Ok, let me come straight to the point. I am a Shah Rukh Khan fan. And it has been disheartening for me to watch him on TV again and again trying to prove he's Indian when all he had asked for was to open the doors to our neighbours. Well, only in India loving thy neighbour can breed home grown enemies. Still, I am glad I managed to get tickets to watch My Name is Khan, probably the most controversial release of SRK's career (and it doesn't really have anything to do with the film).
As we entered Inox (Vadodara) for the 10 pm show, I looked up only to see the hoarding of Ishqiya. I looked everywhere, searching for SRK's dimpled face but I couldn't find it. Were it not for the crowd at the ticket counter I would have doubted the fact that the film was been screened. I looked above the counter window. MNIK:10PM:Fast filling. Aah! Posters or not, SRK had managed to pack in a full house.
We went in, took to our seats, heard a couple of co-viewers complaining of how the security had been stepped up because of the SRK-Sena controversy. The movie rolled and SRK dominated 98 per cent of it (when not visually present, he was audible enough). But nobody complained.
SRK plays Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from Mumbai, suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism that complicates socialisation. The adult Rizwan marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities who mistake his disability for suspicious behaviour. Following his arrest, he meets Radha, a therapist who helps him deal with his situation and his affliction. Rizwan then begins a journey to meet the US President Obama. He has just one message, "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist."
The movie is heavily inspired from Forrest Gump and SRK has done a fairly good imitation of Tom Hanks. The storyline is engaging, though it's a little predictable at times. At the end of the day, the movie is about hope. It's about triumphing odds to make way for opportunities. And what I take back from the film is a song that I had long forgotten, "We Shall Overcome".
"We Shall Overcome" is a protest song that became a key anthem of the US civil rights movement. The lyrics of the song are derived from the refrain of a 1901 gospel song by Charles Albert Tindley of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The song was published in 1947. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr had made use of "we shall overcome" in the final Sunday March 31, 1968 speech before his assassination.
In India, renowned poet Girija Kumar Mathur composed its literal translation in Hindi "Hum Honge Kaamyab / Ek Din" which became a popular patriotic/spiritual song during the 1980s, particularly in schools. In Bengali-speaking India and in Bangladesh there are two versions, both popular among school-children and political activists. "Amra Karbo Joy" (a literal translation) was translated by the Bengali folk singer Hemanga Biswas and re-recorded by Bhupen Hazarika.
It's a song we had sung in school, in the gospel choir as well as on the Hindi Diwas. It's a song of hope, prayer and devotion - the three things the makers of this movie featuring this song need most right now to drive home the point that there are good people and bad people and the differentiation should just remain there. Go, watch this one...
As we entered Inox (Vadodara) for the 10 pm show, I looked up only to see the hoarding of Ishqiya. I looked everywhere, searching for SRK's dimpled face but I couldn't find it. Were it not for the crowd at the ticket counter I would have doubted the fact that the film was been screened. I looked above the counter window. MNIK:10PM:Fast filling. Aah! Posters or not, SRK had managed to pack in a full house.
We went in, took to our seats, heard a couple of co-viewers complaining of how the security had been stepped up because of the SRK-Sena controversy. The movie rolled and SRK dominated 98 per cent of it (when not visually present, he was audible enough). But nobody complained.
SRK plays Rizwan Khan, a Muslim from Mumbai, suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism that complicates socialisation. The adult Rizwan marries a Hindu single mother, Mandira, in San Francisco. After 9/11, Rizwan is detained by authorities who mistake his disability for suspicious behaviour. Following his arrest, he meets Radha, a therapist who helps him deal with his situation and his affliction. Rizwan then begins a journey to meet the US President Obama. He has just one message, "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist."
The movie is heavily inspired from Forrest Gump and SRK has done a fairly good imitation of Tom Hanks. The storyline is engaging, though it's a little predictable at times. At the end of the day, the movie is about hope. It's about triumphing odds to make way for opportunities. And what I take back from the film is a song that I had long forgotten, "We Shall Overcome".
"We Shall Overcome" is a protest song that became a key anthem of the US civil rights movement. The lyrics of the song are derived from the refrain of a 1901 gospel song by Charles Albert Tindley of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The song was published in 1947. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr had made use of "we shall overcome" in the final Sunday March 31, 1968 speech before his assassination.
In India, renowned poet Girija Kumar Mathur composed its literal translation in Hindi "Hum Honge Kaamyab / Ek Din" which became a popular patriotic/spiritual song during the 1980s, particularly in schools. In Bengali-speaking India and in Bangladesh there are two versions, both popular among school-children and political activists. "Amra Karbo Joy" (a literal translation) was translated by the Bengali folk singer Hemanga Biswas and re-recorded by Bhupen Hazarika.
It's a song we had sung in school, in the gospel choir as well as on the Hindi Diwas. It's a song of hope, prayer and devotion - the three things the makers of this movie featuring this song need most right now to drive home the point that there are good people and bad people and the differentiation should just remain there. Go, watch this one...
4 comments:
Good one Isha... but thats wht is expected from a SRK fan... but is the movie that good and original?
It's certainly worth a watch
Yup liked the movie...and liked the song 'tere naina' even better....some nice music and nice lyrics...
i mean ... come on !!!
Its a BAD mvie !!!
and yeah this is a Compliment to the movie !!!!!!!
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