Fan (film)

Plot

Gaurav Chandna (Shah Rukh Khan) is a Delhi-based die-hard and obsessive fan of Bollywood superstar Aryan Khanna (also Shah Rukh Khan). Gaurav's face bears an uncanny similarity to Aryan's, which helps him win the local talent show by impersonating Aryan. He then embarks on a journey to meet Aryan by train to Mumbai without a ticket.

When Sid Kapoor (Taher Shabbir Mithaiwala), a fellow actor, expresses harsh sentiments about Aryan to the press, Gaurav gets furious and beats him, and makes him apologise to Aryan while he records it. The video is uploaded to the internet, where Aryan sees it and gets Gaurav arrested. In jail, Gaurav is mercilessly beaten, and Aryan comes to meet him and angrily reprimands him and declares that Gaurav is not his fan. He reveals that he was the one who got Gaurav arrested. Gaurav returns home and burns all of his Aryan memorabilia, vowing to get revenge against Aryan for turning his fan away.

One year later in London, Gaurav heads to Madame Tussauds wax museum, impersonating Aryan and purposely create a havoc in which he triggers the police. The real Aryan is arrested despite declaring that he is innocent. Aryan gets bail and departs to Dubrovnik for a show. Gaurav disguises himself as a crew-member to get into Aryan's show.

Aryan is next scheduled to perform at a billionaire’s wedding. Gaurav poses as Aryan and molests the billionaire's daughter. The billionaire berates the real Aryan and makes him leave the event. Outside, Aryan spots Gaurav and chases him, though Gaurav escapes. The molestation incident gets all over the news, resulting in a tarnished reputation and fans boycotting Aryan's shows.

Back in India, Gaurav invades Aryan’s home and vandalises his trophy collection. Aryan visits Gaurav's parents and meets Neha, Gaurav's crush. He then devises a plan to impersonate Gaurav and declare his love to Neha at the local talent show. This provokes Gaurav, who shoots at Aryan with a gun. Aryan chases him and subdues Gaurav after a bloody fight. Gaurav says that his life is nothing without Aryan and flings himself off the roof.

Aryan’s name is cleared from all the controversies, but the ordeal still haunts him. On his next birthday, when he goes out to the roof to greet his fans, Aryan imagines watching Gaurav smiling up at him.

Cast

Development

On 16 December 2013, Yash Raj Films announced the project with Shah Rukh Khan as the main lead and Maneesh Sharma as the director. On 25 March 2014, it was announced that Greg Cannom is going to develop the look of Khan in the film. Khan underwent 3D scanning for his look as a young boy. Though it had at one time been reported that Khan was scheduled to play a 17-year-old boy in the film, Khan later denied the claim.

Filming

Principal photography of the film began in July 2014. The film was shot in Mumbai, Croatia, London and Delhi. The film is the first ever to be shot at the Madame Tussauds in London. On 7 August 2015, it was announced that the filming of the project was completed.

Release

Fan was scheduled to release in early 2015, but owing to the injuries sustained by Khan during the filming of Happy New Year, the film's release date was postponed to 14 August 2015. The post-production work involving complex visual effects pushed the release of Fan once again to early 2016.

After several delays, the film released on 15 April 2016 in 3500 screens in India and around 1100 screens abroad. It was produced on a budget of ₹850 million (US$13 million) and an additional ₹200 million (US$3.1 million) was spent on publicity, for a combined cost of approximately ₹1.05 billion (US$16 million). The studio recouped part of their investment before release by selling the satellite rights to Sony Pictures Networks at around ₹450 million (US$7.0 million).

Marketing

The logo of the film, the first of its kind with a collage of pictures of Khan's real fans, was released on 23 October 2015. The makers released a 2-minute teaser for the film on Shah Rukh Khan's birthday on 2 November 2015. This was followed by the music video of the song "Jabra Fan", released on 16 February 2016 for promotional purposes and not featured in the film. The official trailer of Fan was released on 29 February 2016 to a tremendous response initially as it was watched 4 million times on the Internet in the first 24 hours. The 3-minute video later garnered over 20 million views on YouTube with more than 170K likes, record for a Bollywood film.

Music

The music for Fan is composed by Vishal-Shekhar with lyrics written by Varun Grover and original score composed by Andrea Guerra. The first song "Jabra Fan (Hindi)", was released on 16 February 2016. The full soundtrack album was released on 28 March 2016 which included 13 tracks (which included 12 song tracks and 1 theme track), all of which were different versions of the song "Jabra Fan (Hindi)". The song was in 9 different prominent Indian languages sung by regional singers, 2 foreign languages sung by foreign singers and 1 mashup (remix of all 11 tracks) version.

Critical reception

Fan has received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 82%, based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. Raja Sen from Rediff.com gave the film 4.5 out of 5 stars and called Fan a brilliant film with Shah Rukh Khan at his best. Zee News also awarded the film 4.5 stars, saying "The movie encapsulates the fandom which SRK as a star enjoys and why his fans must watch this to understand how he achieved what he did." The Times of India rated the film 4 out of 5 and commented, "Fan is Shah Rukh Khan's triumph all the way. He pulls off a terrifically dramatic double act, altering his look, feel and intensity, but as Gaurav, Shah Rukh makes you forget everything – except feeling scared." Mid Day also saw the film worthy of 4/5 and reviewed, "Right from the beginning of this thriller, which undoubtedly boasts of one, oops, two of his best performances, it is evident why Shah Rukh Khan is needed for a film of this sort, and why only someone in his position and with his caliber could do it too." Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and opined, "On the whole, FAN has a brilliant first half, but loses track in the second hour, only to pick up again towards the pre-climax. The writing should've been tighter, but what works is the terrific act by SRK as the fan.".

The Hindu called the film Khan's return to form and said, "SRK couldn't have found a better vehicle than Fan, both as an actor and as a celebration of the highs and the lows of his own stardom. A stardom whose enormity he'd himself find difficult to wrap around his head." The Indian Express also gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated, "Fan is a triumph. Shah Rukh Khan is played to all his strengths, and he plays it just right, gliding in and out of the star and the fan, creating distinct identities and outlines in one scene, and blurring the lines just so in the next." India Today gave the film 3.5 stars as well and commented, "Maneesh Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan hand-deliver the mindscape – of both the fan and the star – on screen. And brilliantly." Hindustan Times also rated it 3.5 out of 5 and went on to say, "Though Fan is irrational at times, it keeps the adrenaline pumping all 143-minutes of the movie. Also, the idea of keeping it a song-less film works because that keeps the overdramatic tone from seeping in." NDTV Movies gave the film 3 stars on 5 and opined, "Fan works for the most part because it has the fabulous SRK act as a 'young' star-struck boy. His energetic performance is worth the price of the ticket – if not more."