan to have autism, much of what he does in the film would have been far-fetched.

Anindita Chatterjee, therapy in-charge at Manovikas Kendra, Rehabilitation and Research Institute for the Handicapped, who works with children with autism, says there are no kids with Asperger’s syndrome in her school. She says she was impressed with Rizvan’s gait, his mannerisms, his speech and his inability to make eye contact. “But most children with autism will not be able to achieve that kind of development in thought or movement,” she says.

Would Karan Johar have taken up that debilitating a disability? Would SRK have acted as such a disabled person? What does the film do for those with the disability in real life? The same question can be asked of Paa.

“Amitabh Bachchan depicted the walk well, but I don’t think a person with progeria can dance the way Auro does,” says Arunaloke Bhattacharyya, an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Child Health, Calcutta, who has worked closely with the family from Bihar.

Besides, the crop of new films has stolen their plots from Hollywood.

Paa owes its origin to Jack (Robin Williams had Werner syndrome, where a person ages four times faster than normal) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt ages backwards in this film, which might have been inspired by progeria). MNIK to Rain Man (Dustin Hoffman plays a person with autism) and Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks plays a simple man who is a part of the greatest events of the 20th century without realising their historical importance). Ghajini is almost a scene-by-scene rip-off from Memento, a psychological thriller involving anterograde amnesia. Black is inspired by Miracle Worker, a 1962 film based on Helen Keller’s autobiography, The Story of My Life.

But on the whole, in a sad irony, activists and families working with disability are far more welcoming of these films than critical. In a city, and a country, where there’s hardly any public awareness or empathy about people with disability — even a film with a less than satisfactory portrayal of disability is greeted warmly.

Cinematic liberty

“Amitabh Bachchan’s look was realistic in Paa, save for Auro’s height. Also, because of early ageing, such a person does not have so much mobility. But I feel one can grant the film-makers that bit of cinematic liberty,” says Bhattacharyya, with genuine appreciation.

Krishna Roy, an autism consultant, welcomes such movies too. “Nei mamar cheye kana mama bhalo (something is better than nothing),” she says. She remembers a teacher of a reputable city school had once told her: “I feel so repulsed when I look at a disabled child”.

“In such a milieu, films dealing with disability are very much welcome. And bigger the star power, greater is the impact,” says Roy.

The mother of a nine-year-old boy with autism speaks of her experience of watching MNIK. “Living with autism day in and day out is a totally different experience. And I also know that my son will not become as able as Rizvan Khan. But such a film gives me a tiny ray of hope that my boy might one day conquer some of his deficiencies and be able to fend for himself a little more than what he can do now,” she smiles.

Sometimes the effect of a film can be felt directly. Sharada Fatehpuria, the director-secretary of Manovikas Kendra, says Taare... had a huge impact on the public mind. “So many children who would earlier struggle to cope in class are now being given extra coaching to catch up with the rest,” she says. 

Read the rest here.

Stuck in stereotypes !!

Will Bollywood ever get to portray Muslim characters realistically in its films?
He used to be omnipresent in the psyche of Bollywood and made his presence felt in every other Hindi film. The benign Muslim with a beard and a prayer cap, ever ready to extend a helping hand to the protagonist in distress. He dispensed charity, advice and wisdom about the almighty with the same serene look on his face. He turned all the more important if the film had a Muslim as the villain. That blasphemy had to be balanced out with this symbol of purity and virtue.

Remember the all-time favourite Sholay and how the grandfather, played by a wizened A.K. Hangal, recalled that it was time for his namaaz immediately after the discovery of the brutal murder of his grandson. He is the best prototype of this symbolic representation given to India's largest minority in films. That is unless the movie belonged to that quaint farcical genre called the “Muslim Social”. The men in these films paraded in ornamental sherwanis, the women in colourful ghararas and spouted romantic sher and shairi at the drop of a hat. We don't know when and where this caricature disappeared from our national pastime.

New stereotypes

Only to be replaced by another kind of unrealistic depiction. The latest avatar of the reigning superstar in My name is Khanis an example of this non-change. Rizwan Khan suffers from Asperger's syndrome that in lesser mortals would translate into a challenge that is defined by low social skills and a deep aversion to loud noises, certain colours and lack of structure. In Karan Johar's latest popcorn venture parading as serious cinema, the character played by Shah Rukh Khan, miraculously translates these disadvantages into a kind of relentless nobility. He spells out to everyone he meets in the American streets “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist.” Only the President of the world's “greatest” democracy gets the better of him. On meeting Khan, he declares immediately “Your name is Khan and you are not a terrorist,” before Khan can do the honours.

Maybe Johar was exorcising his guilt while making the film. After all, in Kurbaan, the last venture he produced under his banner, all the “Khans” turned out to be terrorists, including the mother who until then had escaped critical scrutiny by Bollywood directors. In the holy cows propagated by Indian cinema, “Maa” has always come first, unless she turned out to be sauteli. And here was this matriarch played by Kiran Kher transformed into a ruthless suicide bomber with a filmy pathan accent. Johar and his debut director got inspired by a Hollywood flop, Arlington Road and vested their version with religious bias. The result was a deeply flawed film that broke every norm of political correctness.

