The Autism News

The Autism News | English

The story of an Indian man who moves to America and is belatedly diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome is an engaging, well-acted film.

By Kevin Thomas | Los Angeles Times

Karan Johar’s “My Name Is Khan” is a sweeping epic in the melodramatic Bollywood manner yet emerges as a potent, engaging and timely entertainment. Shahrukh Khan stars as Rizwan Khan, whose Asperger’s syndrome goes undiagnosed until the death of his loving mother sends him off to San Francisco to live with his younger brother, whose psychologist wife makes the diagnosis.

Having been raised with affection and sensitivity, Khan, who is well-educated and exceptionally intelligent, is already high-functioning. Ultra-sensitive to noise, he may be petrified by the clanging of a cable car bell until he understands what it is, and his ability to express emotion may be muted, but it turns out that he’s a surprisingly successful salesman for the Indian herbal beauty products company for which his brother is an executive. He feels compelled to tell the truth no matter what, and his candor in regard to what his line of cosmetics can and cannot do amusingly beguiles the beautiful Mandira (Kajol), who owns and operates a busy beauty salon. Pretty soon, the shyly handsome Khan has won the heart of Mandira, a single mother with a small son — and a bad marriage in her past.

When a client who lives in a small town outside San Francisco offers to put up the money to open a salon in that community Mandira accepts, and soon the new family is living the suburban American dream — until Sept. 11. Mandira is a Hindu, Khan is a Muslim, and at this point the film evolves from the story of a man with Asperger’s learning to live a successful, happy life to that of a man who embarks, in the wake of tragedy and violence, on an odyssey to declare to President Obama, “I am a Muslim and I am not a terrorist.”

“My Name Is Khan” is a potent, energetic heart-tugger and Khan and Kajol, major Bollywood stars, are highly appealing and equal to the demand of their emotion-charged roles.

Source:http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-khan13-2010feb13,0,1782198.story

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The Autism News | English

By Will Astbury | Digital Spy

Shah Rukh Khan has said that his latest movie My Name is Khan is about love, not terrorism.

The actor, who plays an autistic man caught up in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the US, claimed that it was one of the best romance movies he has ever been involved in.

“This film is first and foremost a love story,” he told MTV India.

“In fact, this is one of the nicest love stories I have ever participated in – and I have participated in some of the best love stories that have been made here.”

My Name is Khan, directed by Karan Johar, sees Khan star alongside actress Kajol for the first time in eight years.

It is due for release on February 12, 2010.

Source: http://www.digitalspy.com/bollywood/news/a192023/khan-my-name-is-khan-is-a-love-story.html

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The Autism News | English

By News at Desi Hits!

Oh la la! Shahrukh Khan and Kajol look sizzling hot on the cover of the October issue of Vogue India! The “My Name is Khan” co-stars are busy promoting their new movie but they took some time off their hectic schedule to shoot some gorgeous pics for the fashion magazine!

Karan Johar’s “My Name is Khan” tells the story of a Muslim man from Mumbai, played by Shahrukh Khan, who suffers from a type of autism. He marries a single mother in San Francisco, played by Kajol, but is detained by U.S. authorities at Los Angeles’ airport for ‘suspicious behavior’ due to his medical condition.

Kajol hasn’t been in the spotlight for a while. After the 2001 hit “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham,” she took a break from acting and only came back in 2006 with Kunal Kohli’s “Fanaa.”

So this is really her time to shine! And shine she does! The acting pair look very glam on the glossy cover!
What do you think? Do Shahrukh Khan and Kajol make a glamorous movie couple on the cover of the October issue of Vogue India? Drop us a line.

Click here to view related stories about “My Name is Khan”

Source: http://www.desihits.com/blog/article/shahrukh-khan-and-kajol-on-the-cover-of-vogue-india-20090923

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The Autism News | French

Par Peopollywood

Alors que le buzz qui entoure la sortie de My Name Is Khan continue de se propager, Karan Johar vient d’accorder une interview au Times of India dans laquelle il revient sur l’essentiel : l’autisme de son personnage principal, interprété par la star de Bollywood Shahrukh Khan.

