SRK IS PLAYED TO ALL HIS STRENGTHS IN THIS FILM. Review on Fan

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.But, and this is the thing, the film does not simper or slobber. It is not in thrall to its star, even when it recognizes his stardom. It goes at itself with with a raised devil’s eyebrow(just like SRK’s) and a nod and a wink, and brings us in on the joke. And Shah Rukh Khan keeps pace with us, all the way.A couple of quibbles: in the zeal to make it audience-friendly, long sequences are devoted to star and fan chasing each other, racing down roads, leaping up and down high walls and difficult inclines, accompanied by loud background music. It gives us a chance to see Aryan shake his tingling hand after landing a punch: aah, so a star also hurts! But it tells us that a ‘different’ film is still forced into adopting populist measures. Also, a speech delivered by the star to the fan on the virtues of being his own man, and not a me-too, seems stuffed in and stuffy, if practically ordained. There are a few contrivances which make you go hmm, and you can see the end coming too, before it does. But the rest of it is so good that you let it pass. There are a bunch of other actors here, all competent. Gaurav has a ‘kind of’ girl-friend who wants to go to Amreeka, and loving parents(Amin, Tiku); Aryan has a wife and kids and opulent interiors and an entourage. But this is an out-and-out Shah Rukh Khan show, in which the star proves again, after a too-long gap, that he can greenlight roles completely out of his comfort zone, and deliver. It is what’s called a command performance.