My Name is Khan

''My Name Is Khan'', is a 2010 social drama film directed by Karan Johar and written by Shibani Bathija and lyricist Niranjan Iyengar. It was produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan under their production companies, Dharma Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment, respectively, in association with Fox Star Studios and Fox Searchlight Pictures, both of which made their Indian film production debuts with the former acting as distributor. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan as Rizwan Khan, an autistic Muslim, and Kajol as Mandira, his Hindu wife with a son from her previous marriage. Set in the United States, the plot revolves around Rizwan, who faces Islamophobic discrimination after the September 11 attacks. This discrimination leads to the murder of his stepson, killed in a racist fight against fellow collegians. His wife, Mandira, Sameer's mother, blames Rizwan, and he consequently sets out on a journey to meet president of the country and absolve himself.

''My Name Is Khan'' marked Karan Johar's departure from his usual romantic narratives. With this film, he decided to experiment with the social genre, taking Islamophobia as its subject in order to spread awareness about Islam and cover general misconceptions against the religion, which has been commonly associated with terrorism. Additionally, Johar covered the Asperger syndrome and, with Bathija, did extensive research for the condition. Principal photography began in December 2008, taking place in India and the United States, and finished in October 2009; Ravi K. Chandran took the position as the cinematographer, and the film was subsequently edited by Deepa Bhatia. The film's soundtrack, composed by the trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, met with highly positive reviews from music critics.

''My Name Is Khan'' has been studied in scholarly circles for its cinematic portrayal of Asperger syndrome and Islamophobia. The film premiered in the United Arab Emirates on 10 February 2010 and was internationally released on 12 February 2010. Upon release, ''My Name Is Khan'' received highly positive reviews from both domestic and international critics, with particular praise directed towards Karan's direction and the leads' performances. It grossed worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing Indian film of the year, against the production costs of .

A recipient of several accolades, ''My Name Is Khan'' led the 56th Filmfare Awards with 10 nominations, including Best Film and Best Music Director (Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy), and won 3 awards – Best Director (Johar), Best Actor (Khan) and Best Actress (Kajol).

Plot

Rizwan Khan, a Muslim, grew up with his brother, Zakir, and his widowed mother, Razia, in a middle-class family in Borivali, Mumbai. His autism leads to special tutoring from a reclusive scholar and extra attention from his mother, all which leads to a heightened level of jealousy from Zakir, who eventually leaves his family for a life in San Francisco. Despite this, Zakir sponsors Rizwan to come and live with him after their mother's death. Zakir's wife Haseena diagnoses Rizwan as having Asperger syndrome. Rizwan also begins to work for Zakir's. He meets Hindu woman Mandira and her young son Sameer, born from a previous marriage. Despite Zakir's uncertainty, they marry and live in the fictional Banville, adopting Rizwan's surname as theirs. They also live next door to the Garrick family; Sam is close to their young son, Reese.

The Khans' perfect existence gets disrupted following the September 11 attacks. Mark goes to cover the war in Afghanistan but dies there. At the same time, the Khans begins to experience the post 9/11 prejudice, and Reese begins to turn against Sam. Their rivalry causes an eventual fight on a soccer field, where a bunch of older students attack Sam. One of them kicks a soccer ball at Sam, rupturing his spleen and killing him. A grieving Mandira blames Rizwan, stating that Sam died solely because of Rizwan's surname. Consequently, when Rizwan asks what he can do to help, Mandira sarcastically tells him that to be back together, he has to tell the people and President of the United States that his name is Khan and he is not a terrorist.

Rizwan, taking her seriously, thus sets out on a road trip to first meet President George W. Bush and later President-elect Barack Obama. He travels to the fictional Wilhemina, Georgia, and befriends Mama Jenny and her son Joel. While at a mosque in Los Angeles, he overhears violent rhetoric from a doctor, Faisal Rehman who is quoting religious texts, and angrily defies Faisal's statements before walking out to drop a message for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While waiting in a crowd at UCLA to meet President Bush, he says, "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist!", repeatedly. He is arrested due to misinterpretation as "I am a terrorist."

Rizwan is interrogated as a terrorist suspect but is released after a media campaign by Indian student reporters Raj, Komal and Bobby Ahuja, who prove his innocence by revealing his attempts to inform the FBI about Faisal. After his release, he returns to the hurricane-hit Wilhemina to help Mama Jenny, Joel, and everyone there, attracting media attention. Reese, seeing Rizwan on TV, finally confesses to Mandira his knowledge of what happened to Sam, and reveals the identity of the boys who killed him. She informs Detective Garcia, who has been assisting her on the case, and the boys, including Reese, are arrested.

