Religious depth in focus

E.M.G. EDIRISINGHE

‘My name is Khan, I am not a Terrorist’

That is the theme around which Karan Johar movie My Name Is Khan is woven implicitly. It goes much deeper than what it explicitly conveys.

Khan is a name that automatically identifies itself with Islam, and that identification narrows itself for spiritual realisation that is linked to Islam. It had made Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) seen often at pray to God seeking spiritual fortification.

With Al-Qaeda, a fundamentalist Islamic organization out to create mayhem in any region where they find themselves threatened had made some countries their targets of attack which were forced to take precautionary measures to prevent infiltration of terrorists into their countries.

Khan suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome which reflects a mental condition that prevents proper response to environment. Sometimes Khan acts like a child.

His disposition characterised by difficulties in social interaction and behaviour created a suspicion at the checkpoint on his entry to the USA, and the officers there suspecting him to be a terrorist was subjected to an unusually thorough body-search.

Name Khan identified itself with Islam and on entry to the USA, Islam identified itself with terrorism. Therefore, Rizvan Khan always identified himself as Khan but not as a Muslim thereby preempting a situation of giving a racist impression outwardly which is a harmful identification by the prevailing environment.

Khan kept religion within himself enshrining piety within piety which was not to play a political or a racial role. So when he introduced himself, as My name is Khan, I am not a terrorist, it reflected his pure human sense which transcends all religious and political barriers with which one identifies oneself with the rest of the world.

Disorder

My name is Khan suggests that only such people as Khan who suffers from an autism disorder could be non-racist and non-terrorist because it gives a grownup man a little sense of a childhood which knows no racial or pollical alliances of man. So such a man is open for suspicion due to his alienation from routine thinking because he would expect all adults to be partial, parochial and violent.

The director potently reveals the terror element dormant in Islam which is invoked and launched in staunch defence of the faith itself. Anyone who insults Islam should not be spared and attacking Khan the believers said that Islam would not pardon Khan for him to have condemned terrorism in whatever form it was linked to Islam. True spirit of Islam is peace.

Maturity

The movie mirrors that lack of maturity and sensibility that fits into one’s age, is no barrier for love and understanding. Khan and Mandira (Kajol) together make an ideal couple the union of which resulted in bringing up the kid with love and affection.

However, when the kid died at a quarrel with other boys, the mother thought that it was his name Khan that entailed his name which drove him to death. Consequently, their marriage split on the insistence of Mandira.

His death revealed two nations, one is that the name denotes its holder’s religion while the other is that hatred begets hatred. Eventually everyone of them had to pay a price for not being able to stick to the spirit of their religion which is being perpetuated for the good of man.

Mandira the fact of being a Hindu was no obstacle to love and marry a Muslim because the human bond of love transcends all barriers that stand on its way. A religion cannot separate one from another if their inner communication of love and kindness supersedes the mundane facets in life.

The director brought in those two diverse characters of different religious persuasion to find that religion is no bar for spiritual harmony that springs from the bottom of one’s soul. The lack of spirit of humanity, as in the case of those boys, drives man to inhumanity to deny life itself to another.

However, their kid died on his provocation of hatred inherent among the followers of different spiritual allegiances. It tells that discipline should be instilled deep down in each person irrespective of what they believe in severally or collectively.

The way Khan is captured in lonely spots away from busy tracks and congregations reflects the peaceful and soul satisfying nature inherent in Islam which he had grasped in contrast with the violent character manifest among the fundamentalists which reaches a climax in an air attack on WTC which destroyed the centres of prayer of all religions housed in the two towers.

Restrained

Cinematically, My name is Khan is fast moving movie maturing at a restrained pace and rhythm. Its dramatic movement is driven with heavy steps which developed within an inwardly addressed thematic motion. The use of the indoor as well as the outdoor scenes in quick cuts and changes while at the same time moving into long shots, were smoothly knit into a work of art.

It is a study of how one is far away as well as close to what one’s religion writes in each individual depending on the degree and nature of gravity of subjective one holds.

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol team up to project the spirit of an understanding couple of different attitudes and aptitudes within a matrimonial embrace enticing Khan into an unusual role with an enticing performance is superb and convincing.

His facial expressions and physical reactions delicately and smoothly combine within a frame of absorbing discipline in portrayal of a character both religious and ill mentally.

Sometime back, Shah Rukh Khan making a statement to the TIME magazine said “I am a Muslim, my wife is a Hindu; but, Buddhism is the best religion for the world today.” Thus My name is Khan could be a reflection of SKR’s exercise to bring into life on the silver screen what he genuinely believed in. However, he finally says that Islamic is a religion of peace opposed to terrorism launched by Al-Qaeda.

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