The female protagonist is a Hindu professor teaching in a university in New York who gets tricked into marrying a Muslim terrorist. He, along with his family, puts her under house arrest the moment she chances on his nefarious plans, leading to the most disturbing denouement seen in a Hindi film in recent times. He is shot dead by the authorities and his wife's grief-stricken face teases the audience in a close up. She is mourning a man who has deceived her at every turn, threatened to kill her father and reacted humanly only when he finds out she is carrying “his” baby. The prevailing thread in the film is the righteous Hindu wife and her evil in-laws. The family has turned out that way because some of its members have either been tortured or killed by the white American regime.

A few months before Kurbaan released, there had been another Hindi film, New York, that trod on a similarly problematic premise. But at least in that one, the mantle of the virtuous was also worn by the Muslim friend like in the films of yore. Mercifully, the tokenism was very much in place to balance the new disturbing trend.

The subliminal message in all these films is that terrorism results out of a sense of personal vengeance. The Islamic terrorist has been ravaged by the hegemony of the US and wants to get even by killing innocents. None of these films try to reflect on the phenomenon of terrorism intelligently. What did Iraq and Afghanistan have to do with the siege of Bombay last year? But it is tricky for a Bollywood film to go there. Our desi mainstream directors are likely to balk at the idea of terrorism being spawned by truths closer at home like the Babri Masjid demolition or the Gujarat riots.

Clever positions

It is only by design and not accident that a New York or a Kurbaan unfolds in the American context. The two feuding parties, the white American population as well as the Islamic terrorists, can be perceived as adversaries by the Indian audience. So the makers get to be like the clever monkey who decided to settle the feud between the two cats and gobbled the cake himself.

Read the rest here.

‘Research For MNIK Opened My Mind To The World’ - Karan Johar

THREE YEARS AGO Karan Johar TOLD SHOMA CHAUDHURY THAT HE WAS DISSATISFIED WITH HIS SLEWOF HITS AND THAT HE HAD NOT YET MADE A FILM HE WAS PROUD OF. WITH HIS LATEST FILM, MY NAME IS KHAN, THE MAN WHO WAS ONCE A BYWORD FOR THE BIG AND SPLASHY WEDDING, MAKES A VERY PUBLIC SHIFT. IN THIS NEW INTERVIEW, HE TALKS OF THE UNEXPECTED CHANGES THAT THE MAKING OF THE FILM AND THE AFTERMATH HAD ON HIS SENSE OF SELF AND CINEMA. EXCERPTS:

There’s been a big shift of concern in the kind of films you are making — whether it is Kurbaan, Wake Up Sid or My Name Is Khan. Is this a conscious transition?
Karan Johar: A few filmmakers — only Adi [Aditya Chopra] and me actually — have been part of a transition in cinema. When Ashutosh [Gowarikar] made Lagaan, he hadn’t catered to the audience before, he had only made a couple of films. He immediately brought in a new sensibility. Farhan’s first film also brought in this new cool. While we had catered to a certain kind of cinegoer’s demands in the 1990s and then saw the evolution of the audience. I feel the need to adapt with the times. I had done a lot of films that were internal experiences, and as a filmmaker to challenge myself I felt the need to do something that yanks me out of my comfort zone. And as a producer I go by the diktats of the young minds I put my faith in — whether it’s Tarun Mansukhani who wanted to make Dostana, a rom-com with a mild edge or an Ayan Mukherjee who wanted to direct a coming-of-age film Wake Up Sid or Rensil D’Silva who chose to make a film on global terrorism. This year we have a quintessential date flick coming up called I Hate Love Stories and the official adaptation ofStepmom. These are not necessarily pathbreaking films but extremely warm mainstream endeavours. For myself this phase is going to stay because I’m in a different headspace from when I made Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (KKKG).

So these new concerns are not just about adapting to your environment, but also something personal?
Of course it is. Cinema is a reflection of your own state of mind. So I felt different when I directed KKHH and I feel totally different today — whatever you feel will reflect on celluloid and I don’t feel like I want to do something I’ve done before. I felt boredom had crept into my work.

The last time you and I spoke, you said you wished you could adopt a different name because of people’s expectations of your cinema.
I’m glad I may have kind of broken the shackles of my own perceived image. In media branding when they referred to a KJo film it was associated with terms like gloss, popcorn, glamour, mush, bubblegum, which were almost hurled at me like weapons — I felt like I was slotted too soon which was complimentary in a way but also annoying. You can’t slot me with two to three films, wait for two decades. With Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna I felt there was a shift in the perception, but now with My Name Is Khan (MNIK) I feel there is no way that I can be slotted in a category.

