Movie: FAN
Director: Aditya Chopra
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Sayani Gupta, Yogendra Tiku
Genre: Thriller
For me, Shahrukh Khan is the undisputed ‘king’ of Bollywood. I love his spirit and courage to plunge into roles that are varied and challenging. Though now, I agree that this does not always pay and looking at the past few films he was involved in, faulty and floppy scripts have dominated over his performance. Last year was certainly a no show for King Khan, however, he seems to have turned the table around with his new movie- FAN.
Gaurav (Shahrukh Khan) is a die-hard fan of Bollywood actor Aryan Khanna (Shahrukh Khan). Gaurav resembles Aryan Khanna and is well-known in his Delhi locality for impersonating the actor in society functions. Gaurav decides to go to Bombay to meet his hero in person, but amidst the million fans who throng Aryan’s house everyday, how will Gaurav make himself stand out? Will his obsession with the actor turn into madness?
Portraying a double-role is not an easy task. To begin with there is always a risk of running into predictability or the characters eating into each other’s space. Also, the script needs to justify the need for a double-role. FAN has a very good script (with certain itching lows) which justifies the space for a double role at the same time manages to give both the roles a well defined outline. Shahrukh Khan is outstanding as Gaurav. He manages to capture the soul of the character by adapting to a body language and style of a young boy from the bylanes of Delhi. Gaurav is obsessed with the larger than life of Aryan and Shahrukh portrays this madness with finesse. There is a scene where Gaurav sees Aryan up close for the first time and his reaction brings to life the madness of millions of fans who live their entire life under the shadow of their distant hero. The movie also subtly hints towards the not -so easy life of an actor where they have to constantly battle for their identity and position. The script dips in the second half, momentarily, but picks up its pace for a thrilling climax. The borderline between love and obsession was lost out in certain scenes and could have been woven better with a tighter script.
The cinematography by Manu Anand is spot on. There were several scenes which were poignant moments for me like the scene where Gaurav says he is Aryan’s fan or the scene where he falls off the ledge. These scenes are very important moments in the movie as they bring out the emotional relationship that Gaurav has built with Aryan, in his mind. There are no main songs in the movie. One song ‘Jabra Fan’ was composed by Vishal-Shekhar as the anthem of the movie and was remade in 8 different languages.
FAN is definitely a must watch movie of this year. It is rates high on its entertainment value is certainly one of Shahrukh’s finest performances. This is a jackpot weekend for Shahrukh fans!
My verdict: ****
