What’s in a name? A lot. Especially if your name is Khan. Even in real life Shah Rukh had a taste of this not long ago in America.
A lot of bigotry is attached to names in the wake of 9/11 in which all Muslims are unfairly targeted for acts of terror committed by some hotheads.
Rizvan Khan, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, experiences the trauma of having a Muslim name. In Mumbai he is witness to the communal riots of 1993. After he moves to America he is humiliated because of his name.
To him, as his mother told him, there are only two types of human beings: the good and the bad. Relationships are forged through love and not blood.
He marries Mandira, a Hindu. She does her poojas and he his namaaz. A divorcee, she has a son. He is killed on the school grounds because there is Khan at the end of his name. The woman throws fits and yells: “My son would not have died if there were no Khan to his name. He would have been alive if his name was just Sameer Rathore.” Khan comes out of Mandira’s life and is now on a mission: to meet the US president and just tell him: “My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist.” On the way he comes into contact with a Christian family and shows humanity is beyond creed.
He also courts trouble for uttering the T-word. Eventually he becomes a hero after displaying his human side by helping the hurricane-hit in Georgia province. In the end he comes face to face with the president who himself exclaims: “Your name is Khan and you are not a terrorist.”
Unlike the other K-Jo movies, there is no feel-good factor here. It’s raw, message-oriented, somewhat cheesy. Some of the scenes are a bit over-wrought. The film lacks intensity or breadth of vision. It’s too contrived. And, why a mentally handicapped guy? He can, as he proclaims, repair anything. But this sort of thing can happen to anybody.
The high points are the brilliant performances by Shah Rukh and Kajol, as well as Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy’s music.
Khan’s naughty streak comes to the fore when he utters: “Liar, liar bum on fire.” Or when he is in bed with “Intercourse for Dumbos” on his first night.