‘I’VE NEVER MADE A FILM I’M PROUD OF’ KKKG is all about me trying to show off, nothing else. It’s me saying, look, I’ve put up this big set; look, I’ve put up this star cast; they’re wearing beautiful clothes, look, look, look. Today I’ve become a school of cinema, whether you like it or hate it. Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna was my attempt to break my own mould. But what I did wrong was blend in some of my old need for opulence and scale and a star cast. I should have stuck to my initial thought, my first instinct, which was to make it an intimate drama of two couples. My gut and my spine is commercial, so no matter what, even while experimenting, I’ll always be mainstream. I sit here and visualise myself in my Armani suit, walking with my mother on the red carpet in LA, entering the Kodak Theatre, sitting in the twentieth row, hearing my nomination, getting the award, going up and ending my speech with, this is for you India. I have it all planned. But I will never make a two-hour film without songs, which might bore my country, just to achieve that. I’ve never made a film that I can proudly say is my film, that I can proudly tell people, did you see Lagaan, I made it. Or, did you see Rang De Basanti, I made it. I haven’t made that film yet, but I will. Sometimes my name hinders a film, because audiences come thinking there’ll be a lovely shaadi song. That worries me. I’ll have to strategise the promotion very cleverly — make it very clear that this is me — Karan. (laughs) Karan Trivedi maybe, or Saxena or Karan Thapar — anything, but not Karan Johar. excerpts PREVIOUS CONVERSATION

What triggered MNIK for you?
What annoyed me was when intelligent, educated, affluent people talked nonsense. That really riled me. A conversation I had with people I met in New York over dinner upset me. It was not said but there was an undertone of complete racial assault which put me off. I have a problem with generalisation and putting people into boxes. At a political and human level. Even if they’re just saying ‘fat people are sweet’ or ‘short people can’t be trusted’ I have a problem when people make statements like this. You cannot generalise one community or religion, it goes against the grain of humanity. A certain amount of general goodness has been forgotten with the cynicism of our times. I feel very strongly the need to address it as a filmmaker. Addressing the issue of the identity of the Muslim in the modern world was one way to address the human community at large.

That conversation triggered off the thought process. Then I went back and researched with various organisations that protect minority rights in America. My story was different then. Then we realised the simplicity of the plot would seem artificial if we went down the typical route. We had to go through a man not of our times, whose mind was not cluttered with what our minds are usually full of. We may have romanticised the character. He has Asperger’s Syndrome which is high functioning autism and he sees life very differently, sees things literally. So he comes from a place of innocence and vulnerability.

It gives a place for the social constructs to fall away
Zarina Wahab’s character — Rizwan Khan’s mother — her philosophy could be extremely simplistic to some and deeply profound to others.

When you were doing this research, did it politicise you, change you?I felt the need to engage myself with what was happening globally. It opened my headspace up to so much. When you do this kind of research the information that you get isn’t just facts, you feel it, you’re associating it with your own film – so it made me passionate towards what was happening in the world.

Read more HERE.

'My Name is Khan' makes Bollywood history

World's first ever Bollywood film to be released in cinemas with audio description (AD)

February 23, 2010 /India PRwire/ -- 'My Name is Khan' has made cinema history by becoming the first ever Bollywood film to be released in cinemas with audio description (AD). Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) worked with 20th Century Fox to achieve this milestone after its research among blind or partially sighted people of Asian origin found that over 55 per cent of respondents were more likely to watch Bollywood films if AD was provided.

AD is as important to blind and partially sighted people as subtitles are to those with hearing problems. It is an additional narration that fits between passages of dialogue to describe action sequences, body language, costume and scenery, allowing the viewer to understand exactly what is happening on screen. 'My Name is Khan' is also the first film to feature AD in Hindi, the language of the film.

Martin Bromfield, Executive Director at Twentieth Century Fox says: "20th Century Fox is proud to offer, for the first time ever, a Hindi AD track on 'My Name is Khan'. English speaking AD has been available on all our films for some time now, so we felt it was natural to progress and offer Hindi AD on our first collaboration with Bollywood. With help from RNIB and Deluxe Digital Studios we worked hard to create an English audio descriptive track which was then translated before being recorded by a Hindi speaking audio describer, in time for the second week of release."

Fazilet Hadi, Director Inclusive Society, RNIB says: "Around 700 films are produced by Bollywood every year, and our research tells us that blind and partially sighted fans want AD on these films. So we're delighted that Fox have worked with us to allow blind and partially sighted people to enjoy this much-anticipated release along with their sighted family and friends. We hope other studios will follow Fox's lead making 'My Name is Khan' the first of many audio described Bollywood films."

Read more from HERE

MNIK Box office reports

Seat-edger start for `My Name is Khan' in Mumbai

Varada Bhat

Mumbai, Feb. 12

The opening day screening of My Name is Khan could be music to the ears of Fox Star Studios, which bought it for Rs 100 crore.

After a shaky start which only saw half of Mumbai's multiplexes screen the film, the latter part of Friday saw tickets virtually flying off the counters. The weekend could, therefore, see packed halls for the movie which has been in the eye of a political storm. Tickets are retailing at a 15 per cent premium.

Over 300 prints were released in Maharashtra, of which Mumbai got 65. The two centres are critical to any new Bollywood release's fortunes as they jointly contribute to over 25 per cent of box office collections.

