STARRING

Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Shergill, Zarina Wahab, Parveen Dabbas, Arif Zakaria, Navneet Nishan, Sheetal Menon, Tanay Cheda, Arjun Mathur, Sonya Jehan and others.


DIRECTION

Karan Johar


STORY


The plot of the flick revolves around the character of Rizvan Khan (played by Shah Rukh Khan), who suffers from Aspergers disease. He is innocent and believes in the teaching of his mother (Zarina Wahab) who says that there are good or bad men in the world and good always win over the bad.  Rizvan believed that he was a good person.

Rizvan Khan leaves India to live with his brother (Jimmy Shergill) in San Francisco. Rizvan, who is a simple and pure person at heart, falls in love with Mandira(Kajol). Now, Rizvan wants to marry her but his family, including brother, is against the union due to various extraneous factors other than love.

Rizvan does not like all these things and marries Mandira against the will of his family members. Soon Mandira and Rizvan move out of his brother’s shadow and start their own small business. They are enjoying the marital bliss but fate had other things in store for them.

On eleventh September a bomb blast takes place in New York and everything changes for the innocent man and his wife. Being a Muslim, Rizvan faces innumerable difficulties due to changed attitude in the US after suspected Islamic terrorists bombed the New York.

A tragedy happens in Mandira’s life and she decides to walk away from Rizvan Khan’s life for ever. Rizvan is devastated at the happening and tries to reunite with his better half through every conceivable means.

 The gutsy Rizvan even undertakes a journey to meet the US President in his effort to win back the love of his life. What happens after that and if he succeeds in his endeavors forms the rest of the flick.

PERFORMANCE

Shah Rukh Khan, who plays the character of Rizvan Khan in the flick, is brilliant to say the least. King Khan has not only managed to showcase the nuances of Asperger’s disease but also come out with flying colors  in portraying the pain and tribulation of a Muslim when confronted with the tag of a terrorist only because of his religion.

Shah Rukh Khan’s facial expression during his imprisonment and security check up at the airport goes straight to audience’s heart and they feel the pain themselves. In fact, Shah Rukh Khan makes the audience completely involved with his character and that is the biggest success of his performance.

Shah Rukh Khan shows his towering histrionic ability when he faces Kajol after that tragic event that becomes the starting point for their separation. Though, his romantic flings with Kajol is underplayed (quite unlike ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’) this time, perhaps due to mature love story angle, but he excels in even that and becomes darling of audiences.

Kajol, the gorgeous beauty of bollywood who plays the character of Mandira in ‘My Name Is Khan’ and mother of SRK’s children, comes out with a winning performance. Kajol has given a life time performance; she completely matches the histrionics ability of King Khan.

In fact, Kajol surpasses even Shah Rukh Khan in some sequences. One of those scenes relate to Kajol’s outburst when she had been devastated by the accident and SRK came face to face for the first time. The pinch is severely felt by the audiences at that time.

Zarina Wahab, who plays the character of Shah Rukh Khan’s mother in the flick, gives a memorable performance. Soneya Jehan, the Pakistani actress playing SRK’s sister, too, has come out with a heart wrenching performance in the flick.

Jimmy Shergill, who plays Shah Rukh Khan’s elder brother living in the San Francisco, gives a good account of himself. Similarly, Parveen Dabbas, Arif Zakaria, Navneet Nishan and Vinay Pathak lend able support to the main cast of the flick.

Tanay Chheda, the child actor who played Shah Rukh Khan and Yuvaan Makar(who played the part of young Sameer), have given good performances.

The direction of Karan Johar is brilliant in this nearer to reality flick. Now, no one can say that Karan Johar brand of cinema is limited to mushy romances for the NRI audiences. Karan has shown great courage in choosing a topic which was not his forte but he has come out with a winning product, no two opinions about that.

Shankar Ehsaan-Loy’s music has already become popular with the audiences and should prove one of the highlights of the flick. The cinematography by Ravi Chandran is top notch and leaves nothing to be desired. Screenplay and dialogues by Shibani Bathija keep the audiences hooked.


STARDUST VERDICT

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol are at their best in this nearer- to- reality flick from Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. The movie is likely to be lapped up by the multiplex going audiences more than single screen theatre goers. In any case, due to Shiv Sena’s opposition to Shah Rukh Khan and ‘My Name Is Khan’, a shattering opening weekend is guaranteed to the flick worldwide. A brilliant flick from K JO.


Star Rating: * * * 1/2