Fan

Fan review :

There's something called as the "Curse of the second half"- a phenomenon where a film is simply outstanding in the first half raising your expectations to a pinnacle only to dash them to abysmal lows after the interval. It's more prevalent in bollywood than hollywood as those guys avoid intermission point even for their lengthy movies. Fan - SRK's latest wannabe blockbuster suffers badly from the second half curse syndrome.

The film starts like a home video of SRK's past achievements - montage of his films, awards, interviews etc. SRK is called Aryan Khanna - an aging superstar on a career downslide who still has enough crazy fans to cause a minor stampede outside his home (exteriors of Mannat). So basically, Aryan Khanna is SRK. His doppelganger fan is dilliwala Gaurav Chandna (SRK again with prosthetics) who considers him God and mimics him to win the "Kaloney wala competition" every year.

Encouraged by his parents (Deepika Amin- Yogendra Tiku, both adorable), Gaurav travels ticketless to Mumbai to meet Aryan, stays in the same motel as the superstar had during his struggling days and seeks only 5 minutes from him. He does get the opportunity but this meeting with Aryan leaves Gaurav totally disillusioned and angry. It's a very interesting scene which turns the graph of the film completely and director Maneesh Sharma nails it till here. It's interval time.

Next, Gaurav travels to London, creates a ruckus at Madame Tussauds and gets Aryan (who's shooting in the city) behind bars for his act. More, Gaurav infiltrates a wedding ceremony where Aryan is performing and gets him humiliated in front of all and sundry. Truly, it's by this point that the proceedings start looking fake and unreal. While in India, no one mistakes Gaurav to be Aryan but the moment he lands abroad, everyone assumes he's the superstar. Howzzat!! Also, Gaurav seems to know the entire work schedule of Aryan right to the minutest of details. Highly unlikely to happen!!

It's these glaring cinematic liberties which rob the second hour of its grit and realism. Admittedly, the two chase sequences are well choreographed and Aryan's advice to Gaurav in the violent climax highlights the pertinent point that a superstar should only serve as an inspiration for individual hard work and not as a blind obsession. Stars are also ordinary humans like us. In fact, Aryan Khanna is considerably humanised throughout by making him bear with a rude firangi cop or getting reprimanded by a rich businessman for arriving late at a performance.

Performance wise, the film belongs to SRK and he makes both Gaurav as well as Aryan memorable. In a welcome departure from his repetitive acts witnesed in his recent outings, SRK has actually "acted" after quite some time. No spreading of arms to demonstrate love, no silly banter bordering on hamming - Fan definitely ranks amongst SRK's better performances in recent times though it's nowhere close to the benchmark he's set for himself in the past - "Baazigar" (1993), "Darr"(1993), "Swades" (2004) or "Chak De India" (2007).

Of the supporting cast, only Shriya Pilgaonkar leaves a mark in her small role. There are no songs in the film; even the popular "Jabraa Fan" number is missing. Editing by Namrata Rao could have been tighter in the second half. Ditto for Habib Faisal's sagging screenplay.

All said and endured, Fan is an average fare but SRK - the actor elevates it to a cut above the commonplace. His fans will be happy for sure; those who aren't will also not mind.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.

Fan is a movie reminiscence of the Shah Rukh Khan the actor we lost to SRK the superstar. Fan is an ode to the initial acting talent of SRK we saw in Baazigar, Darr and Anjaam. Fan begins with introducing us to the beloved Gaurav Chandana, the West Delhi residence who is in love with Aryan (SRK Playing himself) since childhood. With the twist in tale that Gaurav looks similar to Aryan, For Gaurav Aryan is everything. He takes a special journey to meet with his beloved superstar only to find that he is not the only one in the list. Things get interesting when Gaurav feels betrayed and determined to teach a lesson to his God. The movie introduces some interesting aspects in terms of what it means to be a superstar and what it means to be a Fan. Gaurav is kind of an Anti-hero who is made to be loved, scared, loathed and disgusted by the director in various parts of the movie. Credit goes to SRK for his portrayal of Gaurav. He gets the mannerisms, body language, dialogues right. The initial scenes of Gaurav feels kind of over played but by the end of the movie, SRK gets Gaurav right. In fact in one of the subtle scenes in the movie, SRK acts a bit like Gaurav while speaking to a Police inspector. If it was intentional than well done SRK. Kudos goes to the director for keeping the movie songs free. He deserves 0.5 star extra for that. The movie is a thriller but seems kind of stretched over a period 140 minutes. The ending is melodramatic which puts me off but the director desperately tries to make us love Gaurav even though he is kind of annoying. Overall the effort is decent and SRK deserves some credit for Gaurav. He is certainly in contention for the 2016 filmfare but to be honest who cares. Please Watch Fan for if you want to remember when SRK used to act and not just play himself every time. It deserves 7.5 star from my side. If only the movie was edited a lot better and SRK showed some restrain with Gaurav it could have been his memorable performance. Alas it is not a Chak De or Pardes but it is SRK telling everyone he is still the king of acting.

