Fan Review and Box office Collection 2016
Gaurav Chandna (Shah Rukh Khan) claims himself to be junior Aryan Khanna (SRK) a Bollywood superstar. Is it just because he looks like him? Yes! Gaurav has all his life imitated Khanna at his local Inder Vihar competitions and been a winner. On the occasion of the superstar’s birthday, Gaurav decides to go to Mumbai and meet his God.
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars (Two and a half star)
Star Cast: Shah Rukh Khan
Director: Maneesh Sharma
What’s Good: Shah Rukh Khan finally offers something great on the acting front. His distinct characters of Gaurav and Aryan are impressive. What’s Bad: The outrageously flawed script. This logic-defying drama is cringeworthy in the second half.
Loo Break: Sometime in the Second half would be a good.
Watch or Not?: Watch if you are a true SRK fan because after a long time he performs on-screen as an actor. If you were looking for a thriller then this will disappoint.
While millions of fans turn up at Aryan’s doorstep, Gaurav soon feels neglected. To grab Aryan’s attention and meet him, he gets into trouble. When his first meet with the superstar turns out ugly, Gaurav decides to teach the star a lesson.
His devotion turns into obsession and all hell breaks loose for Aryan.
What will Gaurav’s harmful obsession do?
Fan Review: Script Analysis
The first glimpses of Fan had made one believe that the film celebrates the spirit of fandom. Unfortunately, once we learnt that the film is a thriller, all such expectations were badly shattered. The script as we earlier suspected does borrow little from a few Hollywood films such as Robert De Niro’s King Of Comedy.
Taking off with Gaurav’s journey of becoming a fan since his childhood, the script sadly does not dig into the character’s nuances such as being a 20 something who runs a cyber cafe, how come Aryan has not been mocked by his friends for his obsession towards a celebrity. Also, how strangely his parents find nothing wrong in their son being so crazy about a personality.
Jarringly irritating things in the script remain a bad portrayal of Delhi and its inhabitants in more than one scene. I wish the writers had thought it important to create a better image for the city than put it in bad light.
Aryan’s character seems bang on. With a hint of celebrity narcissism as we see Shah Rukh Khan’s interview clips and award speeches works well for building Aryan’s character.
Gaurav on the other hand is shown to be sly but his moves to get back at the star seem unintelligent. At no point did I feel any kind of sympathy for him since the character itself is flawed.
Logic defying second half had our fan Gaurav moving around London and Croatia quite easily. I wonder if the UK visa is that easy to get! In a social media age, it is practically impossible for an imposter to cook up such a storm, least of all in a foreign country but I am guessing that is what we call cinematic liberties in Bollywood. They take it literally “Ab Star Fan Ke Peeche Bhagega” and sadly not figuratively. The dialogues by Habib Faisal/Katariya are not exceptional and only a few will stay in your head.
A shoddy climax disappoints even more!
Fan Review: Star Performance
Shah Rukh Khan is back and how! We truly missed his ‘acting’ since long. His portrayal of the Delhi bred Gaurav is superb. The complete body language shift is commendable. He proves he is a great actor in the scenes where Gaurav is heart-broken and cries his heart out when he sees the true face of Aryan Khanna. Another scene where he excels is the one where Aryan imitated Gaurav, that’s a classic transformation.
Deepika Amin (Gaurav’s Mother) does a good job. As a mother who knows her son has lost his way, she emotes well in one scene.
Yogendra Tiku (Gaurav’s Father) does not get much screen time. But as a doting father who packs his son’s bags, he is good.
Sayani Gupta plays Aryan’s manager and fits for her role perfectly.
Newbies, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Waluscha De Sousa hardly leave an impact.
Fan Review: Direction, Music
Maneesh Sharma was often quoted saying Fan could be Shah Rukh’s best film. That could be counted true if only one keeps in mind, Shah Rukh’s act. He keeps this film afloat.
Sharma’s camera captures the middle class, small town life well. The first twenty minutes give you a full Delhi flavor. His choice of locations of the capital is quite impressive.
Cinematography wins you over with the long shots of Dubrovnik and London. It is a breathtaking view and the entire chase sequence gives you much time to marvel this place than find logics as to why a Bollywood superstar is running helter skelter behind his fan.
The first half is a little slow but important to suck you into this story. The real deal of the thriller is of course the second half which is pacy but weak on the script front.
The VFX of the film are cutting edge but if only the film could have been equally intelligent.
Casting SRK in a film without songs and romance is a difficult task and Sharma takes up this brave move. Luckily SRK performs exceptionally well in spite of a poor script. So that still makes Fan a special film.
Fan Review: The Last Word
Shah Rukh Khan performs brilliantly in a film that is flawed conceptually. I am going with a 2.5/5 for the film.
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