Mandira joins Rizwan in Georgia. At the moment she arrives, Rizwan is stabbed by one of Faisal Rehman's followers who accuses him of being a traitor to Islam, and is hospitalized. Rizwan survives and meets Obama, who tells him: "Your name is Khan and you are not a terrorist."

Cast

The cast is listed below:

* Shah Rukh Khan as Rizwan Khan
** Adarsh Gourav as young Rizwan in his teenage years
** Tanay Chheda as young Rizwan in his early years
* Kajol as Mandira Khan
* Dominic Renda as Mark Garrick
* Jennifer Echols as Mama Jenny
* Kenton Duty as Reese Garick
* Katie A. Keane as Sarah
* Benny Nieves as Detective Garcia
* Christopher B. Duncan as Barack Obama
* Yuvaan Makar as Sameer
* Sheetal Menon as Radha
* Arjun Mathur as Raj
* Sugandha Garg as Komal
* Jimmy Sheirgill as Zakir Khan
* Navneet Nishan as Rita Singh
* Zarina Wahab as Razia Khan
* Arif Zakaria as Faisal Rahman
* Sonya Jehan as Hasina Khan
* Vinay Pathak as Jitesh
* Parvin Dabas as Bobby Ahuja
* Sumeet Raghavan as an attacker

Production

Development

Having worked on a number of romantic dramas and consequently become known for these, Karan Johar desired to experiment with a new genre. He wanted it to be one that would attract critical and commercial success, as well as help prove his ability of making non-romantic films to his audience. Eventually, the idea of making a socially relevant film came to his mind, "because that is what those kinds of people like". He chose to depict Islam as a main topic of discussion — an action that he described as a "conscious decision" — since he felt there is an international unawareness and negative generalization towards the religion. While himself belonging not to the religion, he called himself educated and open-minded enough to understand that misconceptions against Islam exist. As a filmmaker, Johar wanted to communicate with his audience of his message, which is "correcting the world's misconceptions about Islam", in an emotional, yet effective, manner.

In November 2007, ''Bollywood Hungama'' reported a then-untitled upcoming project by Johar. The filmmaker told the entertainment portal that there would be possibility it would be rather titled ''My Name Is Khan'' or simply ''Khan''. In a July 2008 article in his personal blog, Johar confirmed the title as ''My Name Is Khan'', breaking his tradition of initiating his works' titles with the letter "K". He said, "While deciding upon the title, I just went by my gut and decided on something which brings to fore the spirit of the film and the story that I wanted to tell. Everything was decided in true earnest. The right title of the film was and stays on as ''My Name Is Khan''."

Shibani Bathija wrote the story and screenplay while penning the dialogues with Johar's then-regular collaborator Niranjan Iyengar, thus making ''My Name Is Khan'' Johar's first film he did not write himself, though he still helped her in the research. According to Johar, it gave him "a level of detachment from the proceedings and yet, a lot of attachment" and released "unexplored emotions". In preparation, Bathija and Johar met a lot of people with autism, including those who have Asperger's syndrome; Bathija also read books about their condition, including ''An Asperger Marriage'' and ''Aspergers in Love'', non-fictions about the life of a woman with his husband, who suffers from Asperger. Johar suggested to have a Muslim character in the lead and set the film in the September 11 attacks, which Bathija eventually agreed with.

Geographically, the story sets in the San Francisco Bay Area, which came to Bathija's inspirations because of her familiarity with the place while finishing her communication study at the San Francisco State University between 1998 and 2000. Her motivation to use it as the film's backdrop increased in 2007 after seeing many Bollywood films also being shot there. A fictional town, Banville, which she described as "a stereotypically white, upper-class Bay Area suburb", was also added into the story. In an interview to the ''East Bay Express'', Bathija recounted that while researching for the San Francisco Bay by Google Maps from Mumbai, she spotted Danville, California, which fitted her criteria of a location that resembles a "small, very rich suburban town". Beside that, Bathija also wrote the English-language dialogues, while Niranjan Iyengar wrote the Hindi ones. A number of Arabic phrases, mostly in religious context, were also added.

The film was co-produced by Hiroo Yash Johar of Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Gauri Khan of Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment. The partnership was announced in February 2009; on co-producing the film under his own banner, Shah Rukh Khan said he disliked to presell films, especially non-commercial ones, like ''My Name Is Khan'', and wanted Johar to finish it without taking a loan as well as to collectively own the film. The budget was estimated to have been , according to the financial newspaper ''Mint''. The production was also handled in part with the American production houses Fox Star Studios and Fox Searchlight Pictures. Fox Star's involvement to distribute the film was announced in August; however, the company's exact paid amount for the rights was disputed, with unconfirmed estimations ranging from to , and its executives refused to disclose the number. In February 2010, the Abu Dhabi-based Image Nation joined to distributed the film, and nine months later, the Hong Kong-based Huaxia Film Distribution followed.