Le réalisateur indien avoue ainsi que My Name Is Khan a été le film le plus éprouvant de sa carrière. Il a d’ailleurs du en être de même pour Shahrukh. Ainsi, Karan révèle que pour se fondre totalement dans la peau de son personnage, l’acteur indien « pratiqué » l’autisme chez lui :

« Il est vrai que Shahrukh est resté dans la peau de son personnage, même à la maison. Chez lui, son langage du corps est toujours celui de Rizwan Khan. Je le vois faire cela tout le temps » a expliqué Karan au Times of India.

Karan Johar

« Soupçonné » de s’être inspiré du personnage de Forrest Gump, le réalisateur de Bollywood s’en défend, expliquant que l’autisme dont souffre son personnage est totalement différent de celui dont est atteint Tom Hanks  :

« Cela n’a rien à voir avec Tom Hanks dans Forrest Gump. C’est une sorte d’autisme totalement différente. On est plus proche de Dustin Hoffman dans Rain Man, même si ce n’est pas encore tout à fait ça. C’est ce que nous appelons un autisme fonctionnel. Vous pouvez avoir une vie normal, être marié, avoir des enfants. Mais le syndrome vous fait produire des bizarreries et des excentricités »

SRK

Annoncé pour février 2010, My Name Is Khan n’en finit pas de faire de lui. Espérons que le film sera à la hauteur de la communication qui est faites autour de sa sortie!

Source: http://www.peopollywood.com/Pages/NewsPeopleparStars/NewsPeopleStarsShahrukhKhan/Shahrukh-Khan-News-Bollywood-084.htm

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The Autism News | English

Shah Rukh Khan

By Shail Kumar Singh | AFP

MUMBAI — From “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” to “Children Of A Lesser God”, “My Left Foot” and “Rain Man”, Hollywood has a long history of portraying people with disabilities or illnesses on screen.

In contrast, India’s popular Hindi-language film industry has traditionally shied away from real-life subjects, preferring flights of fancy on romantic love.

But now three major upcoming films are portraying a central character with a disability or illness, marking a shift away from fantasy to treating more contemporary themes.

Amitabh Bachchan, 66, stars alongside his son Abhishek, 33, in “Paa” (Father), out later this year. Their real-life relationship is reversed on screen, with Amitabh playing Abhishek’s son.

Bachchan senior’s character has the rare genetic condition progeria, which leads to premature ageing and affects about one in six million children worldwide.

Shahrukh Khan, known for his romantic hits, plays a man with Asperger’s Syndrome in his latest offering, “My Name Is Khan”, which also deals with the treatment of Muslims in the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Hrithik Roshan, meanwhile, portrays a wheelchair user in “Guzaarish” (Wishes) alongside Abhishek Bachchan’s wife, Aishwarya Rai, in a film due out next year.

The films follow the recent release of “Shadow”, an action thriller starring Nasser Khan, who is blind, and Tamil-language (Tollywood) film “Nadodigal” (Nomads), with actress Abhinaya, who cannot hear or speak.

Both films made headlines in India because of the actors’ disabilities, as Nasser Khan plays a character who can see in the movie and Abhinaya lip-synched dialogue that was later dubbed in.

“My Name Is Khan” producer-director Karan Johar admitted recently that the film’s subject matter was a departure for Bollywood and had surprised some fans.

“When I was shooting… in Los Angeles, many NRIs (non-resident Indians) came and asked me if there were interesting romantic songs in the film,” he said.

“I said, ‘no’ and they were quite disappointed. This film would be completely different for me as I have never dealt with this kind of subject.”

Khan, who took a risk by playing a field hockey coach and abandoning his clean-shaven look for a beard in the successful offbeat film “Chak De India” in 2007, acknowledged that exploring new themes was a risk.

“If a film is a hit everyone praises it. If it is a flop then everyone says you chose a wrong subject,” he said. “I feel you never know what will work.”

For Bachchan, Bollywood’s most recognisable star at home and abroad, “Paa” is not new territory.

Last year, he made his first English-language film, “The Last Lear”, while in “Black” (2005), he played a teacher with Alzheimer’s Disease who falls in love with a student (Rani Mukherjee) who is deaf, blind and without speech.

Leading actor Aamir Khan also made his directorial debut in 2007 with the film “Taare Zameen Par” (Stars On Earth), about a child with dyslexia.