Sources at Fox Star say it was tough to ascertain the opening day's collections as the film opened simultaneously in Egypt, West Asia, Germany, Poland, Australia, the UK and the US. Nearly 70 per cent of its collections are expected to come from overseas markets.

Indications from analysts are that the movie has grossed nearly Rs 2 crore in Australia, New Zealand and the UK and inching close to the Rs 8-crore mark in the domestic market.

For the record, Bollywood's largest grosser to date, 3 Idiots raked in Rs 20 crore on Day One and it remains to be seen if MNIK will do better.

"Despite the Mumbai release being affected on the first day, MNIK should have a record-breaking Friday in terms of box-office numbers," said Mr Taran Adarsh, a film trade analyst.

The film opened to big crowds in the country with almost every multiplex reporting 100 per cent collections. "The film has opened to a solid start," said Mr Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios.

It hit the screens amidst unprecedented security at movie halls.

On an average, 70-100 policemen were deployed across each property to keep in check potential violence from Shiv Sena protestors.

Read the rest HERE.


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B.O. update: 'M.N.I.K.' opens to a deafening response!


Humungous -- that's the right word to describe the initial response to MY NAME IS KHAN. The film had a deafening start at practically every centre, with practically every multiplex generating 100% collections, while single screens in mass-dominated centres opened to a 70% - 80% response, which is very, very good.

At a major theatre in Delhi, the audiences heralded the arrival of the film with band-bajaa and by bursting crackers. Outside a theatre in Patna, a moviegoer distributed roses to cinegoers who had come to watch the film.

The reviews from critics who matter are already out [every reviewer has praised the film to the skies] and the audience feedback is overwhelming. In fact, at several places, there has been a mad scramble to book the tickets and the film is expected to set theatre, city and district records at most centres.

In Mumbai, the multiplexes had decided to open shows at one property each. Hence, the multiplexes didn't perform the morning shows, but commenced screening from 12 noon onwards. The screenings began at Fun Republic [Andheri], Inox [Nariman Point], PVR [Goregaon], Fame [Malad], Big [Wadala] and Cinemax [Kandivali]. The multiplexes have now started screening the film at other properties.

Despite the Mumbai release getting affected, the film should have a solid, record-breaking Friday, in terms of box-office numbers. 


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My Name Is Khan has a big opening in the US

Mumbai: A blast from the Arctic has been dumping heavy snow on New York but on Thursday Shah Rukh Khan was given a gift from the weather gods: a calm winter night for a screening of My Name Is Khan. 
The ImaginAsian theatre in New York filled up quickly — even the US media which ignores Bollywood releases has been stirred over how the Shiv Sena has been bullying theatre owners in Mumbai into scotching Khan’s film.

The Shiv Sena’s skullduggery has made headlines in most US broadsheets including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. “I think the Shiv Sena is creating bad karma by being so mean-spirited,” said Linda Langly, who pays up to $12 a ticket to watch premieres of Bollywood movies with her Indian boyfriend.

Western markets, especially those with a fair sprinkling of South Asian diaspora like in the US and the UK, have become a major source of revenue for Indian films in recent years. MNIK producers will be hoping to offset any losses in Mumbai against the commercial success of the new release in North America.

Fox Star Studios is content with its distribution deal for filmmaker Karan Johar’s new release. Its plans of releasing as many as 500 prints of the film in more than 65 countries worldwide are unprecedented for a Bollywood project. In the US and Canada it opens in 121 theatres on Friday which is on the lavish end of what Bollywood films open on.

The Khan-Kajol film is likely to draw South Asians into theatres in droves over the Valentine’s Day long weekend from 13-15 February. Monday is a President’s Day holiday in the US so MNIK is likely to earn strong box-office receipts.

“Shah Rukh has an absolutely inbuilt audience with Non Resident Indians (NRIs). He has a very strong connect with them. I thought he was one of the best things about MNIK so I have no doubt that they will love the film. They will certainly check it out,” said Anupama Chopra, author of King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema.

“Bollywood is no longer the shabby, slightly embarrassing country cousin that NRI parents insist on bringing home. Hindi films are trendy. So is India,” Chopra whose life is half Mumbai, half Michigan soid.

According to Chopra, the meteoric rise of Shah Rukh could be read as a metaphor for a country changing at breakneck pace. “He is a Muslim superstar in a Hindu-majority country and his life reflects the fundamental paradoxes of a post-liberalisation nation attempting to thrive in a globalised world,” says Chopra.

While promoting MNIK in New York, Khan told the WSJ that he wanted his new film to be a cross between hit like Pedro Almodovar’s Life is Beautiful which was a foreign language film watched by the global masses.

“Will MNIK really connect with the US mainstream audience? I am not so sure,” said Chopra. Vibhuti Patel, contributing editor for Newsweek, gave the film high marks for grappling with a topical subject, but panned it as “far too long” for Western audiences. “I think it was a crossover between Forest Gump and Rainman. It didn’t have the song and dance. The film had autobiographical overtures for Shah Rukh,” said Patel.