Casting

Shanoo Sharma and Robi Reed handled the casting of ''My Name Is Khan''. The earliest press reports appeared in October 2007, when Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol were reported to be cast in the lead. Karan Johar, however, clarified that while Shah Rukh Khan had accepted the offer, he had not been able to confirm whether Kajol would be in the casting, saying that he had not talked with her yet. During this period, Kareena Kapoor was reported to have offered herself to play opposite Shah Rukh Khan, until May 2008 at the time Kajol confirmed her presence. ''My Name Is Khan'' became Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol's sixth collaborations, after ''Baazigar'' (1993), ''Karan Arjun'' (1995), ''Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge'' (1995), ''Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'' (1998) and '' Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'' (2001), the latter two were also directed by Karan Johar.

Before Jimmy Sheirgill, Aamir Bashir was originally chosen to play the role of Zakir, Rizwan's younger brother. When filming began in December 2008, the United States authority refused to give Bashir a visa to travel to that because he did not mention his travel to Iran in the application form; since the Mumbai attacks, the country had been cautious of foreigners. The incident attracted considerable media attention, which led to his exclusion from the casting. Shabana Azmi was initially cast for portraying Rizwan's mother, Razia. However, owing to a delay caused by Shah Rukh Khan's shoulder surgery in January 2009, Azmi opted out; she continued to shoot for Gurinder Chadha-directed comedy-drama, ''It's a Wonderful Afterlife'' (2010). The role eventually went to Zarina Wahab.

In January 2009, Pakistani actress Sonya Jehan was reported to join the casting to play the supporting role of university professor Hasina Khan. Unlike Jehan's previous films that shows her in revealing clothes, this one has her wearing a hijab, the traditional head-covering for Muslim women. She was particularly drawn to her character and expressed a desire to play similar roles in the future. Child artist Tanay Chheda played the role of young Rizwan. Chheda's performance in the widely-acclaimed drama ''Slumdog Millionaire'' (2008), his resemblance of Shah Rukh Khan's appearance and his familiarity with Mumbai slums were the basis for Karan Johar to cast him. Instead of putting the footages of then-President Barack Obama, an actor physically similar to him was chosen. Forest Whitaker was the original possibility for the role, but he declined owing to conflicting schedule and disinclination to play Obama who was still in his office. The role eventually went to Christopher B. Duncan, who was cast two months after an audition.

Characters

Karan Johar and Bathija researched extensively for Shah Rukh Khan's character in ''My Name Is Khan'' for two years, and this include their personal study of Asperger's syndrome and contacts with autistic people from various centers in London, New York, Los Angeles and India. When interviewed by Bollywood Hungama, he admitted to have helped her by "just executing her vision". Karan Johar and Bathija met Christopher and Gisela Slater-Walker, who wrote ''An Asperger Marriage'', and he described the former as having been their significant inspiration for the character. They also had a rendezvous with Chris and Maxine Aston (''Aspergers in Love'' writers), whom Karan Johar said to have been the "basis" for Rizwan and Mandira's relationship. Their research also included gathering information related to the condition from YouTube videos.

Shah Rukh Khan did his own research to his role, which Bathija stated to have been written specifically for him. He said that he was nervous but at the same time excited to play the type of role, which he had never done before. Karan Johar described him as being challenged, even considering Rizwan to be Shah Rukh Khan's "most challenging" character. Shah Rukh Khan himself referred to it as "the most interesting part" of his career as an actor, seeing that he could spread awareness about a condition that is rarely suffered from. His film characters are mainly secular; they are not especially focused on their religious background, but the one in ''My Name Is Khan'' is. Alluding to its autism, he referred to his ''My Name Is Khan'' character as a "neuro-atypical mind, who could do less and say more".

Karan Johar sent Shah Rukh Khan to the centers he had previously visited with Bathija; the director wanted the actor to socialize with autistic people, predominantly those with Asperger, and make his own Rizwan based on these interactions. Beside videos, Shah Rukh Khan continued his research with reading books about the syndrome, including the mystery novel ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time''. Karan Johar observed that Shah Rukh Khan's research for the character was particularly extensive, admitting that it astonished him: "I was zapped by how much he knew on the subject. And he brought all the knowledge on the sets." While playing his character, the actor maintained expressionless eyes even when he was saying his dialogues, which he found difficult. To get it right, he practiced in bathroom for ten consecutive days.

Los Angeles-based Robin Slater, who had worked in films including ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas'' (2000), ''Memoirs of a Geisha'' (2005) and ''Dreamgirls'' (2006), was appointed to be Shah Rukh Khan's makeup artist by producer Prashant Shah. Slater described his look as "a natural sun-kissed one, very natural. He looks fresh and they all thought he looked much younger." She did his makeup in six steps and six minutes, starting with using a concealer to get rid of the flaws from his face. She then airbrushed the foundation on, put sunburn stipple around his chin, cheekbones, forehead, jaw and nose, and shaded the nose and jawline. After using powder gel to make him as if he wore no makeup, Slater removed airbrush overflow on his eyebrows and eyelashes.