The low-budget film, made for under 50 million rupees (one million dollars), was a critical and commercial success, taking a reported 700 million rupees at the box office.

It was also entered for this year’s Oscars and applauded for raising awareness of dyslexia, thought to affect some one in 10 people.

Just as “Rain Man” and “Philadelphia” brought greater awareness of autism and HIV/AIDS, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali said he wants “Guzaarish” to be “inspirational and not some depressing and defeatist story of physical disability”.

This attitude is gaining greater currency in star-driven Bollywood, where movie stars and producers have to work harder to attract and keep audiences, as other forms of entertainment like cable television and DVD rentals increase.

Veteran producer Mukesh Bhatt suggested that Bollywood would experiment more in the future.

“I feel our film industry has realised that it is not the stars that sells at the box office but a good story,” he said.

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The Autism News | English

By DNA | Read The World

Mumbai: Fox Star Studios, a joint venture of 20th Century Fox and Star, today announced that it has acquired the marketing and distribution rights of Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name is Khan, produced and directed by Karan Johar.

Fox Star will also finance the film in which Shah Rukh essays the character of Rizwan Khan who suffers from Asperger syndrome, a form of autism that impacts social interaction abilities.

Fox Star will market and distribute the film in India while Fox Searchlight Pictures will release the film in United States. 20th Century Fox International will distribute the film outside of India and the United States.

Starring Shah Rukh and Kajol, the film has Khan’s Red Chillies production house also on board as co-producer. It is slated for release early next year.

Addressing a press conference here, Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Studio said the acquisition will help Fox Star to emerge as a significant player in Bollywood.

Both Singh and Sanford Panitch, President of Twentieth Century Fox International Productions, declined to divulge the
amount at which the deal had been sealed.

“We have acquired the rights of the film at the most appropriate value. All the figures doing rounds the media are inaccurate,” he said referring to reports that the accquisition has been done at the cost of Rs 100 crore.

“We don’t discuss numbers. Nothing you have been reading is correct,” Singh said when asked if the film has been acquired for Rs 100 crking on the occasion, Shah Rukh who recently returned to the US, expressed confidence that the deal with Fox will helps a very important film for me personally hence I decided to bertaining film and I hope we will not let Fox Studios down,”emotional powerful journey which crosses borders and cultan emotions that are relevant to people across the world.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_fox-accquires-worldwide-rights-of-srk-starrer-my-name-is-khan_1280224

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The Autism News | English

By Ians | Spicezee

New Delhi, July 02: His fan following across the world is anybody`s guess. But what came as a surprise was that two cartoon characters roamed the streets of San Francisco looking out for Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was shooting in the city.

While shooting there for “My Name Is Khan”, Shah Rukh was visited by two green coloured, flubber-like characters Chouw and Mouw who had roamed across the city searching for the actor.

The characters barged into Shah Rukh`s van and when they were stopped by the security, they started screaming for the actor who stepped out and surprised the unit by identifying them as his friends from India.

Chouw and Mouw also got him a gift, which was confiscated by the security, who looked at it suspiciously. The gift box contained a switch that Shah Rukh hit to unveil Videocon`s green lava-like new logo over the Golden Gate Bridge.

“I am delighted to receive such a wonderful gift from my friends Chouw and Mouw in the form of the new Videocon logo…I am confident, my best friends Chouw and Mouw will be loved by all and they are sure to capture millions of hearts and create smiles across the world. My best wishes to Chouw and Mouw,” Shah Rukh said at the location, according to a statement released here Wednesday.

Being the central characters of the new ad campaign, Chouw and Mouw depict positive dimension of change. They are shown in different situations transforming the lives of people. While Chouw is the bigger, giant looking character with a kind and empathetic heart, Mouw is tiny and small but clever and street smart.

Produced by Karan Johar, “My Name Is Khan” is about a Muslim (Shah Rukh) who suffers from Asperger syndrome, a form of autism which impacts social interaction abilities and he is arrested as a suspected terrorist in post 9/11 Los Angeles after the authorities mistake his disability for suspicious behaviour.

Also starring Kajol, the film is scheduled for a 2010 release.

Source: http://spicezee.zeenews.com/articles/story33992.htm

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