Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan and Indian actress Kajol Devgan pose for photographers as they arrive on the red carpet at the premiere of the film ‘My Name is Khan’ during the 60th Berlinale Film Festival
‘Khan’ uses melodrama for tough issues Film worldwide grosses tend towards ‘stratosphere’ BERLIN, Feb 13, (Agencies): The thing about some Bollywood superstars is that they are actually fine actors as well as charismatic performers. So it’s not surprising in “My Name Is Khan’’ to see Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan — he’s light-years beyond a mere superstar in Hindi cinema’s cosmology — challenge himself to expand his acting range and possibly his international fan base. In convincing fashion, he plays an Indian in America battling the double whammy of living with Asperger’s syndrome and as a Muslim man in the post-9/11 world.
The film was released Friday in India, North America and many other territories. Its North American distributor, Fox Searchlight, adopted the puzzling strategy of screening the film out of competition at the Berlin festival but refusing to screen it to US press ahead of its release.
With Shah Rukh Khan as your star, you can get away with this because worldwide grosses for his films tend toward the stratosphere. But it’s a pity that the non-Indian press are discouraged from shouting out the news about a film that delves compellingly into Americans’ anti-Muslim hysteria.
True, the film veers into melodrama and contrivances in the second half. Yet director/co-writer Karan Johar is, here and in other films, trying to bring fresh ideas to Hindi commercial cinema with a little less masala and a dash more reality to its fantasy stories.
Reunite
Johar, Khan and co-star Kajol, who worked together on the smash hit “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’’ (1998), reunite on this much more serious project, which finds Khan as a man with a disability who nevertheless wins people over through a loving personality that peeks through his emotional shortcomings.
For the first half, the film plays a dicey game of skirting sentimentality without ever quite crossing that line into pure hokum.
Khan is Rizvan Khan, who is on the road in a quest to meet the president of the US to deliver this message: “My Name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist.’’ In flashbacks beginning with his early life in India, where a doting mother helped nurture and give strength to a child (played well by Tanay Chheda) suffering from a form of autism, the film recounts its hero’s journey up to this point.
A younger brother, who never felt as appreciated because he was simply a normal boy, emigrated to San Francisco and achieved success. Upon their mother’s death, his older brother joins him, but the two never really adjust to one another.
Against all odds — which more or less is the theme of most Bollywood stories — he woos and wins the love of a beautiful single mom (Kajol). Only one problem: She is Hindu. The brother cuts him off, but Khan basks in the love of his new bride and her young son.
Then Sept 11 happens. The film pictures Americans as unable to tell the differences between Muslims and Hindus or Arabs and Indians. Which is not exactly wrong, when it comes to certain redneck elements, but locating these hatreds in left-leaning San Francisco demonstrates a certain lack of comprehension on the filmmakers’ part as well. Perhaps they just liked the idea of cable cars in their movie.
So a somewhat predictable tragedy tears the new family apart. Worse, Khan’s wife blames him, an exasperating plot turn that lessens her as a character and makes no sense at any level.
Redemption
The movie then become a pilgrimage of redemption where the hero must fulfill his wife’s demand to tell the country and the US president that even though his name is Muslim he is not a terrorist. This has a certain Capra-esque quality, so it might have worked, but the linchpin to his redemption seems to be a poor rural and black county set in the Deep South that defies any credibility whatsoever. These are also the only sequences that clearly take place on a soundstage set. Everything here screams: Fake!
Meanwhile, Khan tried to calm a row in India linked to the premiere Friday of his new movie about the treatment of Muslims after the September 11 attacks amid threats of violent protests.
Activists from the ultra-nationalist Shiv Sena party said they would disrupt the film’s release in India because of recent comments by Khan regretting the absence of Pakistani cricketers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament.
The 44-year-old Muslim actor, who was at the Berlin Film Festival for the red-carpet gala premiere of “My Name is Khan”, said he had been distressed by the threats from right-wing Hindus.
“I think whatever issues there are with my statement, I am sure we can sit down and work it out. We cannot get into a state where we can’t have a discussion,” he told reporters.
“I don’t want any aggression, any problem, any stress with anyone. I get very disturbed and scared and emotionally hurt when things like this happen and... Inshallah (God willing), by the time I get back it should be sorted out,” he added.
“Right now, I’d just like to walk down the red carpet, have some champagne, and enjoy the film and be happy.” Khan, born in New Delhi to parents from what is now Pakistan, part-owns IPL outfit the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Shiv Sena, which pushes a regionalist, often anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan agenda, has often backed up its stance with violence. It also sees itself as a guardian of traditional Hindu values. The director of Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s film about post 9/11 intolerance in the United States said on Friday he hopes “My Name is Khan’’ will reach a wider audience than his previous Bollywood productions.
“I made it to tell a story and if the content drives a wider audience, then why not?’’ Johar said after the world premiere of “My Name is Khan’’ at the Berlin film festival. ``Every film maker’s dream and vision is to reach out to wide, wide audiences to make sure the film gets viewed by many. That’s my dream.’’ Khan, arguably Bollywood’s biggest star, said on Friday he was “scared’’ and “hurt’’ by hardline Hindu party Shiv Sena’s reaction to recent remarks he made in support of Pakistani cricketers.
