A sincere but a naive boring (melo)drama

*ing : Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Sonya Jehan
Directed by : Karan Johar

I am a sucker for movies and I ultimately did go and watch My Name is Khan. And after wading through the turbulent waters of the hoopla, Shiv Sena and Mumbai police, surrounding this movie, the end result is a disappointing one to say the least. (And its box office nose-dive in the 2nd week is no surprise)

You can't fault a filmmaker for deviating from his usual la-la land stories to make something that is more relevant in today's world but Johar and his writer Shibani Bathija try to weave a lot more threads than required into this showpiece curtain.

MNIK is the story of Rizwan, suffering from a mild form of autism, called Asperger's syndrome. When his mother(Zarina Wahab in a convincing role) passes away, he moves to America to live with his younger brother (Jimmy Shergill) and wife (Sonya Jehan). There he falls in love with single mother Mandira(a screechy Kajol). He marries, adopts her son and settles into a happy family but their world comes tumbling down after 9/11.

The problem with MNIK is not so much as its content but its tepid treatment of it. There are so many story-lines packed into this that it is hard to sympathize with any one of them. The thread of the neglected brother, the struggle to woo Mandira because of his disability, the inability to communicate with his adopted son are all touched upon but not exploited one bit. Instead the "I am not a terrorist" dialogue is perpetually spoken and one would think that this movie could have been made even with a perfectly normal Rizwan. Hence adding the syndrome feels very manipulative. So does, the love story between Rizwan and Mandira. Calling it "falling flat on its face" would be an understatement. Mandira's character is also inexplicably cut off from the proceedings in the second half.

Second matter of irritation is Johar's stereotypical characterizations of the US population and immigrants alike and Caucasian reactions to American Muslims. This part of the plot is extremely ill-researched and in certain cases unintentionally funny. The traditional southern black family, the Gujarati motel owner stick out like sore caricatures. This is not even talking about the improbability of a few situations. Rizwan's journey is handled like an escapist's imagination, where he reaches from far flung places like Bowling green in Kentucky to Santa Fe in New Mexico with ridiculous ease insulting the never-ending size and geography of the States. Also his helping out the flood ravaged town single-handedly with the nation looking on, is difficult to digest.

Having said that there are a few parts where the movie gets its bearings right. Rizwan beautifully expressing his discontentment at his lack of communication skills to convey love for his child ironically reflecting that he cannot cry either, his infectious laughter on things normal people don't find amusing and the reporter's taunt to the media head about his identity change. As with all Karan Johar movies, this one too is technically sound. Johar's penchant for the use of panning shots is useful for the US terrain. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's music surprisingly lacks the usual punch but Noor E Khuda is just plain brilliant.

SRK sheds his typical idiocy and comes up with a charming and restrained performance. His weird laughter and gawkish expressions bring a smile occasionally. Certainly not his best but not far from it either. Kajol's acting swings from good to average and is not helped by the fact that her character is so uni-dimensional. Sonya Jehan acts very well while Shergill is sidelined.

In the end MNIK is a sincere film but sadly nothing more. It is sad that our writers lay claims to educating people through entertainment but fail to explore various facets of the topic and take the audience for granted. MNIK talks about the message we have heard many times now about a man caught in post 9/11 islamophobia. A similar topic was pathetically handled in New York. Johar himself produced the similar themed Kurbaan. MNIK is better than the two previous attempts, but with its broad stroke depiction and puerile research, it is unable to raise any sort of conflict or complications within its characters' relationships to give us an emotional high nor is it able to enlighten about the modern moderate Muslim that it ambitiously sets out to do.

Johar might as well stick to fairy tales, because his name is KJo and he is not a reformist.

Rating : 3/5