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.

Movie : Fan (U/A)

Rating : 4.75/5

This year's first biggest and most praised film was AIRLIFT starring Akshay Kumar. The success of that film might have encouraged many actors to try something offbeat, but it seems that our SRK is the first one to try among other actors after Akshay. In his recent action - drama - thriller FAN, SRK gives what we call perhaps the best performance any actor can ever give. Besides, it's not just a film that relies totally on him and his stardom, but also on several things like a powerful script, execution, and everything a perfect film has.

FAN, to be honest, is something no one has ever seen not just in case of SRK, but even in case of regular Indian films. Even AIRLIFT had a couple of songs, although they were melodious and didn't hinder the screenplay. But here, FAN doesn't have even one single song at all! The only scope for music is visible in the emotional scenes and the action sequences. This is, believe me, a huge plus point apart from the performance of SRK.

Though his last film to impress me the most was RA-ONE (2011),(I LIKED DILWALE TOO),this is his second most impressive film. Besides, another thing is that apart from RA-ONE, I had not seen any film on the first day of its release. Luckily, FAN is the second film I have seen on the first day of its release. This added to the much of my excitement and praise towards the film.

Shah Rukh Khan, or SRK, as we call him, gives the best performance in his career so far. He is extremely amazing in the emotional and action sequences, and there isn't any doubt that this performance can even bring to him various best actor awards. In my opinion, this is a national award winning act. Since everyone knows he plays two roles, it isn't a spoiler that he rocks in both the roles, although the role of the fan is the most impressive. Other actors are good, although there's only SRK to talk about.

The script and screenplay of the film are quite close to everyone's lives, and this to helps to connect with the film. I realized that during the emotional scenes, I too went emotional and felt some tears in my eyes. This is a film which everyone must watch, not just SRK fans, but even those who criticize him the most.

The technical aspects are top notch. The action sequences of this film are engaging and well shot from beginning to the end. There is no scope for the usual masala fare as almost every SRK film used to be till now, except a few. The editing is quite sharp and there's hardly a dull moment. The film comes with a strong message for everyone, especially the youth. Besides, despite of a UA certificate, this is completely a family friendly film, and can be watched by each and everyone, along with the family.

Overall, FAN is something truly out of the box; it begins with a smile and ends with tears. If you are a true cinema enthusiast, then forget everything and just watch this film. This film doesn't only teach how one should live with one's own identity, but also teaches how every film should be.

Yes, when I left my seat, I was quite emotional.

A "Fan" is someone who looks up to someone else, gets inspired and admires the work they've done, the status they've achieved and the way they come from point A to point B in their lives through hard-work, sincerity, effort, etc. and how they can apply in their lives to perhaps become more successful and admired. Just like someone they look up to. That could be their father, mother, friend, but more commonly fans are established for folks who have more media exposure. Such as movie-stars, sport stars, etc. Due to the sheer exposure they get, the odds for having more fan-following increases.

A "Stalker" is someone who not only looks up to someone for all the things stated above, but also looks for validation from them. Or approval. However you put it. A Stalker has low self-esteem and poor judgement, and does not like their identity and might try and act like the person they admire. Because they don't have an identity of their own, they take on someone else's personality. They might pick their hairstyle, clothing style, and a Stalker might slowly, from being an admirer, slip towards unhealthy obsession, where the sole purpose is to get approved/validated from the one they admire. When someone might compare them with the one they admire, they might feel happy, instead of awkward, regular folks might feel awkward when they're compared with a known celebrity or someone else, since everyone wants to be known as themselves, not as a second someone-else. If that makes sense.

If you're still reading this, then looks like I've held your attention for quite a bit. Congrats. We both are crazy.

Speaking of the movie "Fan" (where the Fan has become a Stalker) not only does the Stalker character (Gaurav) not get validation/approval from the Movie Star (Aryan),he gets severely rejected. At least from his point of view. Rejection can do crazy stuff to regular people, for folks with low self-esteem, it can do some severe damage. And in order to get over the damage, and to make themselves feel more superior than the person who rejected them, the rejected can enforce power onto the ones that rejected them, simply to exhibit power over them, which makes them feel superior in their own mind, since they're the ones that have control now. (Pehle Fan Star ke peeche bhaagta tha, ab Star Fan ke peeche bhaagega) this shows Gaurav's hunger to demonstrate control over Aryan. Aryan is a huge superstar, powerful, and if feels powerless in front of Gaurav, then Gaurav automatically becomes more superior than Aryan. Therefore, going by the Mathematics equation here, Gaurav > Aryan if Aryan feeling < Powerful than Gaurav. Congrats, you now have a PhD in Mathematics and Human Psychology. Humor also. Take it.

Gaurav's obsessions dictate the way he makes choices. Inability to take rejection hurts his already low self-esteem and he goes back into displaying control over the most powerful Movie Star. It's not exactly revenge as is advertised, but rather authority aka power game.

From a character point of view, as a viewer, it felt the two were totally different people. But the amateurish fight sequences and the fear element were missing overall. Gaurav's character was more childish versus being a psychopath. If Gaurav's character had done more severe damage to the superstar's reputation and career more criminally, the situation would've been more crime thrilling and more true to the genre of a "Crime Thriller". Making a video and uploading on YouTube hardly counts as scary. Or maybe that scene was handled immaturely. Or maybe they wanted to not make it extremely scary for the censor boards point of view. Either ways, that piece didn't quite work as scary. Gaurav's character confused me quite a bit even though his acting was top notch as a 25 year old. I didn't know whether to feel angry with him or to feel sorry for him. There was also emphasis on Gaurav being a Vegetarian, I don't know why.

The superstar's serious character was nicely carved out as the angry, sarcastic and sometimes a vulnerable person overall. A serious role with less dialogues for the superstar was a nice fresh performance. From a story point of view, an average viewing. You won't get bored and the movie will keep you engaged. Whether or not you stay married after the movie is a different story. (That was a joke, btw). And if you've seen the trailer (check end of the blog),then perhaps you've seen the entire movie. However, acting as a Superstar and a Fan the Superstar is a challenge and SRK did it amazingly well! We know look alikes don't look exactly like the actors and that part has been taken care of really well by utilizing make up to make the actor look like a 25 year old. Extremely well done.

A similar movie was made in 1996 starring Robert De Niro (The Fan) who also cast in Cape Fear, the idea was taken in a Movie called Darr (Darr in Hindi means Fear) with the same actor then playing a stalker. Both the times Shahrukh Khan was cast playing the stalker in both the movies. I'm not saying it's a remake, a remake is where every scene and script is taken and remade in the exact same way, hence, the term, remake. Just some basic similarities or coincidences.

Both Darr and Fan – idea of a stalker – movies Cape Fear and The Fan, both starring Robert Di Nero remade with the exact same star playing a stalker is quite a coincidence. Many people are comparing the Darr character with the Fan character, that's another huge co-incidence. Interesting trivia brought to you by Vivek Chawla.