Online only: Khan successfully delivers racial critiques
Who is the world's biggest movie star? Brad Pitt? George Clooney? Nope. Think bigger. Done guessing? In India, nine year-olds and ninety-90 year-olds alike could answer this question in a heartbeat. Shah Rukh Khan, star of the newly released My Name is Khan, is ranked above Osama bin Laden, the Dalai Lama and Oprah in Newsweek's list of the 50 global elite. (If you're still stuck on Pitt and Clooney, they're both absent from the list.) Not only is Khan an actor, but he is also an exceptional businessman, owning two production companies and a cricket team.
But while his off-screen credentials are noteworthy, it is his on-screen talents that make him legendary. Such acting abilities can now be seen in My Name is Khan, one of the most controversial films in recent memory, though most Americans may not even know this film has been released outside Bollywood.
My Name is Khan stars Khan as Rizwan Khan, a Muslim man with severe Asperger syndrome living in San Francisco. He successfully woos Hindu hairstylist Mandira, played by Kajol (Fanaa), against the wishes of his family, who disapprove because of Mandira's religious background. But because of Rizwan's condition, he has only been taught to classify people as good or bad, so he does not understand their disapproval.
Rizwan and Mandira live happily until 9/11 changes their neighbors' and friends' feelings towards them. Having the Muslim last name "Khan" makes the couple a perceived threat, and because of this, their entire family suffers. Thus, Rizwan begins his pilgrimage to meet the president of the United States and say one simple phrase: "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist."
Anyone who has seen Bollywood mega-hits Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge knows that the pairing of Kajol and Shah Rukh Khan is not to be taken lightly. Considered by some to be the ultimate on-screen couple in all of Bollywood, their chemistry cannot be denied. The Maratha Mandir theater in Mumbai has shown Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge on loop since its release in 1995, and the couple's portrayal as lovers in that movie caused much speculation as to their relationship off-screen. Khan and Kajol reprise that relationship in Khan, coming across so believably that at no time would the audience ever imagine the couple having separate partners back in the real world.
While Bollywood movies are known for their over-the-top romances, the relationship between Rizwan and Mandira is perfectly developed, creating a strong bond between the two. Khan even does a great job of not letting his disease distract from their love story, but rather embraces it and makes it into an adorable quality that would be difficult for any girl to resist.
The most important part of this movie is the foregrounding of the situation that Muslims were put into following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Not only was an entire classification of people put under scrutiny based solely on religion and geographic roots, but the jilted treatment of anyone of South Asian descent was highlighted in a stark and disheartening light. The automatic prejudice that they experienced, having to change their appearance to make themselves "look less Indian," comes across as absolutely ridiculous, namely because they are Americans, too.
As Rizwan goes on his pilgrimage to clear his name from the terrorist watch list, he finds himself walking into an even more dangerous situation. A Muslim man searching for the president because he needs to "deliver a message" sets off too many red flags to count, and, because of his disease, Rizwan becomes a walking target. The important question that this movie asks is, what if Rizwan was white? Because he is Muslim, Rizwan is automatically classified as a threat, once again illustrating the obvious racial profiling that the American government states does not exist.
My Name is Khan should be recognized for the topic it chooses to address. Not many filmmakers would be daring enough to make a movie based off such a painfully strong reality, when they could instead be making an allegorical movie about blue people on a far away moon. What My Name is Khan has to offer is a slap in the face to the ignorance and prejudice of our nation, proving that there are only good people and bad people in the world - and the good people are all fighting for the same thing.
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