REVIEW 382: FAN

Release date:	April 15, 2016
Director:	Maneesh Sharma
Cast: Language:	Shah Rukh Khan, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Waluscha de Sousa, Yogendra Tiku, Deepika Amin, Sayani Gupta Hindi

We have watched stars wave warmly at fans from their balconies and cars, saying a kind word here and there at sundry public dos. We have seen them interact with their admirers at well-organised corporate meet-and-greet programmes. What happens though after those few moments of engagement? Beyond the smiles and cordiality, how would a public figure react when a fanatical supporter demands more than some seconds and wants to play a larger part in his life?

Writer-director Maneesh Sharma’s Fan sets out to answer those questions not by dispensing grandiose philosophies about fame and achievements, but in a specific scenario featuring Bollywood superstar Aryan Khanna and a cyber café owner in Delhi, Gaurav Chandna, who is obsessed with him. Gaurav is not a routine fan-turned-stalker of the kind celebrities have been known to report to the police. His actions involving Aryan have far-reaching consequences in his own life and in the fortunes of the object of his devotion.

To say more would be to give away too much. Know this: this film is not a light-hearted affair as it might seem from the lovely promotional song Jabra fan. It is not a comedy drama, although the hugely entertaining opening 15 minutes might suggest that. It is funny and engaging to begin with, and then at one point changes gears in a completely unpredictable fashion to become an uncommon thriller revolving around one star who turns out to be a human being after all and one very foolish fan. 

While the film establishes Gaurav’s Aryan fixation and his parallel career as an Aryan impersonator, it is unrelentingly amusing and believable. Adopting a patronising tone towards Gaurav would have been the easy thing to do, but it avoids taking that lazy route to elicit laughs or turn us against him. Yet it manages to make him a creepy, disturbing creature. When it switches modes, it remains gripping in a way you might usually expect in a crime flick. Again, it would have been so easy to paint Aryan as either satan or saint, but the film does neither. And though it has a couple of flaws that are exasperating to say the least, the narrative is so pacey and the acting so credible that there is not enough time to stop and think too much while events unfold on screen.

Shah Rukh Khan plays both Aryan and Gaurav with help from an excellent team of make-up artists who ensure that Gaurav bears an uncanny resemblance to his idol yet is clearly younger and, when you give him another glance, different. There is also some clever camerawork at play here, which serves to make Gaurav a slighter figure.

Their personalities are dissimilar not just because of prosthetics, creams, brushes and trick photography though. SRK alters his body language, his posture and his mannerisms to dissolve into Gaurav, in a way we have seen him do once before to differentiate his Don from Amitabh Bachchan. Through much of his career, Shah Rukh has played to the gallery with his performances, delivering that charming dimpled grin and the trademark quirky mannerisms that his dedicated followers are so in love with. It is such a pleasure to see his star traits take a backseat in Fan while he reminds us, as he did with Chak De! India and Swades, that he is a tremendous actor when he chooses to be one. C’mon SRK, give us more of this.

Two problems in the script by Habib Faisal pull this film down though. First, considering that he is such a major film star, Aryan seems to be accompanied by a rather minuscule personal team at a gala in Dubrovnik, Croatia – one manager, one lawyer, one securityman. Really? Don’t know about other industries, but Bollywood stars of that stature are usually escorted by large entourages including multiple bouncers, which makes this a very irritating flaw since any industry observer would know this. It is as though the writer could not think of an adequate ploy to explain how Gaurav manages to do what he does in this sequence.

Equally implausible are Aryan’s actions at the point when he decides to take matters into his own hands in Dubrovnik. His moves might have appeared natural if the script had spent time establishing him as an impetuous, quick-tempered man. Unfortunately, while a lot of effort is devoted to drawing us into Gaurav’s life in the beginning, we get to know Aryan far less as a person before he begins reacting to Gaurav’s behaviour.

These shortcomings in the writing are infuriating because they are what hold Fan back from being the great film it could have been. This is particularly disappointing because Maneesh and Habib had earlier too teamed up as director and writer respectively on the fantastic Band Baaja Baaraat (Fan’s story is by Maneesh, screenplay by Habib, dialogues by Habib and Sharat Katariya who made the heart-warming Dum Laga Ke Haisha last year). Fan is not BBB, but as things stand it is still a very good and very unconventional Bollywood film. SRK’s performance is so enjoyable and the question of what will happen next is so pressing at all times in this film, that it is impossible to look away from the screen.