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"SRK has not changed one bit since I worked with him in Mohabbatein" - Jimmy Sheirgill

Jimmy wasn't seen much in the promos, I don't know how much footage he has in the movie, but I am a Jimmy fan.

It's been a week since Karan Johar's My Name Is Khan released and while the film is breaking records and earning praise for the performance of its main protagonists played by Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, three is yet another actor who is quietly basking in the adulation coming his way. We are talking about the talented and versatile Jimmy Sheirgill who once again excels in a strong character role playing SRK's younger brother. Bollywood Hungama's Nikhil Ramsubramaniam got in touch with Jimmy and spoke to him about MNIK and his forthcoming films. Read on!

When My Name Is Khan opened last Friday, a lot of people were surprised to see you in the film since you were not seen in the promos at all. What do you have to say about that?
Well...these things do not bother me. The strategy of who should feature in the promos and who shouldn't is entirely the makers' prerogative. Everyone knew that SRK and Kajol are the main protagonists of the film. Having said that, right from when I was offered the film, I knew I had an important role- that of Shah Rukh's younger brother and I am glad I took it up. It always helps being a part of such a big film. I have been getting tremendous feedback and am really thankful to Karan for considering me for this role.

You have worked with some big directors like Gulzar saab, Aditya Chopra, Raju Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. How was it working with Karan Johar for the first time?
I've wanted to work with Karan for a long time. In fact whenever we met, he used to tell me that when I have a suitable role for you I'll call you. So when I got a call for My Name Is Khan, I was really excited. As soon as I heard the script, I knew that I had to be a part of this film since the story had so much to say and plus it gave me an opportunity to work with Karan for the first time ever.

You starred with Shah Rukh in Mohabbatein, which was among your first few films, almost 10 years ago. How was it re-uniting with him after such a long time?
Shah Rukh has not changed one bit since the time we worked in Mohabbatein. I call him 'Superman' because there is nothing that is Impossible for him. He still exudes the same kind of enthusiasm and energy which he had almost 10 years ago and that is something which is truly remarkable. He is always concerned about the people he works with and was just like an elder brother to me on the sets.

Your co-star Soniya Jehan has also been appreciated a lot for her act. How was it working with her?
Fantastic...not just Soniya, every member of the cast knew exactly what his / her role was and gave 100%. Under Karan's guidance, the whole unit was completely focused and yet totally at ease.

A lot of actors shy away from doing supporting roles as they feel that it would affect their prospects of bagging a solo hero project. You, on the other hand, have been doing both solo hero films and multi-starrers simultaneously…
You are right...Right from my early days; I never had any inhibitions about the length of my role or any insecurity of being over-shadowed by any bigger actor. Be it in Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, Munnabhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munnabhai or Eklavya, I have always done roles which may not be big in terms of length but are big in terms of impact. I believe that a role should be exciting enough to hold my interest and that is the only criteria I look at before signing a film.
You are currently shooting for yet another multi-starrer Excel Entertainment's Crooked. What kind of a film is that?
Crooked is a superb thriller directed by a very talented new director Abhinay Deo. There are a lot of brilliant actors like Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher etc... The film has quite a few parallel tracks running which are intertwined in a strange way. Since it's a thriller, I can't reveal much about the film but I'll say that I have a kick ass role. It's the kind of role I have never done before.

Besides Crooked, what else do you have in your kitty?
There is Johnny Mastana which is a gripping drama directed by Shoojit Sircar and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Dia Mirza etc. The film is complete and the producers UTV will be deciding on the release date soon. There is also Anjum Rizvi's Flat which is a very slick and stylish supernatural thriller starring Sanjay Suri and I. It is one of the most original stories that I have come across in the thriller genre. Besides these, I also have a Punjabi film Mel Kara De Rabba which should release sometime in April.

The Use of Pink – My Name is Khan Review

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.

Read more from HERE

My Name Is Khan: Shah Rukh Khan works box-office math differently

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The game has changed and how. As Friday approaches and even before the critics are out with their verdicts, the calculations take over every film. The excitement is, of course, very high when the film is big-budget, and has a big star cast. What was the ‘opening’ like? Answers fly in figures and percentages go into —70%, 80%, 90%. The bigger the ‘opening’, faster the calculations though, this is where things can start to get complicated.

Take the case of a film with A+ stars and the stakes go to dizzying heights. So was the case of My Name is Khan which released last Friday. Here, the dice was rolled out as soon as Fox Star Studios bought the Karan Johar, SRK and Kajol starrer for a staggering sum said to be between Rs 80-90 crore.

This was big money and recovery had to be bigger. The K3 combination had never failed so far and their fans waited with baited breath for the release, as did an industry desperate for more blockbusters. The hype added fuel but then, as has been happening with alarming regularity with many a film, MNIK hit a huge roadblock with some sentiments being hurt, putting the release of the film in danger.

This time, the tussle was tough and both opposing parties were adamant. But like in every film, aal iz well that ends well, though business was hurt in some important states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh on Friday. But, the fact that the film was released was met with a sigh of relief.

