Movie Review 3 - My Name Is Khan

The idea and debate about Islam and terrorism have been incessantly ongoing, especially after the tragedy of September 11, where Muslims were the targets of blames. Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) was not an exception. After marrying Mandira (Kajol), Rizwan lived his life as a married man with Asperger's syndromes happily, because his wife and his stepson accepted him for who he was. All the wonders ended when the towers in New York were attacked by militant extremists, and Rizwan's life started going downhill. When the son of the family, Sameer, got killed because of his recent change of last name to 'Khan,' Mandira began to feel that marrying Rizwan was the biggest mistake of her life. A sobbing scene at the boy's murder place, Mandira pecked that if she didn't marry him, nothing would turn out like this and swore that she'd never accept her husband back in her life until he went to the president of the US and said, "My name is Khan, and I'm not a terrorist." Rizwan, being autistic, took it literally.

Rizwan, then, swore off that he'd never return to the lap of his wife until he did what she asked him to do, leading him to a series of terrorism-suspicion related events, such as being investigated in the airport, witnessing an Indian hotel being thrown with a rock, and being looked at prejudicially when he perform Islamic prayer in the public. But nothing compared to what happened when he finally got to meet the president, but being arrested after yelling, "I'm not a terrorist! I'm not a terrorist!", and people, having the tendency of negativity bias, only focused on the last word of his sentence.

He was put in jail, being beaten up by an inspector, and frozen just because he was thought of having the information on some terrorist groups. However, destiny sided on him when two dedicated journalists actually recorded everything when Rizwan cried the "I'm not a terrorist" and it could be a proof that Rizwan was actually not. Trying to find an agency who could make a story about Rizwan, the journalists were finally helped by a scared Sikh journalist, who opened the eyes of the American authority that Rizwan was not a terrorist.

Rizwan journey turned from religious to humanity issue when he met a poor family in a poor town, Wilhemina. When flood struck the town, Rizwan was the first one to help the people in the town build back what had been damaged, inspiring many people in the country to come and lend a hand. After an eye-opening revelation, Rizwan finally got to meet the president and tell him what Mandira had inadvertently implanted in her husband's mind. The both finally got back together.

This is, for me, a very good representation of how Islam and Muslims have been perceived since the tragedy in September, which actually still goes on until now. Some people in this world are still terrified whenever they hear the name Islam. What pops into their mind when this religion is mentioned is bomb, explosion, or murder. Luckily, a lot of sides of people now realize the true nature of Islam and start to advocate for it.

As how this movie has shown, the perception of Islam and how it goes on from teasing, to insulting, to unnecessary war, has been an issue of religion turning to an issue of humanity. Looking at how people in Palestine suffer, not just the militants, but the public, as in the women, and the old people, and children. I do not want to blame anyone, but a war that does not follow ethical guidelines will never turn out good. A war that is based on generalization of the perception of a small bad group to the people in general is always disastrous.

Rizwan Khan was just another Muslim, suffering from the prejudice that stemmed out from this kind of generalization, and this kind of war. There are other Muslims just like Rizwan, with or without the Asperger's syndromes, who might be suffering from the same too. It's important that the people are educated about issues like this, because illiteracy is what actually starts out prejudice that can result in many other hazardous events, like war. Educate yourself, and when you're capable, try to educate others. Hope this condition might better soon.