There is good amount of ignorance around religion -Karan Johar
By Joginder Tuteja, SAMPURNThursday, February 11, 2010
Feb 11, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): With a rather uncharacteristic absence from the movie making scene courtesy his back problem, Shah Rukh promises to carry on from where he left his last blockbuster ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ behind and gets into a different zone altogether in ‘My Name Is Khan’. Karan Johar too lends a big helping hand by transporting Raj/Rahul from the world of ‘Maahi Ve’ and ‘Pretty Woman’ to Rizvan who sets himself on one eventful journey with the sound of ‘Sajda’ playing not so far away. No wonder, he makes a solid impression as he exclaims in a subtle yet stern, confident and hurt tone - ‘My Name Is Khan…. and I am not a terrorist’.
"Indeed no, ‘My Name Is Khan’ has nothing to do with terrorism. It is all about a wrong perception which, I don’t know for what reason, has been built around the film", says Karan Johar for whom this film has been a huge challenge by itself.
"The film is about Rizwan who is a Muslim with an Asperger syndrome. He moves from Mumbai to San Francisco and lives with his brother and sister-in-law. There, he falls in love with Mandira (Kajol), gets married to her and begins a new life. However, post the 9/11 tragedy he starts facing number of difficulties due to his religion. Disturbed, hurt and in angst, he takes a long journey across the United States to meet the President. Now tell me, where the terrorism aspect comes to the forefront in this entire episode," questions Karan.
It wasn’t too long ago when Karan had mentioned that while his last production ‘Kurbaan’ was more localized in appeal, ‘My Name Is Khan’ looks at a global perception of Muslims.
"Yes, there is a perception of certain aspect of religion that we do see around us", nods Karan in agreement, "As someone who is secular and traveled the entire world, I know for sure that there is good amount of ignorance around religion and its true meaning. Let’s think rationally; after all it’s the humanity factor which any time is over and above religion. It pains me when I realize that all around us we have forgotten the core of our humanity. Have we ever sat down and given a thought that what’s the core of our existence? And this is what I want to bring out in the film."
-Sampurn Wire
