There are no terrorists in 'My Name Is Khan': Shah Rukh Khan

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who plays a Muslim suffering from Asperger syndrome in the post 9/11 America in My Name Is Khan, says the film is about "hope and humanity".

Bollywood films like New York and Kurbaan have already explored the theme of 9/11 world and its effect on people especially Muslims living in America but Khan promises that his film is not about terrorism.

"It (film) does not deal with terrorism. I haven't seen it but 'My Name... is not at all like New York as far as I know. There are no terrorists in the film," Khan told PTI.

My Name Is Khan centres around a Muslim man from India with Asperger's Syndrome (a form of autism). He falls for Mandira (Kajol), a successful Hindu single mother and how, as Khan explains, the lives of this couple far removed from the incident get impacted when the Twin Towers fall.

"The idea of the film being that any incident can happen internationally, it does not only affect people who are present at the incident but it has a far-reaching effect to what we assume...it can change lives across continents," the 44-year-old Khan said.

The tag line, My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist", seems reflective of the post 9/11 world where people with Muslim names were being stopped, questioned and persecuted-- a theme widely debated in the West.

Shah Rukh, however, points out that the tagline is used as an "emotional tag line" and not an "anti terrorist line". It is used to describe Rizwan's religion to Mandira and not a surname interrogated by the authorities.

"It becomes important that he explains the religion and its stand to her and that's why this line takes off," he said.

In Kabir Khan's New York, actor John Abraham's character becomes a terrorist but Shah Rukh's Rizvan endeavors to have a tete a tete with the US president to prove his love for Mandira. Khan said his movie is more about "hope and humanity".

While Hindus and Muslims have fallen in love on screen countless times before, Khan's performance as an autistic romancer is novel. So is it old ideas set to new music, great locations.

Shah Rukh and Kajol, one of Bollywood's most successful onscreen pair, have come together after a gap of eight years in My Name Is Khan. Directed by Karan Johar, the film releases on February 12.