Some theatres were initially reluctant to screen the movie for fear of violence, raising concerns among some analysts that Mumbai’s image as a cosmopolitan business hub could suffer and that the city was being undermined by parochial politics.
Shiv Sena, which runs the Mumbai municipality, draws political sustenance from hardline Hinduism and an ultra-nationalism that includes strident opposition to Pakistan.
Khan said he was tired of the bickering, and stressed he was merely an entertainer.
The film was released Friday in India, North America and many other territories. Its North American distributor, Fox Searchlight, adopted the puzzling strategy of screening the film out of competition at the Berlin festival but refusing to screen it to US press ahead of its release.
With Shah Rukh Khan as your star, you can get away with this because worldwide grosses for his films tend toward the stratosphere. But it’s a pity that the non-Indian press are discouraged from shouting out the news about a film that delves compellingly into Americans’ anti-Muslim hysteria.
True, the film veers into melodrama and contrivances in the second half. Yet director/co-writer Karan Johar is, here and in other films, trying to bring fresh ideas to Hindi commercial cinema with a little less masala and a dash more reality to its fantasy stories.
Reunite
Johar, Khan and co-star Kajol, who worked together on the smash hit “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’’ (1998), reunite on this much more serious project, which finds Khan as a man with a disability who nevertheless wins people over through a loving personality that peeks through his emotional shortcomings.
For the first half, the film plays a dicey game of skirting sentimentality without ever quite crossing that line into pure hokum.
Khan is Rizvan Khan, who is on the road in a quest to meet the president of the US to deliver this message: “My Name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist.’’ In flashbacks beginning with his early life in India, where a doting mother helped nurture and give strength to a child (played well by Tanay Chheda) suffering from a form of autism, the film recounts its hero’s journey up to this point.
A younger brother, who never felt as appreciated because he was simply a normal boy, emigrated to San Francisco and achieved success. Upon their mother’s death, his older brother joins him, but the two never really adjust to one another.
Against all odds — which more or less is the theme of most Bollywood stories — he woos and wins the love of a beautiful single mom (Kajol). Only one problem: She is Hindu. The brother cuts him off, but Khan basks in the love of his new bride and her young son.
Then Sept 11 happens. The film pictures Americans as unable to tell the differences between Muslims and Hindus or Arabs and Indians. Which is not exactly wrong, when it comes to certain redneck elements, but locating these hatreds in left-leaning San Francisco demonstrates a certain lack of comprehension on the filmmakers’ part as well. Perhaps they just liked the idea of cable cars in their movie.
So a somewhat predictable tragedy tears the new family apart. Worse, Khan’s wife blames him, an exasperating plot turn that lessens her as a character and makes no sense at any level.
Redemption
The movie then become a pilgrimage of redemption where the hero must fulfill his wife’s demand to tell the country and the US president that even though his name is Muslim he is not a terrorist. This has a certain Capra-esque quality, so it might have worked, but the linchpin to his redemption seems to be a poor rural and black county set in the Deep South that defies any credibility whatsoever. These are also the only sequences that clearly take place on a soundstage set. Everything here screams: Fake!
Meanwhile, Khan tried to calm a row in India linked to the premiere Friday of his new movie about the treatment of Muslims after the September 11 attacks amid threats of violent protests.
Activists from the ultra-nationalist Shiv Sena party said they would disrupt the film’s release in India because of recent comments by Khan regretting the absence of Pakistani cricketers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament.
The 44-year-old Muslim actor, who was at the Berlin Film Festival for the red-carpet gala premiere of “My Name is Khan”, said he had been distressed by the threats from right-wing Hindus.
“I think whatever issues there are with my statement, I am sure we can sit down and work it out. We cannot get into a state where we can’t have a discussion,” he told reporters.
“I don’t want any aggression, any problem, any stress with anyone. I get very disturbed and scared and emotionally hurt when things like this happen and... Inshallah (God willing), by the time I get back it should be sorted out,” he added.
“Right now, I’d just like to walk down the red carpet, have some champagne, and enjoy the film and be happy.” Khan, born in New Delhi to parents from what is now Pakistan, part-owns IPL outfit the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Shiv Sena, which pushes a regionalist, often anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan agenda, has often backed up its stance with violence. It also sees itself as a guardian of traditional Hindu values. The director of Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s film about post 9/11 intolerance in the United States said on Friday he hopes “My Name is Khan’’ will reach a wider audience than his previous Bollywood productions.
“I made it to tell a story and if the content drives a wider audience, then why not?’’ Johar said after the world premiere of “My Name is Khan’’ at the Berlin film festival. ``Every film maker’s dream and vision is to reach out to wide, wide audiences to make sure the film gets viewed by many. That’s my dream.’’ Khan, arguably Bollywood’s biggest star, said on Friday he was “scared’’ and “hurt’’ by hardline Hindu party Shiv Sena’s reaction to recent remarks he made in support of Pakistani cricketers.
Some theatres were initially reluctant to screen the movie for fear of violence, raising concerns among some analysts that Mumbai’s image as a cosmopolitan business hub could suffer and that the city was being undermined by parochial politics.
Shiv Sena, which runs the Mumbai municipality, draws political sustenance from hardline Hinduism and an ultra-nationalism that includes strident opposition to Pakistan.
Khan said he was tired of the bickering, and stressed he was merely an entertainer.
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