What's in a name?

After watching KJo’s latest offering, I kept wondering why Rizwan Khan (SRK) had to be autistic. Finally I concluded that this was the only way in which Khan’s “difference” could be highlighted. And it is this difference enables, or rather, disables him in such a way that he can categorize people only as “good” or “bad”, like his Ammi taught him. His thinking does not encompass distinctions based on religion or race – a stereotyping which has become second nature to most people.

Rizwan suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome which is a form of autism. Though he is very intelligent and can ‘repair almost anything’, he is unable to gauge the emotions of others nor express his own. When he falls in love with single mom and hairstylist, Mandira (Kajol), he is only aware that he cannot bear to lose her. Hence he befriends her and keeps proposing to her, till she finally agrees to marry him. Even as they play happy families, 9/11 happens and changes the socio-cultural landscape in the US. Suddenly, being Khan is not such a good idea. Mandira’s business suffers and people shun the family even as Rizwan remains insulated by his inability to connect. Things take a turn for the worse when Mandira’s son is fatally injured in an act of racial hatred. Mandira, seared by the heat of communalism, seeks distance from the man or rather the name that she feels has brought it upon her – Khan.
From here begins Rizwan’s quest to meet the President of the USA to tell him what he wants the world to know – “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist”.
Along the way Rizwan suffers from racial profiling at the airport, is locked up on a misapprehension that he might be a terrorist and eventually becomes a hero by restoring the dignity of Muslims in the US. In between he also rescues people trapped in a flood-hit small town in Georgia. Khan’s journey culminates in a meeting with Obama who is again representative of the winds of change blowing across America.

Karan Johar is to be lauded simply for staying away from his default option of making movies – the super-rich playing out an emotional drama in their chiffons and pearls. Yes, the foreign locales are still there but this time the story actually demands it. The emotional overdose though hovering at the edges is also carefully kept in check. Perhaps the only real problem of the movie is that Karan is still unoriginal. His movie is teeming with so many issues, borrowed from so many different places, that it loses the plot a bit. Hindi cinema now adds autism to its list of special conditions that have had movies made on them in the recent past, the others being dyslexia (Taare Zameen Par) and progeria (Paa). While the theme of an autistic man facing the challenges of life and finding happiness would have been substantial, that is not enough for Johar. Autism becomes relegated to the sidelines as he takes up his next issue, US post 9/11. Again a subject that has had multiple movies made on it (think Kurbaan, New York). His Rizwan Khan also reminds one of Forrest Gump as he trudges relentlessly on becoming a part of history without being quite aware of what he is doing. So one is left wondering whether the movie is about autism, about post 9/11 America or whether it’s just a love story. I’m not saying it doesn’t work. I just feel that both autism and terrorism are big enough issues to be given their own space and not be forcibly clubbed.

While I’m at it, let me also add that mainstream Bollywood try as it might, is still tied down to some of its older roots. Such is the need to have SRK romance Kajol, that we have a love story thrown in between the spunky hairstylist and the autistic salesman. The way it is portrayed in the movie, it seemed unrealistic in the extreme. A more extended and sensitive treatment of their deepening attachment might have made sense. Instead we have a chocolates and balloons romance where Mandira treats Rizwan as some sort of a goofy kid and then suddenly agrees to marry him after seeing a beautiful view of San Francisco. Where is the attraction? When did it suddenly happen? As a single mother and as a woman dumped by her first husband, what does she find in Rizwan?
Another such disbelief-inducing caper is the Rizwan’s rescuer act in the hurricane hit town of Wilhemina, Georgia. A completely unnecessary and unrealistic digression that adds to the film’s running time (which is already substantial). There are no governmental or non-governmental agencies to help out the people till Khan shows up. Then there is a stream of well-wishers who pitch in by just wading into the place. If it is all that simple, why didn’t the trapped residents just walk out? Are we expected to believe that in the world’s most developed country, absolutely no rescue efforts are being directed to a town in trouble?

Anyhow, what one cannot fault in MNIK is SRK’s performance. After a long time, we see him in a role where he is not playing the archetypal lover boy with the dimpled smile and the arms spread wide. Shah Rukh gives Rizwan his own unique identity – unfocussed eyes, expressionless face and gawky body language. A true challenge for an actor whose eyes can usually convey so much, whose expressions we are so familiar with and whose body language has always been very dynamic. He is convincing in his single-minded pursuits, whether it is marriage with Mandira or meeting the President. A wooden-faced abnormal hero is never an easy thing to be.
Kajol is refreshing to look at and as spontaneous as ever. Leaving aside a tendency to screech, she performs her part ably. The DDLJ pairing of SRK and Kajol look so good together that sometimes I felt myself wishing that I was watching another one of their rom-coms - that SRK would dimple charmingly with a twinkle in his eye as he softly whispered sweet nothings in Kajol’s ear and she would smile and exchange a secret with those tawny eyes. Somebody write a nice middle-aged romance for these two!
The music in the movie is catchy and mainly Sufiana with “Tere Naina” and “Sajda” standing out.

In true Dharma Productions style, MNIK too is of grand proportions but Karan Johar has come a long way since his Kuch Kuch Hota hai days. With his attempts at making different types of cinema and a hopefully restrained sensibility, his style is a work in progress. One movie at a time.

MNIK gets a 7/10 from me.