Going Glocal
A lot has been said about My Name Is Khan on TV,newspapers/magazines,internet & almost every possible media platform. Lets clear this at the very outset that I think MNIK is an average film with a very relevant message at its core & SRK giving credibility to that message but, as its been said by many in the media, I don’t think that its Karan Johar’s ‘breakthrough’ film. His treatment of the subject is as similar as his previous bonanzas. He couldn’t resist putting long shots, swaying the camera over to dramatic music. He is as much interested in showing the audience the places he shot at as he is interested in showcasing SRK as saviour. Nothing wrong in that, my grudge as a viewer is that speak about your film honestly – instead of saying “this is my most brave film yet”…”..my most difficult”…”I’ve got out of my comfort zone with MNIK”, tell us that “it’s a Karan Johar film”..”its shot flamboyantly”…”it will have unfaltering moments like Americans suddenly breaking into We Shall Overcome in Hum Honge Kamyab tune”. Don’t be apologetic about your style because, I feel your first movie is still your best film & and you haven't made a film half as accomplished since KKHH.
Coming back to My Name Is Khan…
The Idea
From the day MNIK was announced like many I was curious about it coz of its topicality. SRK had subtly dealt with the issue of Muslim identity in Chak De India & did it quite well so I was hoping this would be a step further, which it is. I think MNIK is the most religious/theological flick in contemporary Bollywood. Also, I don’t remember a film that has dealt with one of the most controversial issues of our times, so directly – religious stereotyping of Muslims post-9/11. But this same factor could work against the film/topic as well coz it simplifies such a complex issue to ‘achche insaan’-‘bure insaan’ philosophy. It doesn’t touch the politics of the issue & instead easily takes shelter in a love story (what else?) to make its point. And whats the point of meeting the President of United States anyway? Why not go & meet a certain Osama Bin Laden & question his twisted ideology of ‘Jihad’? That journey would have been more interesting storywise & hence made the journey of Rizwan Khan more relevant. But Johar & his co-writer seems to be too lazy for research & just few months back one of his productions built around the same topic was just a precursor – ‘Kurbaan’, again was warmly wrapped in a love story & again was set in the United States….
…Welcome to ‘NRI terrorism’!
The credit for this term goes to filmmaker Saeed Mirza who talked about it in one of the December 2009 editions of Tehelka & where Sudhir Misra described the trend as – “..these are soap operas with political backdrop” (http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=hub121209candles_in.asp) . My only little difference from these observations is that almost all these films – New York, Kurbaan,MNIK or even Fanaa do not touch upon the politics of terrorism despite the problem, which I believe, is driven more by politics than religion. Out of these films I feel New York was the only film that handled the subject only relatively better.
In 2010, the audience is ready to enjoy a love story where a Khalu-Bhanja are gunning for the same woman in Eastern UP (the western Europe is passe) & where the woman is more aggressive, expressive & even suggestive than the rugged Khalu-Bhanja put together (dhichkia..dhichkia..ishqia..ishqia..!) So why try to make love stories out of a topic that, at least, should not be romanticised. And why do almost all Bollywood films made on the topic & issues linked with it have to be in the context of 9/11? Is the US going to be the new UK for Chopras & Johars in the coming decade?? After all, according to reports, MNIK has broken all previous Bollywood records in North America. One can understand if a film on Indians being attacked in Australia is shot in Australia but is terrorism only about the US & 9/11??
So my grouse with filmmakers and broadly – with Karan Johar & Yash Raj is, that there efforts for reinventing themselves in times where now the audience make the success of films like Dev.D & Oye Lucky Lucky Oye possible & make a topical film like 3 Idiots the biggest grosser of all time, maybe genuine, but their approach to filmmaking is same as it was when they were the most powerful in the industry. No matter what the story is, they always go for ‘the big canvas’, always have a love story ready to bail them out & they always take an international flight. Their crew must have covered more miles ‘up in the air’ than ‘Ryan Bingham’.
On one hand Karan Johar says that this time with MNIK he has tried to get out of his comfort zone & attempted something ‘different’ & on the other hand he promotes MNIK as a love story. The way you market your movie tells as much about you as an artist as it says about the movie…
…Welcome to Film Marketing
Karan Johar: It’s my most challenging film…BUT it’s a love story…
zzzzzzzzz
Kajol: …its essentially a love story…
zzzzzzzzz
SRK: IPL…bidding..Pakistani players…
Buzzzzzzzz
Shiv Sena: Apologise..SRK… Mannat..shift…Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad…
BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
NO. I don’t mean to say that the team of MNIK along with SRK & Shiv Sena strategised the controversy for marketing the film. That’s a foolish thought.Nobody really can say that for sure but this is how the ‘publicity’ of MNIK took shape & I’m trying to look at it in a fairly objective manner.
