FILM · 2010
My Name Is Khan
36 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (36)
- #001
James Cameron praised Shah Rukh Khan's performance and named My Name Is Khan his favourite Bollywood film.
- #002
To give one hundred percent of himself to the role, Shah Rukh Khan spent time with people with Asperger's syndrome, watching videos and reading books about the condition to learn how they behave, speak and walk.
- #003
Kareena Kapoor lost the lead role to Kajol, Karan Johar's favourite actress.
- #004
Shah Rukh Khan stayed in character at home.
- #005
During a promotional tour, Shah Rukh Khan arrived in the United States but was detained at customs for more than an hour. People initially thought it was a publicity stunt, but it turned out not to be. The film's producers were furious that their star was treated so disgracefully, unlike his character in the film.
- #006
Shah Rukh Khan's character was compared to Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man and Tom Hanks's character in Forrest Gump.
- #007
During filming, Khan suffered severe neck pain and headaches caused by Rizwan Khan's expressions and posture. The Asperger's syndrome character in the film holds his neck out at a particular angle and wears a raised-eyebrow expression in every scene. Khan suffered severe migraines from holding the expression for hours.
- #008
Aamir Bashir was initially offered a role in the film, but his visa to the United States was denied. Jimmy Shergill was cast in his place.
- #009
The New Orleans-inspired Georgia flood scene, shot in drought-hit Mumbai, used 20 tankers of water per day for the 10-day shoot (each tanker truck holds about 12,000 litres (3,170 gallons), while a family of four needs about 360 litres (95.1 gallons) a day). However, the drought ended in the middle of filming the flood scene.
- #010
Director Rajkumar Hirani was planning a film called Munnabhai Chale America but had to abandon the idea when his screenplay turned out to be very similar to the story of My Name Is Khan (2010).
- #011
Shabana Azmi was initially cast as Rizwan's mother, but she had to leave the film when Shah Rukh Khan's shoulder injury delayed the shooting schedule.
- #012
While filming at Filmistan Studio, a huge water snake was spotted. The snake escaped unharmed and was released. However, the snake reappeared while Shah Rukh Khan was shooting a water scene. Panic followed and Shah Rukh was immediately pulled out of the water.
- #013
It is Karan Johar's first directorial film whose title does not begin with the letter "K".
- #014
The title was initially set as "Khan", but Karan Johar reportedly changed it to "My Name Is Khan" because it was more effective and connected better with the audience.
- #015
The film's trailer was shown at the premiere of the Hollywood film Avatar (2009).
- #016
Tanay Chheda was cast to play Shah Rukh Khan's character as a child living in Mumbai's Borivali district because he resembles Shah Rukh Khan and was known to international audiences after playing the young Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire (2009).
- #017
It is Karan Johar's first directorial film without Rani Mukherjee.
- #018
Shah Rukh Khan had mentioned the dialogue "My name is Rahul and I am not a terrorist" from his film Chennai Express (2013).
- #019
Tanay Chheda had previously worked with Shah Rukh Khan on the film Don (2006).
- #020
Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra worked as Assistant Directors on this film, and both were later launched by Karan Johar in Student of the Year (2012).
- #021
Shah Rukh Khan and Jimmy Sheirgill reunited 10 years after Mohabbatein (2000), which was under Yash Raj Films.
- #022
This is the sixth film Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol have done together.
- #023
The eBay website auctioned tickets to the film's screening at the Berlin Film Festival at a record price of £1,000 (INR 60,000) each. All the tickets sold out in just 5 seconds.
- #024
Reebok created a complete MNIK shoe and clothing collection to promote the film.
- #025
R. Madhavan was offered the role of Jimmy Shergill, but he was also offered 3 Idiots (2009) at the same time and chose that film because he thought the role was much better.
- #026
Karan Johar had difficulty finding a mosque to shoot in. In the end, the two-day scene with Shah Rukh Khan was shot on a set of a mosque built at "The Club" in Andheri.
- #027
The film generated major publicity for three main reasons: first, the many political controversies surrounding the film and its lead actor; second, Khan's presence in the film (he had last been seen in a leading role when Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was released in December 2008); and third, the reunion of the "golden pair" of Khan and Kajol, who had last appeared together in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001.
- #028
Both Kenton Duty and Shane Harper (who have a small appearance in the film) would later appear in the Disney sitcoms "Shake It Up" and "Good Luck Charlie" respectively.
- #029
Kajol worked with Jimmy Sheirgill for the first time.
- #030
R. Madhavan was offered the film but turned down the role due to his schedule. Jimmy Shergill was later signed.
- #031
With this film, SRK and Karan Johar signed a deal with Fox studios to distribute the film worldwide for approximately 98 crore.
- #032
The film's first look was unveiled at a large event in Mumbai hosted by Johar, Khan and Kajol, and was then broadcast to 70 countries worldwide via the Star TV Network.
- #033
The film's producers made various brand tie-ins to promote the film. Dish TV entered a strategic marketing alliance with Fox Star and spent approximately Rs 4 crore on a month-long 360-degree integrated marketing campaign carried out across India to jointly promote the brand and the film.
- #034
Indian actor Varun Dhawan appears in a cameo as Young Zakir (voiced by Jimmy Shergill).
- #035
This is Shah Rukh Khan's first film of the decade (2010-2019).
- #036
My Name Is Khan was the first film to use the roadblock advertising technique to market a film, with its three-minute trailer broadcast simultaneously across all leading television channels.
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