My Name Is Khan

An Indian Muslim man with Asperger's syndrome takes a challenge to speak to the President seriously, and embarks on a cross-country journey.

Director: Karan Johar

Writers: Shibani Bathija (story), Shibani Bathija (dialogue) | 1 more credit »

Stars: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Sheetal Menon

Story:
Rizwan Khan is a Muslim child who grew up with his brother Zakir and his mother Razia Khan in a middle-class family in the section of Mumbai. Rizwan is different from other children, however. He has certain gifts, particularly a special ability to repair mechanical things. His difference leads to special tutoring from a reclusive scholar and extra attention from his mother, both of which lead to heightened jealousy from his brother Zakir, who eventually leaves his family for a life in the United States.

Despite this resentment, as an adult Zakir sponsors Rizwan to come and live with him in San Francisco after the death of their mother. It is at this time that Zakir's wife, Haseena diagnoses Rizwan with Asperger's syndrome. Rizwan also begins to work for Zakir, and in the process he meets a Hindu woman, Mandira and her young son, Sameer from a previous marriage. Mandira is a hairdresser. Despite Zakir's hostility to the match, Khan and Mandira marry and settle down in the fictional town of Banville. Both Mandira and Sameer take Rizwan's last name as their own. They also live next door to the Garrick family. Sameer is close to their young son, Reese and while Mark is a reporter and Sarah is a friend of Mandira.

The Khans' perfect existence gets disrupted, however, after the September 11 attacks on New York City. Mark goes to cover the war in Afghanistan and dies there, much to both Sarah and Reese's distraught. At the same time, the Khan family begins to experience hostility in their community and Reese begins to turn against Sam as well. One afternoon, an argument between them turns into a racially motivated schoolyard fight between Sameer and a gang of older students. Reese, acting on behalf of Sameer, tries to stop the fight, but is held back and Sameer dies from his injuries. The gang then silences Reese by threatening to beat him up if he tells the authorities about it. A shattered Mandira blames Rizwan for Sameer's death, stating that Sameer "died only because his name was Khan." She then tells Rizwan that she no longer wants to be with him. When he asks her what he has to do to be together with Mandira, she sarcastically tells him that he has to tell the people of the United States and the President that his name is Khan and that he is not a terrorist.

Rizwan takes Mandira's request seriously, and thus sets out on a journey that takes him from one US state to another, in order to first meet President and later the new President-elect. During this quest, he travels to Wilhemina, Georgia and befriends Mama Jenny and her son Joel. Later, in Los Angeles, he prays in a mosque and overhears violent rhetoric from Dr. Faisal Rahman. He reports this to the FBI but there is no response at that moment. Later, while waiting in a crowd to meet President Bush and repeating again and again, "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist," Rizwan is arrested and placed in a prison by police who misinterpret his statement thinking he said he was a terrorist.

While in the prison he is interrogated as a terrorist suspect and meets the psychiatrist Radha who believes he is innocent. He is later released after a media campaign by some Indian student reporters Raj, Komal and Bobby Ahuja who prove his innocence by unearthing his attempts to inform the FBI about Faisal Rahman. After his release, he returns to hurricane-hit Wilhemina to help Mama Jenny and her son. His efforts attract media attention and numerous Muslims come to help as well.

At the same time, a remorseful Reese confesses to Mandira and reveals the identities of the gang who killed Sameer. She informs Detective Garcia who has been assisting her on the case, and Detective Garcia arrests the gang. Mandira later gets a call from Sarah to forgive Rizwan, "I've lost my husband; don't lose him."

Mandira realises her error, she joins Rizwan in Georgia, and their love rekindles. However, at the moment she arrives, Rizwan is stabbed by one of Dr. Faisal Rahman's followers, who accuses him of being a traitor to Islam, and Rizwan is rushed to the hospital. With Mandira's help, Rizwan survives and meets President-elect Barack Obama who tells him, "Your name is Khan and you are not a terrorist". The film concludes with Rizwan and Mandira going back home.