PLOT RIZWAN KHAN (SHAHRUKH KHAN) IS A MUSLIM CHILD

BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF S RIZWANA HASAN SYEDA RIZWANA HASAN
PLOT RIZWAN KHAN (SHAHRUKH KHAN) IS A MUSLIM CHILD

Plot

Plot

Rizwan Khan (Shahrukh Khan) is a Muslim child who grew up with his brother Zakir (Jimmy Shergill) and his mother Razia Khan (Zarina Wahab) in a middle-class family in the Borivali section of Mumbai. Rizwan is different from other children, however. He has certain gifts, particularly a special ability to repair mechanical things. His difference leads to special tutoring from a reclusive scholar and extra attention from his mother, both of which lead to heightened jealousy from his brother Zakir, who eventually leaves his family for a life in the United States.

Despite this resentment, as an adult Zakir sponsors Rizwan to come and live with him in San Francisco after the death of their mother. It is at this time that Zakir's wife, Haseena (Sonya Jehan) diagnoses Rizwan with Asperger syndrome. Rizwan also begins to work for Zakir, and in the process he meets a Hindu woman, Mandira (Kajol) and her young son, Sameer or Sam (Yuvaan Makaar), from a previous marriage. Mandira is a hairdresser. Despite Zakir's hostility to the match, Khan and Mandira marry and settle down in the fictional town of Banville. Both Mandira and Sameer take Rizwan's last name as their own. They also live next door to the Garrick family. Sameer is close to their young son, Reese (Kenton Duty and Michael Arnold) while Mark (Dominic Renda) is a reporter and Sarah (Katie A. Keane) is a friend of Mandira.

Kajol as Mandira, a Hindu woman who falls in love and marries a Muslim man.

The Khans' perfect existence gets disrupted, however, after the September 11 attacks on New York City. Mark goes to cover the war in Afghanistan and dies there, much to both Sarah and Resse's distress. At the same time, the Khan family begins to experience post 9–11 prejudice in their community and Reese begins to turn against Sam as well. One afternoon, an argument between them turns into a racially motivated schoolyard fight between Sameer and a gang of older students. Reese, acting on behalf of Sam, tries to stop the fight, but is held back and Sam is punched and kicked several times, with the gang finishing by hitting him on the head with a soccer ball. As an act of revenge, Sam hits the leader teenager on the head, too. The gang continue fighting Sam. Mortally wounded, Sam screams "Asshole!". Overreacting, the lead teenager kicks the soccerball, which hits Sam's stomach, knocking him unconscious. The gang then silences Resse by threatening to beat him up if he tells the authorities about it. Sam is rushed to the hospital, but his severe internal bleeding cannot be healed, and Sam dies of his broken ribs. A shattered Mandira blames Rizwan for Sam's death, stating that Sam "died only because his last name was Khan." She then tells Rizwan that she no longer wants to be with him. When he asks her what he has to do to be together with Mandira, she sarcastically tells him that he has to tell the people of the United States and the President that his name is Khan and that he is not a terrorist.

Rizwan takes Mandira's request seriously, and thus sets out on a journey that takes him from one US state to another, to first meet President George W. Bush and later the new President-elect. During this quest, he travels to Wilhemina, Georgia and befriends Mama Jenny and her son Joel. Later, in Los Angeles, he prays in a Mosque and overhears violent rhetoric from Faisal Rahman (Arif Zakaria). He reports this to the FBI but there is no response at that moment. Later, while waiting in a crowd to meet President Bush and repeating again and again, "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist," Rizwan is arrested and placed in a prison by police who misinterpret his statement thinking he said he was a terrorist.

While in the prison he is interrogated as a terrorist suspect and meets the psychiatrist Radha (Sheetal Menon) who believes he is innocent. He is later released after a media campaign by some Indian student reporters Raj (Arjun Mathur) and Komal (Sugandha Garg) and Bobby Ahuja (Parvin Dabas), who prove his innocence by unearthing his attempts to inform the FBI about Faisal Rahman. After his release, he returns to hurricane-hit Wilhemina to help Mama Jenny and her son. His efforts attract media attention and numerous Muslims come to help as well.

At the same time, a remorseful Reese confesses to Mandira and reveals the identities of the gang who killed Sam. She informs Detective Garcia (Benny Nieves) who has been assisting her on the case, and he arrests the gang. Mandira later gets a call from Sarah to forgive Rizwan, "I've lost my husband; don't lose him."

Mandira realises her error, she joins Rizwan in Georgia, and their love rekindles. However, at the moment she arrives, Rizwan is stabbed by one of Faisal Rahman's followers (Sumeet Raghavan), who accuses him of being a traitor to Islam, and Rizwan is rushed to the hospital. With Mandira's help, Rizwan survives and meets President-elect Barack Obama (Christopher B. Duncan) who tells him, "Your name is Khan and you are not a terrorist." The film concludes with Rizwan and Mandira going back home.

Themes

According to Karan Johar, writer, co-producer and director of My Name Is Khan, the film is about "a multitude of perspectives of the various opinions, facts, and propaganda that comes with the global issue of discrimination and intolerance towards a race of people completely unassociated with the evils of terrorism."^[12] In an interview, Shahrukh 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 are the three important components: a love story, Islam, and a mild form of autism."^[13]

"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."

– Karan Johar's response to the increased unification between Hindus and Muslims in India, especially after 26/11

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." 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."

Karan Johar explained that MNIK lacked "quintessential pre-requisite elements", describing it as "a story with a strong message, professing humanity and goodness and putting it out on a big cinematic scale." He also affirmed that the film would "open windows and doors to many people who have stories to tell and are shy to put their story on the celluloid." When asked about comparisons between the film and the 2009 release Kurbaan, noting that both have dealt with similar topics, he added: "I'd say that Kurbaan didn't have 'hope', whereas MNIK had 'hope'. Kurbaan was more darker, grittier and a grey look at a situation, whereas MNIK is a hopeful, far more positive and a lot more positivity in its finishing reels with a triumph to the human spirit. Kurbaan was very cinematic and interesting in its approach but it didn't offer a solution. Rather it just tells the problem. MNIK offers you that solution."

Adapted from Wiki

Tags: (shahrukh khan), (shahrukh, rizwan, muslim, khan), child