Then came the slot-machines opinions and trade pundits with run-of-the mill verdicts like the ‘opening’ being great but not meeting expectations. Critics gave a thumbs up but the word of mouth was split, whispers began of a sharp ‘drop’ on Monday. It was only when the overseas collections came in with phenomenal success from the US and UK, to the Middle East and Singapore, Bangkok to Bahrain, that SRK ruled supreme. He outstripped everyone even as requests poured in for more prints.

How has the game changed and how much? “The best answer is that a T20 match is being gauged like a test match. The whole business of cinema has undergone a change. The days of percentages, housefulls, silver jubilees and long runs are over. The faster we accept this, the better it will be for the whole industry. Today, if a cine fan is coming to watch a film, I have to ensure that he does not go away without watching it. Films are not Louis Vuitton products that you have to book them, if you come out to watch a film, you must be able to watch it,” says SRK, his voice hoarse, severe cold and cough telling a tale of exhaustion from flying across time zones due to the hectic travelling he has been doing for the film.

Though Khan avoids the word clarification and abhors ‘justifying’, the message of how the film is faring is as important to the co-producer of MNIK as is the message of humanity and love that the film is about. The message here is the different way of doing maths. No following the old system, it’s the overall collections that the producer is advocating. The dreaded ‘drop’ on the first week day is an unfair comparison, he explains, specially when the shows being compared are a Sunday evening show and a Monday afternoon one.

“I have been informed that the Sunday evening 6-9 show was the highest collection ever for any film. These are big-stake films and so it is important to view them in their totality. The film has not even had its full release so far worldwide. Yes, of course, it will be less than one film and more than another and it may be the biggest one, second or the third. That’s not the question but the idea is should gain all that is invested in whatever measure and looking at the figures so far, it will be much more than that,” adds Khan.

The exhibition industry is sure that MNIK, which lost some important shows on Friday, will make up on its second weekend, as it’s a family film. “As a producer, I have always maintained in my own small way that I do business in which I may not gain but I do not lose money. That is the philosophy or else it becomes indulgence,” says Khan who is very confident that the money that he (Red Chillies) and Karan (Dharma Productions) sold the film to Fox for is definitely recoverable and, in fact, there will also be the ‘cherry on the cake’.

For Fox Star India’s CEO Vijay Singh, buying the film is already a vindication. “Within a week of its release it has become the numero uno film internationally, outpacing its nearest competitor by a multiple of two. We have been able to demonstrate the Fox Star leverage and the potential that exists for Bollywood outside India, besides expanding the market for Bollywood to new audience. My Name is Khan has truly proved itself to be India’s first ‘Global Bollywood Film’,” says Singh.

Khan firmly believes that novelty is the critical driver to watch the film. And no one wants to wait. The psychology in entertainment is that everyone wants to be the first one to have it. So, there is no logic in denying access to the consumer. “Films are no longer luxury products. We work so hard on the marketing, be it Aamir or Akshay or me, we work very hard for two-three months towards that novelty factor. What sense would it make if we were to then say, it’s done but we cannot allow access to all? A wide release increases the access,” explains Khan.

The race to be in the top slot for MNIK, of course, is because the obvious comparison is to the recently released 3 Idiots and its stupendous success. Does that bother Khan? Expectedly, he says it’s embarrassing for 3 Idiots. “3I is a beautiful film, I have read the script, I know Raju and I have watched parts of the film and I think it was a film which should have been made. Money was not the driver of the film for sure.

Similarly, MNIK is an expensive film but it is strange to compare the two,“ says Khan. As a producer every film he makes must recover its money believes Khan but as an actor, the comparison is not important. Every film, says Khan has its own life, space and place. Whether it is in terms of critical or commercial appraisal. MNK feels Khan has been 70-80% critically liked and similarly it is doing 80-90% of the business it should have done. But life moves on and he is already onto the next film.

What makes SRK and MNIK click in such a big way across overseas markets? Khan feels it is the nature of MNIK which makes it an overseas-friendly film, a step towards what will happen worldwide to Indian films. MNIK has opened new territories like Egypt and Jordan among many others. “We are trying to marry a film where it runs fantastic in India and really good abroad, but what has happened with MNK is that it has done fantastic overseas and really good in India. So what we need to do is get a balance somewhere,” ends Khan.

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.

Thy name is Khan and thou art a true Hero!

Disclaimer: The author is not a student of cinema, so please read at your own peril!

