When 9/11 happened, I didn't think of its affect on Muslims, outside of us sending soldiers and bombs to countries

The thing that hit me emotionally and intellectually more than anything else in this movie, and there's a lot going on, is how 9/11 affected Muslim Americans. This movie shows a man of peace and compassion discriminated against and hated for a religion he is practicing in the most loving way. He represents a majority of Muslims who seek simply to love God and others. After spending time getting to know this man, you than sense the overwhelming wrongness in accusing him of being associated with terrorists.

A bollywood film isn't bollywood if it ain't over the top dramatic and this film is no exception. At certain points, you can almost hear the screenwriters saying to each other, "Ok we know this is crazy dramatic. But, how can we make it even more over the top?" I imagine some folks might rightly roll their eyes at such dramatics. I choose to accept it as part of its charm.

Yet because of this high drama, it is often the simpler, quieter moments that draw out the most emotion. It is when Khan is talking to the congregation at an African American Church that we start to see the absolute ridiculousness and evil of racial inspired hate. It is those moments and others, like when he is pleading with a "good" girl to marry him, that we most connect with Khan. And we're not connecting because we are like him. Quite the opposite. We are connecting because he is so different and because of those differences, he is oppressed. Our connection is not in our similar backgrounds, for I am just a white Christian man, but in our common desires for those who are oppressed to overcome. He just happens to be the one experiencing the oppression. And I am on the outside, cheering him on.