Everyone is also excited to see the return of Shah Rukh Khan, the anti-hero.
There’s a superstar. And there’s a fan. The very purpose of the latter’s existence is his matinee idol. He lives and breathes this star. He even looks like him.
When the first promo of Shah Rukh Khan’s latest film, Fan to be released on Friday, was shown, the audience appreciated the work done on the character of the fan to make him look different, and much younger than the superstar. But then it was largely dismissed as the Bollywood Badshah’s latest megalomaniac move: the fan celebrates the superstar who in turn is modelled on Khan.
The audience is also curious about this latest Khan offering. The film is directed by Maneesh Sharma, who gave the industry Ranveer Singh with Band Baajaa Baarat; he wouldn’t do a blatant PR job, right?
The second trailer of the film gave a glimpse into how a shunned fan can be as dangerous as a wronged lover. The fan, dismissed by his idol, turns against him, transforming the superstar’s dream-like life into a nightmare.
The promo made everyone curious about how distinctly Shah Rukh Khan would essay both roles: would he be able to pull off what Kangana Ranaut had with her double role in Tanu Weds Manu Returns by playing two characters from very different backgrounds?
Everyone is also excited to see the return of Shah Rukh Khan, the anti-hero. The actor, who had charmed audiences in the earliest part of his career with his endearing simpleton act in Chamatkar and in the first half of Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, had established his position as an actor with negative roles in Baazigar, Darr and Anjaam, before becoming Bollywood’s favourite romantic lead with Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
Shah Rukh Khan in Darr.
In the years that followed, he did attempt films such as Ram Jaane and Trimurti but the audience had come to love him as Raj, the loverboy and he had to keep returning in the avatar for the audience to keep loving him: Dil Se, Swades, Paheli and Chak De…India, were all critically acclaimed but didn’t have the same box-office impact as the ones where he loved his girl and his family—Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Kal Ho Na Ho.
He went on to become the superstar and Badshah of Bollywood when films starring him would fetch him the blockbuster status, never mind the content, be it Ra.One, Chennai Express or Happy New Year. All SRK needed to do was furrow his brow, shed a tear for his love or serenade the lady by spreading out his arms, and the audience went bersek. So much so that DDLJ had a grand silver jubilee celebration last year.
Shah Rukh Khan in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
However, the (relative) failure of Dilwale last year, was indication enough that his fans – most of whom belong to the ‘family audience’ category – had begun to tire of the formula. They have begun to hope that their favourite superstar would reinvent and somehow redeem himself.
And Fan’s new trailer makes them believe it might be the film to do just that.
Little do they realise that Shah Rukh Khan isn’t quite reinventing himself over here but merely reinventing the wheel. He isn’t attempting anything new or even attempting to repeat the same old trick that got him his first flush of fame. In Fan, he plays the fan as a simpleton who is also the anti-hero, while the character of the superstar serenades the girls and also represents a larger than life figure, like Khan himself. In this film he brings together all the strands of his career and threads them together in one film.
Fan, if one looked closely, is a film where Shah Rukh Khan — the man who taught Bollywood to sell anything and everything from washing detergents to luxury watches – is the sum of all the parts he has played so far in his 25-year-long career.
