Thanks for the SRK tip. I watched him on the Jonathan Ross Show on iPlayer and I thought he gave a good show. His live performance was a lot better than some of the films! Yes, the Fox initiative looks interesting. Since it is a 2oth Century Fox release in the UK (Fox Star India in India and Fox Searchlight in the US) it should get reviewed. Apple have the trailer on their website. We have been here before with Chandi Chowk and Warner Bros, but I suspect Fox might be better at this. Certainly worth following what happens. Not sure I’ll be able to take a cinema viewing tho!

Well, you are right about My Name Is Khan, it is getting a lot of mainstream coverage in the UK. Shah Rukh Khan has appeared in Empire magazine (a nice feature on him and it might actually be the first interview with a popular Indian star for a while). In addition, Shah Rukh also made an appearance on the Jonathan Ross show, plugging his latest film. It will be interesting to see if the film is reviewed in the Guardian on Friday but nevertheless, does all this wide exposure have to do with the film being distributed by Fox Searchlight?

I should mention that My Name is Khan is scheduled for a screening at the Berlin Film Festival – which might mean it will actually get reviewed in the international trade press – I’ll scour through Screen International.

Fair enough. Good point about Rancho – it’s another example of how the book’s narrative is altered. Ryan, the ‘leader’ is brilliant at inventing things, but gets the bottom mark. Why can’t the the film’s producers see that this is more interesting?

1. “Mediocre” is the most basic sense. Bad sense of humour, taking easy potshots at everyone, flat characters, and a pretentious take on the issue.

“Contradicting”, too, on a very basic level. The mere fact that Rancho topping the class underlines that the system allows for intelligence to succeed too. Also, by actually encouraging Raju, after he refuses to take the stolen question paper, Rancho’s only happy to see his friend conforming to the system. Also, also, by actually instigating his not-well-off pals to go against the system and himself winning within the system, Rancho turns out to be a hypocrite who’s worse off than Chatur, who at least doesn’t exploit people in the name of friendship. Mr. Hirani wants the audience to cheer for this jerk.

2. I’m sorry that my prejudiced comment sounds as if I’ve seen the movie. That was supposed to be just my prediction. I’m sorry for making unwarranted comments before the film’s release. But I’m still confident that this is how it’s gonna turn out.

I think that you need to explain ‘mediocre’ a little more. It just seems an odd term to choose. ‘Contradicting its agenda’ I understand as a comment on the failure to carry through any critique of the Indian education system and I agree with you. But movies that work for large audiences are doing something for somebody in an effective way. If they were ‘mediocre’ as entertainment, the audience would fall away as the word of mouth spread.

MNIK is not due for release in India/UK/US until Feb 12, so what have you been watching? I confess though, what I’ve read about the film so far, I’m thinking that it is unlikely that i’ll summon up the courage to face it on the big screen.