Recently saw My Name is Khan. The message the movie shares with us is something that is already there within us, only that we have forgotten. Love. It tells us that the world can be a pretty nasty place and if we give it chance, it will grind us down to dust leaving us bitter and disillusioned.
Rizwan loses his adopted son to a mindless act of violence that we have grown so used to...racial abuse. His wife Mandira, so stricken with grief, blames the loss of her son because he was named 'Khan'. Rizwan does not understand this. He has only been taught by his mother that there are only two types of people in this world, good people and bad people. or rather people who do good things and people who do bad things. There is nothing else that differentiates people. His innocence is so evident. When Mandira asks him to leave immediately, he asks her 'when do I come back?'...she then tells him to go and tell the world that he is not a terrorist and that her son was murdered. When he succeeds, then he can come back.
So off goes Rizwan Khan, with very little money, to meet the president of the United States of America. Why does he do this? Does he really need to prove his innocence? Is it going to bring back his Son? Is it going to undo the immense damage inflicted upon him? Not really. He does this simply because he loves Mandira and she wants him to do it. A small town man in a country that he adopted, sets off to meet the President of the USA.
It is very easy to dismiss Rizwan Khan as just another character who has a form of physical defect and therefore depict his achievement of meeting the president as a celebratory event. But thats not what makes him special. The journey and the hardships he undergoes en route to fulfilling his mission is what really does.
Along the journey he comes across a lil village which shelters him, and gives him love. On the day of his departure, he gives a little talk about how he misses his son. Given his physical defect, his words are mostly devoid of any emotion although he does feel them. He thanks the lady who sheltered him and moves on.
Fast forward, after he is released from prison (he gets falsely imprisoned because he utters the word terrorist during a presidential rally), the lil village that he left is in trouble. A hurricane has hit it and so far no medical aid has been sent. Rizwan is not your quintessential hero who believes he can save the village from the onslought of the hurricane. He feels he needs to be there and therefore he decides to go. This is a character that may not be able to express his feelings but he does it through his actions. Rizwan goes to the village just because he wants to be with the people who took care of him. Its a simple gesture. But it speaks volumes and volumes of Rizwan Khan as a person. Sure he has to meet the president, but his need to be with the people who cared about him leads him to a heartwarming reunion with these people.
Why am I writing all this? What difference does it make to any of us what Rizwan Khan does or doesnt do? No difference I suppose. Coz we are all so wound up in our own lives that we have scant interest in what he does or says. It made a huge difference to me. We live in uncertain times where mysterious illnesses strike us and before we know it, a few thousands succumb. We live in a time when bombs go off every other day at some part of the world. In such times, we need to tell the people whom we love just how much we really love them. and not just that...prove it. Our generation has this attitude plastered all over them which screams 'I dont have to prove anything to anybody'...its cool u know. But then we do need to realise that at the end of the day it is actions that speak much more than words and that we are defined by what we do and not what we believe. So if u really love someone out there, tell them and show them how much they mean to u. And never mind what the world says, it doesnt matter.
Rizwan loses his adopted son to a mindless act of violence that we have grown so used to...racial abuse. His wife Mandira, so stricken with grief, blames the loss of her son because he was named 'Khan'. Rizwan does not understand this. He has only been taught by his mother that there are only two types of people in this world, good people and bad people. or rather people who do good things and people who do bad things. There is nothing else that differentiates people. His innocence is so evident. When Mandira asks him to leave immediately, he asks her 'when do I come back?'...she then tells him to go and tell the world that he is not a terrorist and that her son was murdered. When he succeeds, then he can come back.
So off goes Rizwan Khan, with very little money, to meet the president of the United States of America. Why does he do this? Does he really need to prove his innocence? Is it going to bring back his Son? Is it going to undo the immense damage inflicted upon him? Not really. He does this simply because he loves Mandira and she wants him to do it. A small town man in a country that he adopted, sets off to meet the President of the USA.
It is very easy to dismiss Rizwan Khan as just another character who has a form of physical defect and therefore depict his achievement of meeting the president as a celebratory event. But thats not what makes him special. The journey and the hardships he undergoes en route to fulfilling his mission is what really does.
Along the journey he comes across a lil village which shelters him, and gives him love. On the day of his departure, he gives a little talk about how he misses his son. Given his physical defect, his words are mostly devoid of any emotion although he does feel them. He thanks the lady who sheltered him and moves on.
Fast forward, after he is released from prison (he gets falsely imprisoned because he utters the word terrorist during a presidential rally), the lil village that he left is in trouble. A hurricane has hit it and so far no medical aid has been sent. Rizwan is not your quintessential hero who believes he can save the village from the onslought of the hurricane. He feels he needs to be there and therefore he decides to go. This is a character that may not be able to express his feelings but he does it through his actions. Rizwan goes to the village just because he wants to be with the people who took care of him. Its a simple gesture. But it speaks volumes and volumes of Rizwan Khan as a person. Sure he has to meet the president, but his need to be with the people who cared about him leads him to a heartwarming reunion with these people.
Why am I writing all this? What difference does it make to any of us what Rizwan Khan does or doesnt do? No difference I suppose. Coz we are all so wound up in our own lives that we have scant interest in what he does or says. It made a huge difference to me. We live in uncertain times where mysterious illnesses strike us and before we know it, a few thousands succumb. We live in a time when bombs go off every other day at some part of the world. In such times, we need to tell the people whom we love just how much we really love them. and not just that...prove it. Our generation has this attitude plastered all over them which screams 'I dont have to prove anything to anybody'...its cool u know. But then we do need to realise that at the end of the day it is actions that speak much more than words and that we are defined by what we do and not what we believe. So if u really love someone out there, tell them and show them how much they mean to u. And never mind what the world says, it doesnt matter.
