Every year on September 11 (9/11), the world remembers the attacks that shook New York and changed global politics for good. Hollywood has made dozens of films about that day. But Bollywood took its own path. Indian filmmakers used the event to explore identity, fear and prejudice, often through the eyes of Indian and Muslim characters caught in the fallout. Here are five films worth knowing about.
1. My Name Is Khan (2010)
This is the most famous of the bunch. Shah Rukh Khan plays Rizwan Khan, a man with Asperger’s syndrome who moves to the US and marries a Hindu woman. After 9/11, his family faces growing suspicion and hostility simply because of their faith. The film follows his journey across America to meet president and clear his name. It became a massive, massive hit and pushed conversation about Islamophobia into mainstream Indian cinema.
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2. New York (2009)
Directed by Kabir Khan, this film centers on three Indian friends studying in New York before attacks. Their lives change completely afterward when one of them is wrongly picked up and tortured under terrorism suspicion.
3. Kurbaan (2009)
Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan star in this thriller about a woman who falls for a man and moves with him to the United States. She slowly realises that people close to her family are planning terror attack. The film blends romance with tension and paranoia from the post 9/11 years, and it does not shy away from difficult questions about loyalty and belief.
4. Yun Hota To Kya Hota (2006)
Directed by Naseeruddin Shah, this was actually the first Hindi film built entirely around the 9/11 attacks. It follows several unconnected Indian characters who all end up on the same flight to the US. Their plane is hijacked on the same day the towers fall. The film jumps between their personal stories before tying them together in tragedy. It is less known than the others but was ahead of its time in tackling the subject so soon after the real event.
5. Tere Bin Laden (2010)
Not every film about that era was serious. This satirical comedy follows a struggling Pakistani journalist who tries to fake an interview with an Osama bin Laden lookalike just to get noticed and land a visa to America. It pokes fun at media hysteria and visa politics in years after.
