Take a bow, Shah Rukh Khan, raves Raja Sen.
Who could do this film but Shah Rukh Khan?
Conceptually, the basic idea propelling the narrative of Maneesh Sharma's Fan appears deceptively simple -- that of an obsessive fan, a bit of a cross between Misery and The King Of Comedy -- and, judged from the surface, this film works like a slickly efficient Darr homage.
Yet, behind the thriller-movie makeup it wears, there is so much more to Fan, a film that should be hailed for its satirical sharpness and for its subtle subversion. And it deserves to be celebrated for the way it allows the world's biggest movie star to cleverly lampoon his own absurdly, inevitably inflated legend.
For this is a film where Shah Rukh Khan crowns himself his own greatest admirer.
Lookalikes don't often resemble the celebrities they attempt to ape.
Styled to accentuate a passing resemblance, they more often than not look like a wonky wet-watercolour version of the real thing,something sculpted with less finesse and more raggedy edges.
Don't be taken in -- Fan is never a template film, especially when it begins most to resemble one.
Throughout the action there are clues to how blind faith in cinema steers you wrong.
It is a well-crafted, finely cast film, with significant performances from actors like Yogendra Tiku and Shriya Pilgaonkar, set against that precise Delhi detailing Sharma is so good at.
Cinematographer Manu Anand plays up both similarities and the lack of similarities between the two protagonists with great skill, his camera often slithering around them in compellingly framed close-ups and over-the-shoulder shots.
The difference between the two SRKs is pronouncedly stark in one scene, but they completely, creepily, coldly turn on the exact same amount of charm in the next. Khan's performance is an astonishing one, credibly creating both the young hungry-eyed kid falling back in anorgasmic swoon on beholding his idol in the flesh, as well as giving us the deeper portrayal of a superstar with such a fragile identity that depends far too much on perception.
The film rightfully attacks the irresponsible and star-struck media scavengers through a smashing scene wherein a journalist tries to make a joke and Khan -- sorry, Khanna (or is it?) -- eviscerates her for laughing while they are speaking about a young girl being molested. And it deeply hacks away at the idea of the self-proclaimed superfan, an increasingly profane and vulgarly aggressive community in these times of social-media and constant online abuse. (To spell it out: Dear Salman fans who are already doubtless typing up swearwords based on how many stars this review has, please realise Sallu himself would not appreciate it. He might blush, even.)
Take a bow, Shah Rukh Khan.
Not only for a phenomenal, genuinely groundbreaking performance but for being bold enough to give us the sight of a boy wearing painted-on abs while aping you dancing in a song where you, according to rumour, wore painted-on abs. For a glimpse at a worn out 50-year-old man -- massaging his temples, and stretching at the lines on his face -- before turning on the high-wattage smile and stepping out to market his myth.
Of course Shah Rukh Khan is his own biggest fan. It's a rule that comes with the megastar territory, the need to believe in your own legend. What a film like Fan makes evident is that the rarified view from high up there may not always be the most pleasant. Especially when you're looking at the fan in the mirror.
Rediff Rating: 4.5 Stars
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