My Name Is Khan (
Hindi: माई नेम इज़ खान) is an upcoming 2010
Bollywood film based upon a true story. It is
directed by
Karan Johar, co-produced by
Johar (
Dharma Productions) and
Shahrukh Khan, (
Red Chillies Entertainment) has a
screenplay by
Shibani Bathija, and
stars Khan and
Kajol. The musical trio
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy composed the
film's score. Cinematography is by
Ravi
K. Chandran.
The trailer for
My Name is Khan will be released on
December 18, 2009 with
James Cameron's
Avatar. The film is
slated for global release to theaters on February 12, 2010.
Plot
Rizwan
Khan (Tanay Chheda), a Muslim child who has Asperger syndrome, grew up with his mother
(Zarina Wahab) in the Borivali
section
of Mumbai
.
As an
adult (Shahrukh Khan), Rizwan falls in
love with a Hindu single mother, Mandira
(Kajol) who lives in San Francisco
.
While not focusing on the events of
9/11, the storyline explores the period
afterwards. At that time, authorities arrest and detain Rizwan,
after interpreting the visible aspects of his condition as
"suspicious" behavior. After his arrest, he meets Radha (
Sheetal Menon), a therapist who helps him
overcome the ordeal. Rizwan then begins a journey to find and meet
President
Barack Obama (
Christopher B. Duncan) in order to clear his
name.
Cast
Themes
In an August 2009 interview,
Shah Rukh
Khan stated that
My Name Is Khan is "not about
terrorism, or 9/11. It’s about a relationship between two people,
between an individual and the State, and between an individual and
the country. In short, there the three important components: love
story, Islam and a mild form of autism."
In an earlier July 2009 interview, Khan also noted that the film
focuses on themes concerning "the relationship between the Western
world and Islam and how that has changed over the past few years."
He describes the film as about "the journey of one family and how
it changes because of 9/11" and suggests "we touch upon that in a
very unbiased and educated way." In another early interview, he
also stated that, "it’s not about a disabled man’s fight against
disability. It’s a disabled man’s fight against the disability that
exists in the world — terrorism, hatred, fighting [...]
My Name
is Khan is also about Islam and the way the world looks at
Islam but we are not taking any sides. We are only trying to say
that there are only good people and bad people. There are no good
Hindus, bad Hindus, good Christians, bad Christians. Either you are
a good person or a bad person. Religion is not the criterion,
humanity is."
In late
2008, journalist Madhureeta Mukherjee (referring to the post -
2008 Mumbai attacks atmosphere
in India
) suggested
in an interview with Karan Johar that,
"My Name Is Khan starts at a time when Hindus and Muslims
in India have united like never before." In response, Johar
stated: "I think it’s an exceptionally relevant time, as the unity
of our nation is of paramount importance, and I am very happy to
witness such a movement in front of my eyes. We are all coming
together to fight for a common cause – called humanity. Everyone
knows that terrorism has no religion and it will never have a
religion. As a filmmaker, I believe that I have a social
responsibility and I promise to fulfill that."
Production
Pre-production and casting
Shah Rukh Khan and
Kajol were cast in the lead
roles, reuniting them after many years.
Kareena Kapoor was also considered for
Kajol's role, but Kajol was Johar's first choice.
The film faced a
temporary setback during late December when actor Aamir Bashir was denied a visa to the United States
. He was eventually replaced by
Jimmy Shergill as
Shahrukh Khan's younger brother. Although
Shabana Azmi was originally cast as
Shah Rukh Khan's mother she left the production after
Shahrukh Khan's shoulder injury delayed the
filming schedule. She was replaced in the role by
Zarina Wahab.
Tanay Chheda
will portray Shah Rukh Khan's character as a child living in the
Borivali section
of Mumbai. Chheda was chosen because he resembles Shah Rukh
Khan and because he is recognizable to an international audience
after portraying "middle Jamal" in
Slumdog Millionaire. American actor
Christopher B. Duncan was chosen to portray President
Barack Obama. Duncan is known for his
interpretation of Obama on the
The Tonight Show with Jay
Leno. Johar also asked Khan to co-produce the film, as "we
were both passionate about the subject, we said why not co-produce
the film? We’ve known each other so long [...] that this new
initiative is just an extension of our emotions. Besides, I can
never make a film without Shah Rukh. He is a big part of me and my
family. He’s like the older brother I never had. I love SRK as a
unit — that includes his wife, children, sister and his
in-laws."
Filming and post-production
Production of the film is taking place in India and the United
States.
Filming began in Los Angeles during December
2008 and one of the locations used was UCLA
.
Johar next continued production in Mumbai during April 2009.
During
June 2009, production moved to San Francisco and the Bay
Area
, where they filmed a key scene at the Children's Discovery
Museum of San Jose.
