My Name is Khan....and I AM a Mumbaiikar!

Strange, isn't it....the aim of MNIK was to show the world that the words "Muslim" and "terrorist" aren't synonymous, but the lead-up to the film has all been about SRK trying to prove that he is a true citizen of India and Mumbai, forget terrorism! Little had he known that one small yet slightly naive comment could jeopardize his movie so deeply. But luckily for him, his fans have not let him down, and the film has managed to connect with the audiences in spite of its oh-so-familiar theme.

One thing you will notice as you sit through the 2 hr 40 min journey known as "My Name is Khan", is that this isn't exactly the same Karan Johar brand of cinema that we are used to seeing - no extravagant settings and costumes, no pot-pourri of song and dance, no irritating over-acting by cast, no emotional attyachar (not that much anyway...climax is debatable). But Karan does tend to go overboard with his story-telling and screenplay, and that is definitely evident in the second half of MNIK. The whole Georgia angle with him wading through waist-deep water to reach "maama Jennie and funny-hair Joel" was really over the top in my opinion. And then when Joel shouts "Maama, look!!" and the camera pans behind him, I was hoping that there would be a huge tidal wave ala 2012 ala Day After Tomorrow coming at them, but alas, this is Karan Johar's movie, not Roland Emmerich's! In the climax, the movie should've ended once he gets stabbed - they could've done without the last 10-15 minutes. I was also disappointed at the length of Vinay Pathak's role.....he is too good an actor to have such an itsy-bitsy portion in the movie.

Having said all this, the movie isn't actually all that bad, and does well especially in the acting department. Shah Rukh does go back to his restrained style of acting we've seen in films like Chak De and Swades. He doesn't overdo the autism portion of his character, although he did leave me a little confused as to how people with Asperger's syndrome actually behave - I've seen only one other character on television with the same disorder, and that's Jerry Espenson on Boston Legal, and his behaviour is pretty different from Rizwan Khan! But I suppose even with the disorder, each has his/her own personality. Kajol is graceful and refreshing, and the chemistry between the two leads works well, as it was expected to. Tanay Chheda plays the role of young Rizwan superbly, and is yet another example of the acting talent that India's next generation possesses.The remainder of the supporting cast including Jimmy Shergill, Sonya Jehan, Parveen Dabas etc. play their parts more than satisfactorily. The musical trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy haven't had much to do in this movie, but the two songs and the background score blend in well with the theme of the movie and have the required effects on the audience.

Who knows....given the current situation in Mumbai, maybe SRK's next project will be about a paan-chewing, Hindi-speaking guy who travels from Ambernath to Bandra (Matoshree) on foot to tell Mr. Balasaheb Thackeray/Mr. Raj Thackeray: "My name is Yadav, and I AM a Mumbaiikar"!!! Until the next, cheers...