Are We Right In Lauding SRK-starrer ‘Fan’?

I wanted to start my post with a question that has been bothering me since Friday evening, when I stepped out of the theatre after watching the much anticipated Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Fan’.

Considering the fact that his last three films were ‘Chennai Express’, ‘Happy New Year’ and ‘Dilwale’, ‘Fan’ does come as a breath of fresh air. But is it a movie that should be lauded as much as it is being right now? Nah!

Yes, SRK has done a brilliant job as Gaurav Chandna and probably this is one of the most impressive performances by the actor in the recent times. Because his last three films worked purely on marketing strategies and can be imbibed in textbooks as examples of how films shouldn’t be made, even a film as mediocre as ‘Fan’ is being praised by people all around.

While the first thoughts after watching the film were; ‘Woah, we’ve got our SRK back’, the second thoughts didn’t seem so much on the same page. Which SRK are we talking about really? We’re considering only the man who has done couple of shoddy films in the past, but forgetting all his iconic roles that made him who he is. ‘Dil Se’, ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge’, ‘Swades’, ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, ‘Mai Hoon Na’, ‘Darr’, ‘Chakk De India’ and many more; we can clearly take a whole day to list his impeccable on-screen performances and we’ll still not fall short of it!

From the basic plot to the execution, the film cashes in on the most predictable aspects.

The fact that we forget Shah Rukh Khan throughout the two hours, remember Gaurav Chandna, not even Aryan Khanna is because of the well-worked and well-tuned make-up artist who made that look come out the way it did!

The ‘Fan’ peg

It always works, doesn’t it? It’s not just that Shah Rukh Khan played a fan of his own but also the fan word itself is intriguing enough to attract his real-life admirers to theaters.

We all know the action sequences shown in the film are so stretched that they start evoking chuckles instead of the much-anticipated thrills. Also, why is a super-star shown running here and there without any security in every scene?

How far is too far?

Larger-than-life scenes are usually appreciated but a question that remains to be answered is how far is too far? Be it Gaurav’s overtly depicted obsession or his parents’ over-supporting nature, some scenes are just too unrealistic to relate to, even if you’re his fan and you’ve almost celebrated his birthday every year.

Is it original enough?

Some clicks here and there and we managed to get our hands on a trailer that has striking resemblance to Shah Rukh Khan-starrer ‘Fan’. What further intrigued our minds was that the film even had the same title. (No, we aren’t accusing the film maker of copying the entire idea, but the basic similarities can’t really be ignored.)

Note to self: I’m still his fan. I’ll still spend as much money on his movie tickets as I’ve been doing in the past but my heart roots for some meaningful cinema from King Khan!

Source: http://www.news18.com/news/movies/are-we-right-in-lauding-srk-starrer-fan-1231737.html