Character sketch

SHAH RUKH Khan is extremely excited and nervous about My Name is Khan,which he believes is his biggest film till date. Khan essays Rizvan Khan,a patient of Asperger’s Syndrome,a kind of autism. “Half of the patient’s brain is more developed than the other,” Khan explains,“So the person ends up thinking too logically as the emotional side is not completely developed. That’s the reason why Rizvan has problems with socialising and is afraid of crowds. In fact,patients normally find it difficult to show any emotion.”

Producer and director Karan Johar and Khan spent a lot of time researching this affliction so the actor could get all the nuances right. “I began with reading lots of books. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is one book that I read several times. Then I watched a lot of videos and took special care to observe their physical behaviour. After this I even met some patients,” says the actor.

Johar,who spent months researching on the character,even spaced out the shooting so that the actor would have enough time between shots to prepare himself for the scenes. “It took a lot of retakes to get everything perfect,and I’m really thankful to Kajol and Karan for all their patience during the shoots,” says Khan. The actor says that the movie is not a social-awareness film,“But I really hope that it will bring about awareness of the problems that these patients face in leading a normal life,” he says.