Analysis of Fan movie and why some of the audience & critics failed to understand it.

I’d like to mention some things that I observed when I first watched the film. Here they are:

 

§  The fan (Gaurav) is in nearly in every scene of the movie.

Even after he dies in the climax he still makes his presence in the scene when Aryan (star) acknowledges the crowd in front of his house. This is one of those point-of-view movies in which the audience lives with the fan and sees the cinematic world only through his eyes.

§ The movie highlights our hypocritical world more than once. 

                  I would like to quote Gaurav (fan) as no words would explain it better.

“Ek ye log he jo facebook twitter pe inki picturo ki burai karte he, fir inke hi ghar ke samne selfie khinchane aa jate hai aur bad me unka sabse bada fan kehte he”

§  Spotlights only on the dark and cynical side of two lead characters of the movie.

This style of film making is called film-noir something that many big banners of India have never experimented. And this is the only the second time YRF experimented (the first being Detective Byomkesh Bakshi). That’s one of main reason that many audience failed to digest the movie because such kind of mainstream cinema never made to the floors. Last time we saw such genre of cinema was 4 years ago, Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), before that it was Maqbool (2003) in which all the characters of the movie including the police duo (Om Puri and Nasseruddin Shah) were notably dark. Other film which comes to my mind is Satya (1998). I cannot say anything about Manorama Six Feet Under (2007) which many critics refer as film-noir because I’ve not seen it as of now.

Our audience is used to see the protagonist and an antagonist. This is the first time in mainstream cinema where you’ll see two antagonist in one frame.  

§  No songs in the movie

              The movie is about Bollywood yet there is no song in the movie. Of course there are dance rehearsal scenes in the movies. The fact there is no song is actually good thing because it helps the characters and audience to seep into the story line of the movie rather than hanging up on dance moves and foreign locations.

§  Innovative and self-explanatory style of cinematography.

There is one scene in the movie which was brilliantly shot. Let me tell you in brief about that scene first. There is star rivalry between Aryan and Sid Kapoor. In order to please his star (Aryan) the fan (Gaurav) assaults and humiliates Sid Kapoor and to get Aryan’s praise he sends the video on every media platform and it goes viral. For Aryan it’s crime and informs the police to arrest Gaurav, who roughens him up. Later Aryan comes to visit his fan at police station. So here we are. The fan and his star face to face. Surrounded both the sides by mirrors.

 

This is the situation when both of them get a reality check. They both get to know the ugly truth about themselves. The superstar Aryan gets aware by the perils of stardom but doesn’t know what kind of monster is lurking inside his fan. Whereas on other hand the praise and ardency in him about the star mortifies when he learns to know that his fan-ship is overlooked and his commitment his squelched completely. This meeting inside the room turns out to be a big reality check for both of them. The star which we look in front of camera is entirely different person and so are some of his fans.
Now the idea of mirror being placed in the scene is purely rational. The cinematographer wants to tell even though they are seeing each others wide range of persona and number of aspects of their physical being but they fail to see the real being inside them. The mirror only shows what kind of a person you are from outside but not the person hidden beneath you. The same thing happened here. Both never really show the monster inside either of them and took each others act for granted. And from here we can forecast the silent storm is on its way.

·  The movie leaves the audience with a million dollar question: Why the fan dies in the movie or why the superstar doesn’t say sorry to his fan. 

           Many people were left perplexed as they never got what the film wanted to say and the one who got the idea of what the film was about (which they believe) and concluded that the fan loses in the end.Actually the truth is deeper than that. It is the star that also loses because he fails to make his fan understand that behind his glamorous and enchanting lifestyle lies a shit load of hard work. Even after given so many chances the fan could not get over his obsession and superiority complex. The fan loses his life unable to abide by the truth that he faces and leaves the star to live with the burden that came because of his fan’s death. Both never sailed on one ship.

           This explains that there is a huge gap between the celebrity and fan. And the gap widens more and more. Although the social media may have created huge platform to get acquainted with movies stars but it never really speaks about what it takes to be a star and many of us like Gaurav takes it for granted. There is a life beyond impressing others. Rather than being someone else it’s important to be oneself. That’s the entire idea behind the film. That’s what Aryan wanted to say to Gaurav and that’s what the entire film is about.

“Chodd rehne de tu nahi samjega”

The fan as a movie will work for you if you are a big film-noir fan. The cinematography is interesting just like I’ve mentioned before. Didn’t see any loopholes in the story or the scene. It is the first movie to be shot at the Madam Tussaud museum London and yes did I mentioned SRK has played larger than life character in the film?