Kajol was given with the role of Mandira, Rizwan's Hindu wife with a son from her previous marriage. She found ''My Name Is Khan'' to be thematically similar to Karan Johar's previous films, noting ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'' for instance. However, she added "there was more masala in them" in comparison to ''My Name Is Khan'', which she called his deepest one. The complexity of her character, Mandira, made her emotionally engaged to it, and Kajol stated that this experience eventually gave her a life lesson: "It is okay to be imperfect as a human being." She described ''My Name Is Khan'' as an intense collaboration with her friend, Karan Johar, who asked her to lose weight for characterization.

In an interview to Indo-Asian News Service, Johar said that Kajol had always been the one in his mind while casting for an actress to play Mandira. On her spontaneous nature, he commented, "There is no method to her madness. She is sheer brilliance. Her expressions connect you immediately. She is all real, all woman, all human on screen and I don't think any living actress has the quality that Kajol has." His frequent collaborator, Manish Malhotra, was specifically chosen as her costume designer. As to her role as a San Francisco-based hairstylist, Kajol wore colorful clothes, including jackets and trousers; while her character is at home, she would be given more tracks and sweaters. In one of her scenes, she featured in a red sari, which was not Malhotra's design but was bought from a shop. Johar said that she did not want the fashion to distract the film's messages. Shiraz Siddique handled the rest of the cast's costumes.

Filming

Principal photography was commenced by Ravi K. Chandran on 18 December 2008 in Los Angeles. Farah Khan and Sham Kaushal provided the choreography; Sharmishta Roy served as the production designer; Mohammed Kasim and Mansi Dhruv Mehta were the art directors; Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan, who would later make their film debuts with Johar's next directorial venture ''Student of the Year'', also presented by Shah Rukh Khan, served as assistant directors. In January 2009, after a one-month schedule, Shah Rukh Khan went on to shoot an action scene in ''Dulha Mil Gaya'' (2010) but faced an accident that injured his shoulder. He underwent a physical therapy, and in the next month a surgery that made the shooting was delayed until the next month. After filming was continued, he faced severe migraines but only taking pills to relieve these. When the pain worsened he checked up to a doctor; his migraines were proven to have been the result of being in leaning position and raising his eyebrows for hours, which were required for his character. In January 2010, he had another physical therapy.

The Los Angeles schedule began in March 2009. In the next month, the slum scenes were shot in Borivali. The next two days, the film was shot at a mosque in Andheri. Filming then moved to San Francisco in May 2009 for a 40-day schedule. Coinciding with the start of the 2009 swine flu pandemic, it was done secretly to avoid public attention, and finished a month afterwards. In August 2009, the cast and crew moved to Film City for shooting the hurricane scene. For the sets, Josh Maidain designed a dam of , along with churches and small houses. A tank was also made, and approximately 12 thousand liters of water were used for the scene. This schedule, which was the last of the production, began on 1 September and was completed in a month. During the filming, a snake reportedly entered the tank and panicked all the workers. ''My Name Is Khan'' was edited by Deepa Bhatia, while Dileep Subramaniam and Anuj Mathur were involved in the sound design. The film's final cut runs for 155 minutes.

Soundtrack

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composed the soundtrack to ''My Name Is Khan'', while Iyengar and Javed Akhtar (uncredited) provided the lyrics. The film has six original songs and four additional songs taken from Karan Johar's previous films. All the songs are played in the background; none with lip sync. When Iyengar had written two of the film's songs, Akhtar was approached to write the remaining but rejected the offers, citing his unwillingness to share credits. However, on Johar's persuasion, Akhtar later agreed to write one song though his name appeared not in the film's credits. ''My Name Is Khan'' features eight singers: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, Richa Sharma, Shreya Ghoshal, Adnan Sami, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Rashid Khan and Suraj Jagan. The album was released on 5 January 2010 by Sony Music. The ''Billboard'' magazine reported that it sold 150,000 units four days after its launch in India only, and proved to be a commercial success.

The soundtrack of the film received positive reviews from music critics. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama wrote ''My Name Is Khan'' music does not has the romantic nature that is usual in Karan Johar's films, mainly ''Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'', and gave it a rating of three out of five stars. ''Hindustan Times'' concluded, "On the whole, every song in the album is above-average. The composers have stuck to the theme of the film and the soundtrack has the potential to rock the charts." Sukanya Verma of ''Rediff.com'' found the music to have strong Sufi feels, opining that "it's neither fancy nor groundbreaking but warm enough to make us like it". Writing for the ''BBC
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