Main Hoon Na at 20: Farah Khan-Shah Rukh Khan’s masala banger is everything Bollywood needs today – propaganda vaccine, actioner with heart

In a beautiful scene from the film, Suniel Shetty, an ex-army officer turned terrorist, looks at the visuals of a young boy, whom he plans to kill as part of his larger plan. “Look at this boy, has he even thought about his future, which will be dangerous and full of enemies?” he asks with a smug smile. Murali Sharma, his brainwashed subordinate, replies, “Bachpan mein ye sab kaun sochta hai?”

Main Hoon Na captures that very carefree childhood, a certain lost innocence of a time gone by, in a manner that only Farah Khan could. The film’s villain is a disgruntled former army officer, who hates Pakistan and wants war at any cost. The hate is personally motivated, but blinding. When he is court-martialled for killing Pakistani civilians, he thunders that he did the right thing. We have been at war with the neighboring country since 1947, a peace treaty is a mere hogwash, so what’s the point, he asks. Only to be shown his place by his upright senior, Naseeruddin Shah, who declares, “This man is mentally ill.”

Main Hoon Na poster. (Photo: IMDb)

It is strange to rewatch the film in the April of 2024, where week after week, politically charged, seemingly pro-establishment films are being released on the big screen. From Main Atal Hoon, Article 370, Bastar: The Naxal Story to Swatantrya Veer Savarkar, the election year has so far seen a string of releases, most of which have been called out by a section of the audience, only one of which emerged as a clean hit. Some, like Vikrant Massey-Ekta Kapoor starrer The Sabarmati Report and Accident or Conspiracy: Godhra have been reportedly pushed as they violated the model code of conduct laid down by the Election Commission of India. Someone with a cursory awareness of the Hindi film industry would agree that in such a climate, Main Hoon Na’s idea of secularism and inclusivity would be a rarity.

Every filmmaker and movie today walk on eggshells of political backlash and intense social media trolling, making mounting a simple but progressively political film like Main Hoon Na a difficult realisation. Even if one keeps the politics of the film aside, it is sad to note that we have not only lost out on content but also form. Farah Khan films, especially Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om, were wholesome multi-genre films that the industry has stopped making.`

Main Hoon Na is everything all at once– an action film, a campus comedy, a love story, a family drama, a patriotic film. It is something Shah Rukh did most of his career, being part of big scale multi-genre films that guaranteed a family outing, with makers like Yash Chopra, Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar helping the superstar spread his arms in a genre that he made his own. Farah Khan took the Manmohan Desai school of filmmaking forward with her debut in a manner that was unseen in Bollywood and remains like that even today.

Since the recent debacle of Akshay Kumar-Tiger Shroff’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, conversations have increased if the industry has been overdoing action. Many theories have been floated, blaming the film’s lack of soul as the prime reason for it not clicking with the audience, because on paper, an actioner like BMCM in 2024 seemed like a safe bet as it is the only genre that has disseminated all box office records lately.

“But it is time we realise that perhaps we need to move towards more personal films in the genre,” Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan had told Indianexpress.com recently. “Even within the action genre, there needs to be a lot of heart, a family drama. Look at Jawan, Gadar 2 and Animal. Beyond the set pieces, all are stories about father-son.”

While all three films mentioned were majorly actioners, Main Hoon Na is unlike anything that has released in the last decade. Rather than fitting different pieces into the mold of an action film, it packages different genres to give multiple dimensions to a story. The film treats romance, drama, comedy, action and fantasy as elements that make up our lives, hence relating and regaling masses. The emotions in Main Hoon Na are appropriately heightened, the humour spoofy, the action inventive (remember Shah Rukh chasing terrorists in a rickshaw) and the vibes festive. It is celebration on celluloid.

Since his comeback in 2023 with Pathaan, Jawan and Dunki, Shah Rukh Khan has returned as a mighty superstar aiming big. From what one hears, he is currently ideating on a new film offered to him by Farah Khan, who last directed his 2014 film Happy New Year. Sources say it is likely to be Main Hoon Na 2, or at least, a film in the similar multi-genre space.

With dry actioners bombing, the expected fatigue of one-note propaganda films and a vacant space for wholesome entertainers on the screen, there has never been a better time for Shah Rukh and Farah Khan to reunite. For, in their universe, Shah Rukh and Farah spread arms to hold a gun and to fall in love; to beat up the bad guys and charm a chemistry teacher; to save the nation from an enemy within and a bunch of students from a cheeky spit-attack by a professor. It all seems goofy, harmless and alright, as long as woh hai na.