My Name is Khan
By Osman Sher
Mississauga , Canada
The movie is called ‘My Name is Khan’ but the message is: ‘I am not a terrorist’. Here the word ‘I’ denotes the Muslim ummah that had been designated as the terrorists.
The issue is: does this film not convey this message convincingly to the world, especially the American public? It has exposed the fallacy of the war of terror, and proved that it was the handiwork of a few who were terrorizing the people themselves. The American public at large did not take it wholeheartedly, except the agents of administration, like the border security people, who are bound to go by the directives. First, see how the American mother of the friend of the slain boy, Sameer Khan, admits that she could not come forward as a witness to murder because she was herself terrified. Terrified by whom? Second, the overt and covert declaration and measures taken by one President of the United States to brand the Muslims as terrorists instead of an individual Osama bin Laden, are nullified by the new President, speaking as the spokesman of the country, that ‘you’ (or, the word ‘I’) are not a terrorist.
Now the technical aspects of the film. In my opinion it is a first class movie judged from the standard of the industry where it was made, with no apparent flaws of a significant magnitude. The best thing is that the acting of Shah Rukh and Kajol seems to be of the class expected of the first rate actors.
See this movie primarily from the point of view of the message. If you try to find fault in the SUN itself, its first fault is that it is fiery and it burns our skin. But without it, we are all dead. Nothing is perfect.
From this angle I find this movie a Grade-A one, and the review of Syed Arif Hussain truly par excellence.
*****
By A.A. Shamim Khan
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The movie (My Name is Khan) is undoubtedly a fantastic one but Mr Hussaini’s review is equally superb. You have covered the minutest details like the aftermath of post-9/11. Very well presented.
I do agree that the movie does not have the typical masala type song/dance sequences but the background songs are an additional entertainment for the viewers.
Hats off to Mr. Hussaini for the illuminating write-up.