As I sit back to share my random musings on the movie My name is Khan, I hope that the huge maelstrom of controversy accompanying this movie is ephemeral, nevertheless the sincere message of humanity it conveys remains abiding. Karan Johar has created this movie with a stellar ensemble, glorious production values, multi-layered storytelling, and above all, with an honest sincerity of intentions. The film overall explores human relationships without the usual histrionics associated with his brand of cinema. It manages to be genuinely emotional and heartbreaking without being schmaltzy. Having said that, Karan’s ambition of giving this film a larger-than-life canvas that encompasses every imaginable geographical location and disaster (natural or otherwise) is ultimately the film’s undoing. The film proceeds in a non-linear fashion where the first half is narrated in a low-key manner with scenes making their point discreetly. It is so authentic (made possible by the exceptional performances of the lead actors) that when the plot eventually untethers from reality, it serves as a rude reminder to the viewers about the artifice of cinema. The director at first plunges us into Rizwan’s simplistic world which we gladly accept as our own; then with no fore-warning, we are suddenly left emotionally stranded by turning our Asperger’s afflicted hero into a mish-mash of superhero turned messiah. I don’t have a problem with the imaginary world of cinema per se, except that this hybrid of restrained authenticity in the first half of the film combined with the fake and contrived situations in the second half reduce this could-have-been masterpiece to just about a good film.

SRK as Rizwan Khan is the life and soul of the film. He is absolutely pitch-perfect with no trace of the now (in)famous “Shah Rukh Khan” in his performance. He has possibly given the best performance of his life by his authentic portrayal of high-functioning autism, managing to keep his audiences connected with him like never before. Rizwan’s honesty and inherent goodness of heart shines through in every scene. The grimness of the situations surrounding Rizwan is alleviated by his absolutely endearing and heart-wrenching character making you smile one minute while reducing you to a sobbing heap in the other. There were so many magical moments in the film where Shah Rukh managed to warm the cockles of even the coldest of hearts. Devoid of any exaggerated emotions, gesturalities and the come-hither-looks, Rizwan still was able to convey a transcendent chemistry with Mandira reminding me of the famous Shakespeare lines:

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind”

Now, to the leading lady of the film: Kajol. What can I say about this bewitchingly beautiful woman that hasn’t been said before? She is as riveting and ravishing as ever giving an extremely natural performance as Mandira, a single mother tormented by the catastrophic events in her life. She lights up the screen by her sheer magnetic presence and her scenes with Shah Rukh remind us why we all collectively fell in love with this magical duo almost 15 years back. The rest of the supporting cast gave credible performances, notable ones being Tanay Chaddha as young Rizwan, and Zarina Wahab as Ammi. The music of the movie is very melodious, haunting and situational. Noor-e-khuda and Tere Naina are my personal favorites. Ravi Chandran’s cinematography capturing the indescribable beauty of San Francisco’s sunrise and the sprawling canvas of Mojave desert is outstanding.

My name is Khan is an honest heart-felt film with noble intentions. Is it too simplistic at times? Probably yes. Is it contrived at times? Yes, that too. But in the end, it is a film that tugs at your heart strings because the lead protagonist makes us believe in his righteous message of humanity. I am going with 3.5/5 for this extraordinarily awaited movie of 2010 and double thumbs up for SRK who elevates way above the sometimes flawed script to breathe soul into this piece of celluloid.

So, hush haters! Shah Rukh’s gone and changed the way the world looks at him in real and reel life. Again.

An unlikely hero’s journey! My Name is Khan

When Joseph Campbell wrote his "Hero with a Thousand Faces" in 1949, it inspired many a heroic journey on celluloid, including the Star Wars trilogy and the Matrix series! Campbell's archetypal hero was based on the many mythic heroes, and their journey was divided by him into three phases - departure (or separation), initiation (or journey/adventure) and return (in triumph of course!). The hero was heroic, noble, skilled and born into the role, and his journey was usually into an alien world, involved many travails, "dragons" slayed, and when he did return triumphant, he usually had a boon that could change the world he was a part of. This hero type has been seen over and over again in Hindi cinema too.

Then of course there are unlikely heroes. They are neither to the manor born, nor equipped to be heroes. These heroes have occupied the realm of fantasy for ever. J R R Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Stephen Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, and more then ever before, Donaldson's A Dark and Hungry God Arises (The Gap Trilogy), all have most unlikely heroes whose destiny never included becoming a hero but they just happened to chance on circumstances that began their separation, initiation and eventual triumphant return to a better world. In The Gap Trilogy the hero is a most villainous and brutal man who by the end of the tale has become an unlikely hero.

Strangely enough then, our myths and fantasies differ remarkably in the hero archetype. It is not surprising that Director Karan Johar and Scriptwriter Shibani Bathija use the fantasy archetype to design their unlikely hero in My Name is Khan. We have seen a similar heroic journey in the Hollywood epic Forrest Gump, that tells of the challenged man Forrest, his separation as he joins the military, his heroic journey through troubled times and his numerous, often verging on unreal, triumphs as he returns back to his dreams. Forrest's journey is not a linear one, and shows him as an unlikely hero in numerous situations. And while the journey is larger than life (including Forrest single-handedly saving an entire battalion), the return is simple in comparison, he is recognized a war hero, gets to buy his shrimp boat, and also has the love of his life come back to him (before she dies of unstated causes). KHAN follows a similar though much simpler graph. A mentally challenged (though NOT low IQ) man is the unlikely hero here. Unlike GUMP his journey is more clearly divided into separation as his carefully collected family falls apart, the initiation is a simpler one - that of a bewildered man who is mistaken for a trouble maker, and yet he comes through many a situation touching the lives of people he meets in simple and poignant ways, and eventually he is able to achieve his simple (though fantastical) goal after a triumph (while necessary in the hero's journey, yet this is stagey and not quite real), and can return to gather back the pieces of his life while having made a small difference (however transient it may be) in how people perceive the ones who are not the same as them.