With Ghajini & 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan didn’t just up the box office bar but also took film marketing to a new level.The style could well be gimmickry but he remained in the conventional boundaries of marketing for both these films. Dibakar Banerjee speaking to PFC about a year back said something to this effect - “Aamir Khan as a producer, single handedly with his will & marketing skills turned Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na into a monster success…all corporates should take a lesson from it”. No matter how much one has started to dislike the ways Aamir Khan employs to promote his films you got to give the man his due. He remained a silent star all those years when SRK & Co. pulled his leg with tongue-in-cheek humour at almost every award functions, in interviews. Since the beginning to the 90s, and then to Lagaan,Dil Chahta Hai, RDB, Aamir Khan challenged the ways of the mainstream with quiet aggression & the industry never gave him his due. Now was the time – he smelled that ‘small’ is ‘big’ now…he smelled that like him, every actor including SRK has started taking up one film at a time..he smelled that what he invested in all these years is paying rich dividend & he smelled that the clout of the Johars & the Chopras & hence of SRK has somewhat started to wobble in the industry. There were new players now – UTV, Big Pictures, Excel Entertainment,Percept, PVR Pictures,Aamir Khan Productions & more. So now, Aamir Khan decides to change gears & develop himself into a one-man marketing machine by engaging aggressively with the media around the time of his film releases. Fair enough!
The first promo of MNIK was unveiled simultaneously at prime time on all channels of the Star network. Some found the promo as “goose pimple evoking sensation” & many thought its not upto the mark (Courtesy: World Wide Web). Soon the team of MNIK had a press meet where a reporter asked SRK – “aapki marketing strategy kya rahegi film ke liye”? To which SRK aptly replied – “aap film ka intezaar kariye..film ki marketing ka nahi”. But I’m sure the marketing of the film must be playing heavily on the minds of SRK & Karan Johar while 3 Idiots was still breaking records at the box office left, right & centre…
…Welcome the 4th Idiot: ‘O.S.’ Khan
Yes, his name is ‘O.S.’ Khan & even a Phunsuk Wangdu can’t take that away from him. The only 3 Idiots’ records that has or are likely to be surpassed by My Name Is Khan would be that of the Over Seas territory – according to reports, North America has already been conquered. For Karan Johar & Yash Raj UK is now an alternate territory for Mumbai, and, rarely a story about the religious identity of Muslims in the context of terrorism has been represented as positively as in MNIK. So there is a high possibility that it will (& it already is) capture the imagination of people in the Arab world (where SRK is already big) &, in other Muslim countries. Some people are already calling MNIK a pan-Islamic movie. Now the term ‘pan-Islamic’ has negative connotations to it coz it has mostly been used while discussing ‘pan-Islamic’ terrorism but if Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ can cause flood of people in theatres across Christian nations, what’s wrong with a ‘pan-Islamic’ film? Why cant a success of a ‘religious’ film that isn’t anti other beliefs & pro humanity can be celebrated. Tomorrow if someone decides to make Mahabharat or Ramayana into a series of films with the same conviction as B.R.Chopra & Ramanand Sagar did for television in the late 80s, I’m damn sure it’ll engage as many people even now.
…Welcome Rizwan Khan
MNIK works mostly coz I think SRK’s Rizwan Khan is in the same league as Swades’ Mohan Bhagava & Chak De’s Kabir Khan.Rizwan just got an unfair deal in the form of a lose script & a filmmaker who genuinely or not is trying hard to fit in the new Bollywood where Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Imtiaz Ali, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Raju Hirani & many more new cinema voices hold the future.
Rizwan Khan is as straight & honest about his feelings as Mohan Bhargava was with his views about his country. He is as focused to prove his love to Mandira as Kabir Khan was to prove his loyalty to his nation. He sincerely follows his Ammi’s naïve philosophy of black & white throughout his journey. Only a person with ‘special’ characteristic(s) could have retained belief in the basic human goodness inspite of so much of negativity around.
Yes, SRK reminds you of Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man but every actor at some point or another takes a reference from another actor just like every filmmaker/writer takes a reference from another filmmaker/writer which he might have grown up admiring. There is nothing unethical about this ‘practice’. Even SHOLAY wasn’t an original idea…
..Yes, that the story of Rizwan Khan is being altered according to the region its playing at defeats the very ‘spirit of the Khan’ – honesty. That many of the shots we see in the promos on TV channels are missing from the Indian screens but might be added/removed on American screens & the possibility that a third version might be playing in the West Asia or in Pakistan – if true, is hypocritical. Editing out songs for non-NRI audience is understandable but altering the film to engage different audiences I think, is unethical.
After MNIK, Shahrukh Khan might become a cultural icon for a large part of the Muslim world. I don’t see him as an “ambassador of Islam” as he called himself in an interview to Tehelka couple of years back. But SRK can contribute immensely as a cultural icon. If movie stars & sports stars can unite a country why not many countries? Watching a news channel last week, I was amused & surprised to hear some German women at the Berlin Film Festival where MNIK was shown. They were singing songs from SRK’s films in flawless Hindi.
We can disagree with SRK’s views on politics. We can frown upon Amitabh Bachchan for riding on Narendra Modi’s back as ‘Auro’ on one hand & endorsing “Aman ki Aasha” on the other but lets not allow our ill-founded or well-rounded cynicism to pull them down coz they work as catalysts for all the negativity we encounter in our daily lives. Lets not take that privilege away from us.
Long Live Cinema!
