My Name is Khan sets UK box office record

Feb. 17, 2010 - PRLog -- The movie was released in a storm of controversy after a row between its star - Shah Rukh Khan - and Shiv Sena, a hardline Hindu party in India.
But it has already grossed more than £936,000 since hitting screens and entered the UK Box Office charts at number six.
The film also took $2.3m (£1.2m) in the US over the four-day holiday weekend.
Khan had angered Shiv Sena by saying Pakistani players should be included in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket competition, which starts next month.
Shiv Sena, an organisation which regards itself as a defender of what it sees as traditional Hindu moral values, tried to disrupt the film's release and consequently it opened amid tight security in Mumbai.
Khan's wife, Gauri, who co-produced the movie, said: "People have liked the movie which we're really happy to see and it's not because of the controversy."
My Name is Khan is a rare Indian film to get the backing of Hollywood distributors, 20th Century Fox.
In the film, Khan plays a Muslim with Asperger's syndrome whose life changes after the 11 September attacks in the US.
He stars opposite Kajol, who plays a single Hindu mother who falls in love with Khan.
The film was the fourth highest new entry in the UK behind Valentine's Day, The Wolfman and Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
Valentine's Day went straight in at number one as it grossed £3.7m and, although it averaged £8,640 across 432 sites, My Name is Khan averaged £10,291 across 91 sites.
The previous record for a Bollywood film in its opening period in the UK was held by Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna which grossed nearly £750,000, and also starred Shah Rukh.Grossing an estimated $1.86 million at the box office in its first weekend, Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘My Name Is Khan’ has broken the record for the largest opening weekend ever for a Hindi film in North America.
The Fox Searchlight release directed by Karan Johar averaged $15,500 from 120 theatres across the United States and Canada over Feb 12-14 weekend. The previous record was held by Shah Rukh's musical extravaganza ‘Om Shanti Om’ which grossed $1.76 million from 114 theatres when it was released over the Diwali holiday weekend in 2007.
‘My Name Is Khan’ opened Friday (February 12) with $444,000, rose 65 percent to $734,000 Saturday, and is estimated to dip 7 percent to $682,000 on Sunday, Valentine's Day.
Monday's (February 15) Presidents' Day holiday in the US will lead to a four-day debut of more than $2 million. MNIK also generated the highest per-theatre average of any film in the Top 20 over the weekend.
Meanwhile ‘My Name Is Khan’ is getting good reviews from US critics with variety.com saying "This riotously overstuffed and enormously enjoyable drama races forward with incredible drive."
Trade publication Hollywood Reporter in a review from Berlin said, "It's well worth the 162-minute journey" noting "Shah Rukh Khan comes to America (although in a Bollywood film) and shows why he is an Indian mega-star."
"The thing about some Bollywood superstars is that they are actually fine actors as well as charismatic performers. So it's not surprising in 'My Name Is Khan' to see Bollywood mega-star Shah Rukh Khan - he's light-years beyond a mere superstar in Hindi cinema's cosmology - challenge himself to expand his acting range and possibly his international fan base."
"This is a movie not built for subtlety, but it does tackle a subject American movies have mostly avoided - that of racial profiling and the plight of Muslim-Americans. It also allows Shah Rukh Khan to display his talent to an even wider audience," it says.
The Los Angeles Times called it "a sweeping epic in the melodramatic Bollywood manner yet emerges as a potent, engaging and timely entertainment." MNIK "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."
"At its best 'My Name Is Khan,' set mainly in America, is an affecting fairy tale about the perils of goodness," said the New York Times.
"'Khan' is one of a handful of Hindi films (‘New York,’ ‘Kurbaan’) about Indians living in a paranoid, post-9/11 America, and there's something fascinating about looking at this country through a Bollywood lens, even when the story is a kind of fairy tale."
"Skillfully directed by Karan Johar and with an evocative score by Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy, 'Khan' jerks tears with ease, while teaching lessons about Islam and tolerance," the Times said.My Name is Khan… so reads Sharukh Khan’s latest blockbuster, to which Shahrukh seriously adds, “And I am not a terrorist.”
What would happen some of our heroes/heroines (inspired by this movie), came up with a movie titled – “My Name is _____”?? And what if they add a catch line “I am not a _____.” ?
We request our readers to come up with some real funny, creative, crazy titles/catch lines for our stars!!Lastly, it’s not the copy of Forrest Gump, but it has a feel of this ’93 classic. In fact SRK has accepted this fact in an interview with telegraphindia.
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