This theme of the "others" or profiling was last explored in District 9, and there too it was done in a very unsubtle and in your face way in the beginning (deliberately so), and then slowly the overt differences morphed into a realization of the inherent similarities that bind all living beings. KHAN is hardly subtle at all in the telling of the tale, tells it in a flamboyant in your face manner. What is subtle is the fact that we view it through the prism of an unlikely and reluctant hero.

Rizvaan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is an Apserger's afflicted man who has embarked on a journey to meet the president of the USA. WHY? Towards the end we see a man watching TV in his living room, asking - why do they keep asking him why? Why not? Is it not OK for a resident of a country to try and meet the president? This explains partly the simplicity of the need to meet the president. He is the president, and one should be able to meet him if one wants. For this simple one track minded soul, his way back to his family involves meeting the president and telling him something - that his name is Khan and he is NOT a terrorist!

This story is non-linear, jumping between times and gradually unfolds the events behind the journey. This parallels the lack of focus usually seen in Asperger's (and indeed autism spectrum) patients when it comes to normal day to day matters. But it is matched with an obsessive focus on some things to the exclusion of others. Thus Khan obsesses over details about places, things, the products his brother asks him to sell door to door at salons. But he cannot prevaricate and so always tells them the real truth about each product! This endears him to the salon owner Mandira (Kajol in a strong emotion packed performance), and they keep meeting. Eventually Mandira allows Rizwaan into her life and that of her son Sam. The happy family is torn apart after 9/11 and an upswelling of resentment against Muslims. And out of rage and hysteria in the aftermath of the breakup arises a simple fact for Rizwaan - things can get back to normal if only he can meet the President and tell him that he is NOT a terrorist!

The script goes from uplifting to a unbelievable in some parts of the film. Whether this is by design, to create a "heroic" moment and make a journey of mythic proportions, is hard to tell. Certainly it makes for some seriously funky moments in the film as a hurricane hits rural Georgia (yes hurricanes can hit Georgia, it does border the Gulf Coast!). However, this plot device, and Rizvaan's role in help being mobilized to the beleaguered town, is important for the hero's journey to conclude and for him to return with a boon. In this case the boon is the love of Mandira, and a slightly more aware world as in the public eye Rizvaan has become an unlikely hero who is not to be judged by his name alone.

Performances in the film are top notch. The crowning performance comes from Shah Rukh Khan as the Asperger's syndrome afflicted Rizvaan Khan. The performance is set up with a masterly turn by Tanay Chaddha as the young Rizvaan. His literal take on anything said to him (Jhakh maaro ja kar) presages the quest to meet the president by the adult Rizvaan. The intelligent though emotionally detached child is nurtured well by his mother (Zareena Wahab), and the two together have some fine moments on screen. The younger brother grows up to be Jimmy Sheirgill, and he gets little screen time to do much, but still is very good in the role of the resentful brother. Upon moving to the US he marries Sonia Jehan, and here we see an excellent portrayal by Sonia of the empathetic sister-in-law who understands Rizvaan's problem. As Mandira, Kajol shines in the role of mother, lover. Her magical interactions with the emotionally remote Rizwaan form the mainstay of the first half of the film. Some interactions of note are when Rizvaan finally asks her to cut his hair - it is the closest to emotionally physical interaction that he can think of, and then when she finally proposes and he hides his face and giggles, magic is made. Kajol as a mature woman, a mother who still manages to create some magic in romantic moments on screen. She is the last of our acting leading ladies, after this we have the beauty queen parade. She can be hyper and yet also immensely quiet and grave and her eyes inspired two songs in the film - and rightly so!! Is it time for her to retire? She is our Meryl Streep, so hell no! Finally some lesser roles must be mentioned. Arjun Mathur plays the catalyst - an idealistic university student who sets things in motion so that Khan's goal can be achieved and his goodness come to the fore. Parveen Dabbas as the TV anchor has a significant role and he is good in it, as is Vinay Pathak in a brief cameo as a motel owner! The foreign actors are all decent and not caricatures. Which brings me to the two African American characters in the small village in Georgia. Was that reasonable? A quick check tells me that Georgia is second from the bottom in rural poverty, so it is not unimaginable. And they are famous for their Southern hospitality, though it may not extend the length of buying our hero a man's clothing while his clothes are washed! He ends up wearing Mama's pinafore for a bit, and if you do not like that, I say I prefer that to his going around in a blanket or buck naked!

The screenplay does do some fast and loose with facts but in the end it serves the purpose of the film pretty well. There are aspects that may seem a trifle incongruous, but the work in the narrative and are not major deal breakers. Would people plot Jihad in a mosque?

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