This film was supposed to be the masterful triumph to prove him once again after some buffoonish kind of film in recent times.. And what a bounceback by Shahrukh Khan... Fan not only restored my faith in The SRK's acting prowess, but also made me think that his superstardom is nowhere to go despite some doldrums... This film was never meant to be a perfect Masala potboiler.So earning money in the Box Office is never a concern...coz a lot of crap films like Prem Ratan Dhan Payo,Happy New Year etc are not only earning money but also considered a blockbuster in Bollywood.. What a shame..It seems we Indian's haven't evolved since the inception of Mumbai cinema.. I must reckon the fact that most of the coveted 100 crore films are nothing but a piece of trash.. Of course without few exceptions...

Now let's talk about the possibility of winning hearts by Shahrukh via his latest gem 'FAN'...He is just not a superstar, he is truly a national icon..So he doesn't need to prove his acting prowess at this point.. Still FAN is going to return his 'a bit diminished glory' into a spectacular manner for sure... I don't think that I need to review this piece of magnificent delight.. Go watch in the nearby theatres... Note: (Fan and 'Non-Fan'of SRK will be agreed by my point aforesaid until they watch this summer thriller.)

Shah Rukh Khan already has many roles under his belt, but this one might just surpass them all, playing as Aryan a super star like his own real life persona, and his own biggest fans Chandna. It's one of the performances that resonates in personal level, there are times that audience would believe he's two different persons.

Chandna is a fan highly obsessed with his star Aryan, almost down to a fault. This may seem like harmless attachment, but after a certain incident, the fondness becomes volatile and it turns him against his own idol. The playful theme can be deceptively bizarre, but with more social media outreach, fan might just think they are actually connected to random stranger. It's shown here at its most extreme, though might be slightly exaggerated.

Both setting and make-up enable SRK to deliver crisp and flashy scenes. The sight of London and Dubrovnik make for great scenery even when he simply traverses them, but the zenith is the performance as two characters side by side. The make-up does a good job on creating highly different visages, the rest is sheer acting prowess. Some of the action scenes are admittedly awkward, it's mostly a thriller but there are a few overly long chase sequences perhaps added just for the sake of more action.

"Fan" is a tribute to one of the greatest actors in Bollywood. The acting is immensely appreciated whether one is a fan of Bollywood or not.

I was 9 years old when Pardes and Dil Se flopped, every critic, every layman said, he is finished, and then he made a stellar comeback with Devdas. Chennai express, HNY, Dilwale all were commercially successful but SRK was losing his fan base as these films made little justice to his talent and stature. Again articles started floating through out social and print media"Is SRK's career over???". The answer was out on 15th April when FAN hit the screens. SRK has made a comeback and how. "FAN" by all means is a content driven theme, but make no mistake FAN is a average film but it is a brave film. You laugh with Gaurav, you cry with Gaurav, your heart melts when he says"Rehn de, tu nahin samjhega". Fan is an exhibition of acting and skills displayed by SRK or should we say the "Comeback Kid". They say he is stereotyped, they say he doesn't experiment, who would have had the courage to do a RA-One, though not a great film but at least an experiment at something better. No Doubt FAN was a brave move and one that has paid off. Only SRK and only SRK could have acted in a film like FAN, after all nobody loves SRK ore than himself. With few interesting projects up his sleeve fan could just be the comeback vehicle SRK was looking for. Now coming to his performance, SRK is simply brilliant in both the characters played by him, he is contagious as Gaurav and everyone could find a bit of themselves in him. He was a delight on screen, absolute magic. More often than not when SRK plays himself he tends to overdo it but this time as ARyan Khanna he got it just right, that look, that controlled aggression, that Dilliwala toughness, every thing was evident. As some body said "Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom", the rock bottom was landed on SRK but he has come back with a stunner. People who still don't understand the real SRK or the actor in him --"Rehn de, tu nahin samjhega"