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My name is Khan

Tuesday, 23 February 2010


Maswood Alam Khan
LAST Wednesday I was stunned when I was handed a pirated copy of the just-released movie "My name is Khan" and was more flabbergasted as I watched the movie in crystal-clear stream of video images having no scuff marks that are usually found in pirated copies. Nowadays, thanks to digital technology, video piracy is also performed on a state-of-the-art mechanism! In spite of widespread piracy the film has already broken the opening weekend record for a Hindi film worldwide grossing an estimated US$ 18 million at the box office in its first weekend.
Release of Shah Rukh Khan-starred 2.40-hour movie 'My name is Khan' on the eve of Valentine's Day has touched hearts of millions who could relate the story of the motion picture to their own real-time experiences of harassments the movie characters acted out.
There could not be a better time for a movie like "My name is Khan" to be released than now when a growing number of Muslims are victims of what some call "traveling while a Muslim". Not only Muslims! A passenger, whatever is his religion, carrying a first name or a surname like Muhammad, Khan, Rahman, Chowdhury or any other Arabic name, must endure extra security checks and humiliations in international airports.
A recent attempt by a 23 year old Nigerian Muslim to blow a plane at the Detroit airport on the Christmas Day of 2009 and subsequent security strictures on passengers in airports have added an unexpected bonus to the film's appeal and it's poignancy of parting and separation of a married couple, a common phenomenon nowadays found among Muslims living in or traveling to the West -- a sad consequence affecting millions due to terrorism committed by only one single person or by a handful of extremists.
The movie has intensely struck a chord with the audience around the world. Cinegoers who had and have to face harassments in airports only for the reason that they are Muslims carrying a Muslim name would be enthusiastic to see the movie. And thousands, maybe millions, more in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan or in the West whose surname is Khan (me included) would also be obviously inquisitive about the movie and may add their contributions to its gross revenue earning.
The fact based on which the story of the movie was written I too experienced during my 2006 maiden visit to the United States.
My experience inside the Chicago International Airport was horrible. With two heavy pieces of carry-on baggage -- one laptop and an additional hand bag, both containing a lot of things that I could not stash into my unaccompanied luggage -- I had to rush from the arrival terminal to a far-flung departure terminal inside the Chicago airport to catch a connecting flight to Ohio. Literally I had to hobble and run lugging my baggage.
By the time I had reached the security checkpoint it was already a few minutes short of the departure time of my connecting flight. I was profusely sweating and felt dizzying. As usual I had to strip off my shoes, socks, belts, watch, wallet and other stuffs from my body and pockets, put those on two plastic trays and queued up with other passengers.
The queue was long and my heart was palpitating out of a constant fear that if there were a delay in the security checkpoint I might miss the connecting flight and would have to face an ordeal I was not quite accustomed to. My worst fear got confirmed when one transport security officer pointed his finger at me and invited me to follow him. "You are Mr. Khan?" he asked in his husky voice, his eyebrows frowning.
Long queuing and longer time than usual taken for a thorough and embarrassing checking of me body caused my missing the connecting flight. I had to stay inside the airport for about six hours before I could board an alternative flight. While waiting in the airport lounge I was contemplating whether it would be a wise decision for my family to avail ourselves of permanent US residency we were offered by the US Immigration Department. While whiling away hours sitting on a cushy chair facing the airport runaway and viewing planes landing and taking off in quick successions I was wondering 'had my name not been Khan I would not have missed the connecting flight to Ohio'. Who knows, I mused, how many more such flights I would have to be missing in future if I had decided to reside in USA as a permanent resident!
Security measures in all the airports have of late been stepped up in unprecedented scales after the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a plane. Passengers, especially Muslim passengers or for that matter any passenger, no matter he or she is a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu or a Buddhist, will from now on have to undergo full body-scan through a system called "Whole Body Imaging" (WBI) followed by a pat-down body-search by hands to make sure any passenger is not carrying anything dangerous underneath his or her exterior or interior costumes or underclothes.
Millions of air passengers, both Muslims and non-Muslims, are now being harassed because of one single attempt of terrorism made by one single person in the Detroit international airport! This is despite the reality that terrorist operations by a wayward person can never be prevented whatever strict security measures are taken for intensive body searches of passengers.
What many of us do not understand is why the West does not realise that the fact that only one attempt has occurred in seven years since 9/11 is itself a proof of success based on the theory of probability, not failure, in combating terrorism.
Many observers wonder why the West, especially the US authority, does not invest time and money in identifying the root cause of terrorism and get rid of it. The first step, many believe, should be to convince the world that USA hates all kinds of terrorism: terrorisms unleashed by al-Qaeda as well as by states like North Korea or Israel.
There has of course been some semblance of success in destroying the Al-Qaeda ideology and al-Qaeda itself. It has been possible because today most of the wars waged against al-Qaeda are being carried out mostly by Arabs and Muslims in countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Indonesia, and not exclusively by US or British citizens.
So, it would be a better idea for all the governments all over the world to spend the huge sums of money---allocated to transforming airports into military fortresses for stricter security checks---on fighting terrorist and extremist ideologies instead. For this reason the United States needs the support of the Arabs and Muslims in the war on terrorism more than it needs support from Israel. Instead of pointing the finger of accusation at Muslims the US should rather advise Israel and its other allies to stop spreading Islamophobia all over the world because attempts to paint Muslims as terrorists are bound to spawn more and more unstoppable terrorisms.
"My Name Is Khan" (in short, MNIK), a Hindi movie with English and Urdu subtitles, is based on a love story twined with racial and humiliating discriminations against Muslims that were rampant after 9/11 attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States. The film features Shah Rukh Khan as Rizwan Khan who embarks on a journey across America to win back the love of his life, Mandira, played by Kajol. The movie has an angle of religion, a sweet-sour romance of losing and regaining a love, a fantasy to broach a personal agenda to the American president and a world-shaking incident as a backdrop. It shows how, along the way, Rizwan Khan's personality touches the lives of many.
My Name Is Khan is a film that will undoubtedly have the cinema galleries cheering, hearts of Sharukh's fans melting and tears welling up in viewers' eyes---the very reactions owners and directors of the Bollywood dream factories sweat to make sure their productions induce in order to achieve their goals of winning the millions of hyperemotional cinegoers in this part of the world skimming the Indian ocean.
The writer can be reached at
e-mail: maswood@hotmail.com