Fan

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.

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.

As it has already been said by the critics a millions of times that SRK is back in form with his latest double role extravaganza, Fan is truly a grandiloquent comeback of the King of Bollywood after nearly half a dozen misses where he hardly reached the niche he had earlier crafted for himself.It is like a subversion from his previous self ,so much wooed by the lure of the business mathematics like Rs.200-300 Crores what some of the buffoonish movies of Bollywood earlier had made.But it seems the King soulfully listened to the prayers of the millions of his true 'Jabra'(Insane) fans.More importantly, he did actually pay heed to his inner self ,as Aryan Khanna would often advise to Gourav Chandna in the movie itself.And the outcome of this realization is a subtle, metaphorical and at times philosophical movie like 'Fan'.

It is highly unlikely that it will mint money like a Dabaang , a Happy New Year , a Chennai Express or even the pathetic Dhoom 3.But be rest assured that this reborn SRK has unleashed an unfathomable yet ingenious desire to strike the right chords in the right audience's heart.The extremities of the adulation of a fan for a megastar construct the periphery of this movie.Literally the periphery, as Mr.Khan in the dual role of Aryan Khanna and the love me-hate me- what to do to me Gourav Chandna holds the center-stage of this adrenaline rising sleek flick.A few scenes of the movie deserve to be remembered ever for the sheer brilliance of the actor who finally transcended the limits of being tipped,mocked and very often thrashed by the intellectuals as just a money monger with his obvious aspirations in his previous outings.The scene at the Delight hotel, Room No 205, the one where Aryan Khanna actually copies Gourav for his redemption or the climax scene where Aryan's eyes search for Gourav and Gourav's mirage makes him somber and self introspective- all offer you in bounty to adore and take a bow for Mr.khan's acting brilliance even if you are not his fan.The chase scenes are all Hollywoodesque barring the first one where you can easily find the VFX lacunae. The supporting actors are perfect in their minuscule roles.But once you are into the movie, you will gradually realize that the fallen king of Bollywood had chosen this as his vehicle to make his rejected and dejected fans believe what an arsenal of talent he still is.This movie like what I said for Swades or Chak De India as well upon their respective releases, would be a hallmark for the illustrious career of SRK and even if it fails to be a humongous hit, it will ever be remembered as a a benchmark of what skilled perfection of acting can do to otherwise an average movie.In the history of Hindi movie, it will be always remembered with the same respect what films like 'Taxi Driver','Vertigo' or 'Scarface' earned in Hollywood.Arguably the best movie of King Khan's career as an actor, this layered movie interwoven with myriads of subtleties is going to stay in your heart even when he broke the norms of being a mandolin playing or arms stretched hero in an exotic location to stay in the rat race of actors.By the way, did I forget to tell that this 144 minutes movie does not have a song and the lovable 'jabra' tune was only for promotion? Go watch it and do yourself a favor.

P.S: If I take a break from being a critic and tell what my heart not my brain asks me to do, I would always say that I loved the second half more... If there is one movie made in Bollywood you aspire to watch before you die just for sheer acting brilliance Hamin Asto, Hamin Asto,Hamin Asto...

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.

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"