My name is Khan turns 13

Karan Johar feels My Name Is Khan is the most uncorrupted, uncompromised and honest film he has made. And he is right. It is an epic film in every sense of the  word. On its release, Karan was afraid that audiences would not appreciate Shah Rukh Khan with a neuro-disorder and without songs.

My Name Is Khan had no lip-sync songs. It wasn’t easy to make. It was the  socio-political journey of Shah Rukh’s character Rizwan from the age of 4 to 40. In this journey, Shah Rukh encounters major political upheavals  from a communal riot in India to 9/11 in the US. But the epic film was not about any specific political event; nor was it about Asperger’s Syndrome.

Karan Johar feels My Name Is Khan couldn’t have worked without Shah  Rukh and Kajol. “I was blessed to have them in my film. I don’t know what  it’s about them. It’s just magic. They build an inexplicable energy  on  screen. They instinctively understand each other’s acting. When I direct  a scene with Shah Rukh and Kajol, I know I’m doing my best work. Rizwan and Mandira in My Name Is Khan HAD to be SRK and Kajol.”

Kajol had just become a mother. She first said no to the film. Then she read the script and immediately  said yes.

Recalls Karan, “I’ve worked with Kajol in various stages of her life. I was working with her again eight years later. When we worked together the last time, she didn’t have a daughter. So of course she was a different person. She was calmer and more focused on her work than ever before.”

Karan finds Shah Rukh and Kajol alike in their attitude to work and family “They’re both so much into their spouses and kids. When the shot is over, they rush to their respective families.  

Time and again I’m blown away by Shah Rukh. How can he think of so many things  about his character when he has so much on his plate? He did monumental research on his autistic character.  I was zapped by how much he knew on the subject.  And he brought all the knowledge on  the sets without any strain. He had written reams of notes on  how he wanted to interpret his character, Rizwan. And to him it was no big deal.”