In this fantastic interview reflecting on the brilliant masterpiece, My Name is Khan as it hits 15 years, Subhash K Jha talks with Karan Johar. The director shares intriguing facts about the making of the film, what it was like working with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, and so much more!
How do you recall your best film?
My Name Is Khan wasn’t easy. It’s the socio-political journey of Shah Rukh’s character, Rizwan, from the age of 4 to 40. In his journey, Shah Rukh encounters major political upheavals, from a communal riot in India to 9/11 in the US. But my film is not about any specific political event. Nor is it about the Asperger’s Syndrome. My hero is autistic. He couldn’t be neurotypical because he had to see life with direct honesty and clarity denied to normal people. My Name is Khan excited me. For the first time I was directing a film that had characters and situations I didn’t know about. I was excited by the research I had to do for this film. It challenged me.
Were you also posing a new challenge for Shah Rukh in My Name is Khan?
Who am I to pose new challenges to Shah Rukh? He challenges himself every day of the year. All I could do was give him a role that my writer and I had worked on for almost two years. In My Name is Khan, I had a new zone of excitement to share with him.
There were visa problems for some Muslim members of your cast?
Yes, there were problems. We had certain legal issues, and we had to make some changes to accommodate the developments. They were sorted out. I believe in completely following the law of every land. That’s what we did in LA when troubles arose.
Was Aamir Bashir replaced by Jimmy Shergill after a great deal of deliberation and pain?
I wouldn’t say it was painful. Yes, we did have to do some serious rethinking. I spoke to my casting director, Shanu Sharma, for immediate release. I was very happy to have Jimmy Shergil on board. I had done his clothes for Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein. So I know him from his debut. It was unfortunate that things didn’t work out with Aamir Bashir.
Was it a painful experience to shoot in LA?
In all my years as a filmmaker, I never felt the experience to be so different. Content-wise, My Name is Khan was diametrically opposite to whatever I had done in the past. On the first day of shooting, my cameraman Ravi Chandran looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think you’ve ever shot something like this.’ This was the first time I was directing a screenplay I hadn’t written myself. This gave me a level of detachment from the proceedings and yet a lot of attachment. It released a whole plethora of unexplored emotions in my head. This time, I was being creative in a different way. And Shah Rukh played a completely different human being, and I had never directed that person before.
My Name is Khan had no lip-sync songs?
No none. The songs were all in the background. Even Rakeysh Mehra’s Rang De Basanti didn’t have to lip-sync songs. But did we ever feel any loss? In LA, we had fans coming to us to ask if there was any track like ‘Suraj Hua Maddham’ in My Name is Khan. Little did they know. Music is an integral but seamless part of My Name is Khan, like Rang De Basanti.
How was it directing Shah Rukh and Kajol again?
I am 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 the 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. These two characters in My Name is Khan HAD to be SRK and Kajol
You almost didn’t get Kajol?
She had to read the script. That was it. She said yes. I wouldn’t want any actor to say yes to my film just because he or she is a friend. I want my actors to really do the role. I’ve great friendships. But I don’t want any actor to compromise on his or her basic tenets on cinema.
How was Shah Rukh?
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 had done 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. And to him, it was no big deal for him. He’s ready to direct a film any time. He will be outstanding at it. His understanding of human nature and emotions can never be matched by me.