Johar had difficulties finding a
mosque to
film in. According to actor
Arif
Zakaria, "I don't know if Karan tried to get permission in
Mumbai.
But we were to shoot in a mosque in Los
Angeles and hard as Karan tried to convince the authorities that
his film would not propagate anti-social values, he was denied
permission [...] We finally shot the two-day scene with Shah Rukh
Khan on the set of a mosque constructed at The Club in
Andheri
."
After filming in Los Angeles was completed, Johar stated that, "in
all my 11 years as a filmmaker I’ve never felt the experience to be
so different. The content of
My Name Is Khan is
diametrically opposite to whatever I’ve done in the past." He
described working with both Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol again as
"magic. They build an inexplicable energy on screen." Johar also
stated that he was "blown away by Shah Rukh who had done monumental
research on his autistic character in the film. I was zapped by how
much he knew about the subject."
Release
On 7 August 2009, Karan Johar signed a deal for 1 billion
INR with Fox Studios, who will market and
distribute the film in India (FOXSTAR) and worldwide (Fox
Searchlight).
Newark Airport incident
On 14
August 2009, Khan arrived in the United States in order to both promote My Name Is Khan
and to participate in various South
Asian-related events around the country (including Indian Independence Day).
Upon
arriving at Newark Airport
in New
Jersey
, he was pulled aside by Immigration officers after
his name popped up on their computers, questioned for over an hour
(Khan claims it was at least two hours) about the nature of his
visit, and three hours later was released with an
apology.
Khan said he was told that it was because "they said my name was
common to some name that popped up on the computer." The officials
asked if he could provide names of people to vouch for him. Khan
noted that he "had all the documents; they were asking me where I
was going to be staying. I gave the name of FOX people with whom I
had finalised a deal a few days ago as contacts." However because
they wanted to check his luggage which the airline had lost, Khan
said that he "was taken to a room where many people were awaiting a
secondary check on visa, most were Asians. In fact many officers
were reluctantly vouching for me, some people were asking for
autographs and a Pakistani fan even said he knew who I was. But the
officers said it was procedure and kept taking numbers from
me."
While he wasn't allowed to use his own phone, Khan was permitted
one phone call.
He was thus released after officials from
the Indian Consulate
intervened. Civil Aviation Minister Praful
Patel stated that the event will be further explored with U.S.
officials. According to the
BBC, "Elmer Camacho,
a spokesman for the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection,
said the questioning was part of the agency's routine process to
screen foreign travellers." When later asked during an interview
whether he was angry, Khan responded that,
"I did feel bad for a lot of people in that room, I
know because I had an escort and someone would recognise me, I will
get out.
Others may face more trouble [...] I have extra
security because of my name.
I can handle this but when you have someone as
respectable as an ex-president getting frisked, I am nobody" (in
reference to the frisking of President A.
P.
J.
Abdul Kalam earlier
in the summer).
Khan later stated that, "I think it is a procedure that needs to be
followed. But it is an unfortunate procedure." When asked if he
would demand an apology, Khan replied that he would not.
The incident has sparked debate online and led to demonstrations in
India. The director of
My Name Is Khan,
Karan Johar, was asked during an interview with
MiD DAY if the event was a
publicity stunt for the film. Johar denied that it was and
responded: "It's upsetting because I got a text message this
morning asking me if it was publicity plug for my movie.
(Sarcastically) I mean, if I had that much power over the Homeland
Security, why would I allow Shah Rukh to go through something like
this? [...] What's really shocking is the fact that when I was
writing the film, I never thought that what happened to the
protagonist of the film would happen to Shah Rukh."
Dr. Shashi Tharoor, the Indian Minister of State
for External
Affairs and a member of the Indian
Parliament, commented on the incident stating that "we all
found it offensive" and praised Khan for handling it with "great
dignity." Actress Juhi
Chawla also stated that it was "as absurd as Brad Pitt coming to India, being
strip-searched, investigated and interrogated." Other
figures in the Indian entertainment industry each with the last
name "Khan" noted similar travel experiences (
Zayed Khan,
Iqbal
Khan,
Shabina Khan,
Kabir Khan,
Irrfan Khan,
Dilip
Kumar/Yusuf Khan,
Eijaz Khan).
Deepak Chopra's son, author and
businessman
Gotham Chopra echoed these
sentiments by stating:
"It's not just American customs agents being
provincial, it's the fact that I would guess that in India alone,
there are several million Khans.
I'm not joking.
Khan is one of the most common Muslim names and India
is not even an Islamic country.
"Ghengis Khan," anyone?
Khan is like Jones or Smith.
This is how our security works in the US?
This is how we are catching terrorists?
Are you kidding me?"
See also
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