Fan Movie Review, What’s Behind: Bollywood Super Star Shah Rukh Khan with immense Fan following is indeed the most successful hero of this era. However, he botched to deliver a commercial hit from long time. Fan trailer had generated curiosity and SRK playing the title character bought huge craze for film. Let’s get into Fan review part.
Fan Movie Story: A middle class cybercafé owner Gaurav (Shah Rukh Khan) is an ardent fan of Super Star Aryan Khanna (Shah Rukh Khan) since his childhood. Gaurav looks like a replica of his favorite star and that becomes an advantage for him in winning many local awards. One day, Gaurav with his parents’ blessings journeys all the way to Mumbai to meet his demigod. Soon, Gaurav finds it’s highly impossible to meet Aryan and then chooses a hideous path which brings bad name to Aryan. Here Aryan punishes Gaurav with two days of unofficial imprisonment and suggests him to go back home. Gaurav’s heart burns with this hero’s gesture and he waits for an opportunity to take revenge. How Gaurav defames Aryan before losing his life is rest.
Fan Movie Artists and Technicians: Fan is all about how a die-hard Fan reacts, retaliates to a situation when his favorite star dumps him. What brings more interest into the film is Shah Rukh Khan himself playing a Fan and Super Star. Director Maneesh Sharma earlier delivered hat trick hits under Yash Raj Banner has rightly utilized this opportunity to helm a Star hero for the first time. Film’s plot is compelling but Maneesh with sluggish his narration tested audience patience. This applies especially in the second half.
Biggest drawback is there weren’t enough of those mad Fanism exhibiting moments. The only cherishing moments include, Fan meeting his demigod, listening to his voice on phone and watching him close in jail. Best thing is, Maneesh did not forcibly inject the songs as it would have damaged the flow. Manu Anand’s cinematography stood one of the biggest assets, while Andrea Guerra provided some fascinating music. Editing by Namrata Rao should have been far better. Yash Raj Films production values are top notch as usual.
On to performances, Shah Rukh Khan brings the spark in two different roles. Be it as a Super Star or Fan, SRK shines in every frame. Overall, it’s a performance that will satisfy all the sections of audience. His expressions, when Fan gets to have a glimpse of his favorite star for the first time are simply absorbing and that’s why we call SRK a real star. The confrontation between SRK and SRK in second half is also mind blowing. When SRK is in full flow, why do we need to speak about rest of the cast? Yet, Waluscha de Souza, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Deepika Amin, Yogendra Tiku and Sayani Gupta are good in their respective roles.
Fan Movie Rating Analysis: To be straight, Fan has no language barrier. The subject will connect well to every movie monger because hero and Fanism are vogue in Indian cinema field. In fact, every star hero of different cinema industries will have die-hard Fans like how Gaurav is to Aryan. So, fans will identify themselves in the character of Gaurav.
Actually, director Maneesh Sharma has rightly balanced the depth in content and gave his own justification to the conflict between superstar and Fan, who is right and who is wrong. There are several issues shown in the film as how stars receive their Fans. Every Fan should understand a fact that their hero is a simple human being burdened by stardom and is making a living at the cost of losing his whole private life.
Fan first half was good with few heart-stirring elements. The episode of Fan crying when Super Star warns him go back home is sure to leave us emotional. We expect few more of such thrilling elements post interval on how Fan troubles Super Star and what’s the retort. However, there were no such exhilarating episodes in second half. Lengthy chases have kept the emotions at bay. Moreover, director took cinematic liberty for most of the sequences like Gaurav flying to London and other foreign locations, chasing after the hero troubling his professional, personal life. Pre climax episode of final conversation between the two was good. Here Aryan tries to explain how ordinary his real life is. However, Gaurav has his own version and being in mad admiration, takes an extreme step.
Overall, Fan is not a pure commercial film. It’s a movie made on smart story element with contemporary touch. Although, the film has enthralling moments for SRK Fans, it may not cater much for normal cine goers. So, Fan is strictly for SRK Fans. Commercially, the movie might do better in upper class centers. Calculating all the advantages and drawbacks, CJ is here to rate Fan with 2.75 stars for masterly performance from Shah Rukh Khan.
Fan Movie Cinejosh Verdict: Not Totally ‘Fan’tastic
Fan Movie Cinejosh Rating: 2.75/5.0
Reviewed by Srivaas