hah Rukh Khan will tone down the histrionics for his next role, as a man living with Asperger's Syndrome, in "My Name Is Khan."
The eagerly awaited film, directed by Karan Johar, also stars Kajol — teaming with Khan after an eight-year gap — and Jimmy Shergill.
The film's production team will descend on San Francisco in the last week of May for a month-long location shoot here.
"It's a love story of a Muslim man with Asperger's navigating a complex world with the simplicity and strength of his humanity," the film's screenwriter, Shibani Bathija, told India-West.
The love story between Khan and Kajol packs an emotional punch, and the film promises to redefine what it means to be a Muslim in America today. Johar is reportedly aiming to release the film through an American distributor.
Asperger's Syndrome is a neurobiological disorder on the autistic spectrum. People with Asperger's are often very intelligent but have deficiencies in social skills (for example, they may not pick up nonverbal cues, or establish eye contact), tend to take every comment literally, and are highly sensitive to sounds, smells or colors. Relationships, especially romantic ones, can be extremely challenging.
Bathija fleshed out the love story between Rizvan Khan (Khan) and Mandira (Kajol) by reading "An Asperger's Marriage" by Chris and Gisela Slater-Walker and talking to the couple in depth. She also visited the National Autistic Society in London, and read numerous books on the subject.
"A lot of research has gone into it," said Bathija. "Chris and Gisela's book was one of the many I read, but it was especially informative for the Asperger's male in a marriage with someone who is not on the autistic spectrum. The issues they addressed helped me imagine situations for the script."
Shah Rukh Khan, too, did independent research on the topic, she said. "I gave him all the books, articles and documentaries I had used in writing the script. He has absorbed and involved a lot of that and brought it out wonderfully in his performance." Bathija, whose screenwriting credits include "Fanaa," "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" and "Kidnap," writes her screenplays in English, and another writer is brought in to adapt the dialogue into Hindi.
In the case of "Khan," she's working with Niranjan Iyengar, a wordsmith who also crafted the dialogue for "KANK" as well as "Fashion," "Kal Ho Naa Ho," "Jism" and other top Hindi films.
"It's never a literal translation from the English," explained Iyengar in a phone interview. "It requires much more than just translating."
In addition, writing dialogue — as separate from the story — presents its own hurdles. "It's a very technical area, dialogue writing. It's unique to Indian films," he said.
"Sometimes the actors like to change a lot, such as punch lines, but luckily Shah Rukh and Kajol don't really make too many changes. Ninety-five percent of the dialogue is defined by Karan and me."
Iyengar was unable to find anyone with Asperger's Syndrome who spoke Hindi, he told India-West. "The character is a Muslim man born and brought up in India. Apart from keeping [his language] clinical, I had no reference point.
"Shibani has done a pretty detailed job. It's still tricky."
"My Name Is Khan" is set for a February 2010 release.
Source: indiawest.
The eagerly awaited film, directed by Karan Johar, also stars Kajol — teaming with Khan after an eight-year gap — and Jimmy Shergill.
The film's production team will descend on San Francisco in the last week of May for a month-long location shoot here. "It's a love story of a Muslim man with Asperger's navigating a complex world with the simplicity and strength of his humanity," the film's screenwriter, Shibani Bathija, told India-West.
The love story between Khan and Kajol packs an emotional punch, and the film promises to redefine what it means to be a Muslim in America today. Johar is reportedly aiming to release the film through an American distributor.
Asperger's Syndrome is a neurobiological disorder on the autistic spectrum. People with Asperger's are often very intelligent but have deficiencies in social skills (for example, they may not pick up nonverbal cues, or establish eye contact), tend to take every comment literally, and are highly sensitive to sounds, smells or colors. Relationships, especially romantic ones, can be extremely challenging.
Bathija fleshed out the love story between Rizvan Khan (Khan) and Mandira (Kajol) by reading "An Asperger's Marriage" by Chris and Gisela Slater-Walker and talking to the couple in depth. She also visited the National Autistic Society in London, and read numerous books on the subject.
"A lot of research has gone into it," said Bathija. "Chris and Gisela's book was one of the many I read, but it was especially informative for the Asperger's male in a marriage with someone who is not on the autistic spectrum. The issues they addressed helped me imagine situations for the script."
Shah Rukh Khan, too, did independent research on the topic, she said. "I gave him all the books, articles and documentaries I had used in writing the script. He has absorbed and involved a lot of that and brought it out wonderfully in his performance." Bathija, whose screenwriting credits include "Fanaa," "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" and "Kidnap," writes her screenplays in English, and another writer is brought in to adapt the dialogue into Hindi.
In the case of "Khan," she's working with Niranjan Iyengar, a wordsmith who also crafted the dialogue for "KANK" as well as "Fashion," "Kal Ho Naa Ho," "Jism" and other top Hindi films.
"It's never a literal translation from the English," explained Iyengar in a phone interview. "It requires much more than just translating."
In addition, writing dialogue — as separate from the story — presents its own hurdles. "It's a very technical area, dialogue writing. It's unique to Indian films," he said.
"Sometimes the actors like to change a lot, such as punch lines, but luckily Shah Rukh and Kajol don't really make too many changes. Ninety-five percent of the dialogue is defined by Karan and me."
Iyengar was unable to find anyone with Asperger's Syndrome who spoke Hindi, he told India-West. "The character is a Muslim man born and brought up in India. Apart from keeping [his language] clinical, I had no reference point.
"Shibani has done a pretty detailed job. It's still tricky."
"My Name Is Khan" is set for a February 2010 release.
Source: indiawest.
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