Although this is not a regular cops ‘n’ robber flick, it features three very exciting, very well-handled, crisply edited chase scenes. Its use of music too is unusual, since Jabra fan does not appear in the film nor is there any long ruminative number playing in the background while the protagonists go about their business, as is typical of Bollywood. For the kind of film Fan is, this is a wise decision. Andrea Guerra’s unobtrusive background music is effective in building up a sense of heightened tension and low-key poignancy as and when required.

The story is almost entirely focused on Gaurav and Aryan, yet the supporting cast use their limited screen time to good effect. It is also such a relief to see that producers Yash Raj Films have not penny-pinched while casting their European extras, as most Hindi films do. Whew!

As an aside, it is worth noting some of the detailing in the film. Fan is clearly made by people who know Delhi and Mumbai well. It is nice, for instance, to see a Hindi film referencing Golcha and Delite theatres in the national capital, and not feeling the need to have a character drive past India Gate, the Hanuman statue at Jhandewalan or Red Fort to convince us that we’re in Delhi.  

Though Fan is far from being perfect, it urges us to think about issues relating to stardom, fandom, idolatry and public expectations from famous people without overtly appearing to do so. It is suspenseful without beating drums and clanging cymbals around its many twists and turns. Much of its appeal lies in the fact that the central characters are not stereotyped. Besides, when Shah Rukh Khan decides to go real and understated, it always makes for compelling viewing.

Rating (out of five): ***

CBFC Rating (India):	UA
Running time:	142 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/fan-review-unpredictably-gripping-with-a-very-convincing-shah-rukh-khan-2731444.html  

Photograph courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_(film)

Video courtesy: Yash Raj Films

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkS_Ar0Yad0&feature=youtu.be

Related link: revisiting my review of Maneesh Sharma’s first film as director, Band Baaja Baaraat:

http://blogs.intoday.in/headlinestoday/SWEET-SMALL-OH-SO-LOVELY!-62202.html

REVIEW 221: SHUDDH DESI ROMANCE

Release date:	September 6, 2013
Director:	Maneesh Sharma
Cast: Language:	Parineeti Chopra, Sushant Singh Rajput, Vaani Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor Hindi

Chanchal characters, ati random consistency... That’s what Shuddh Desi Romance is – a little sparkler of a film that fizzles out in the second half, with the heavyweight team of director Maneesh Sharma (Band Baaja Baaraat, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl) and writer Jaideep Sahni (Chak De! India) seeming not to know quite what to do beyond a point. When the going’s good it’s damn bloody good, but then it sadly peters out.

SDR stars Kai Po Che’s Sushant Singh Rajput as Raghuram, a Jaipur tourist guide and baaraati-on-hire who is torn between his love/attraction for fellow rental baaraati Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra) and the woman he almost marries (Tara, played by newcomer Vaani Kapoor). This is a story of relationships, commitment phobia, the social compulsions that drive people to get married in India, hypocrisy, a woman who lives and loves on her own terms and a man who wants to be like her. The tone is set when Gayatri says towards the start: Shaadiyon mein poore Hindustan ki jhoot aur double standards nikal aate hai. And throughout the film we are reminded that sexual permissiveness is far more prevalent in India, especially seemingly-conservative small-town India, than we like to admit. We’re a nation in which it’s not unheard of for a woman to have sex with a man but cover up that aspect of their relationship by tying a rakhi on his wrist. We’re a nation that does everything but wants to pretend that we don’t.

It’s impossible not to like Sushant and his Raghuram, despite his dithering and his typical male concerns about Gayatri’s previous relationships notwithstanding his seeming open-mindedness. It’s impossible not to fall in love with Parineeti and her Gayatri even when the girl’s own confusion leads her to blame Raghu for her actions. Both actors dissolve themselves in their characters in a most captivating fashion. Sushant had shown himself to be a live wire in his very first film. Parineeti is a nuanced performer with eyes that glitter and glimmer and do a little dance every time she opens them. Vaani doesn’t possess their charisma, but she too is a good actress. Together, they give us a refreshingly different commentary on young, small-town India’s attitude towards relationships.

There’s so much to like in this film: the city of Jaipur feels like a real city and not a series of set pieces, even the tiniest roles are played by well-chosen actors, the music is a breeze, the lyrics are joyous and Rishi Kapoor as the avuncular caterer-cum-wedding-planner is irresistibly likeable especially when he’s worrying that he’ll go out business if marriages go out of fashion. It requires a suspension of disbelief to accept that an Indian boy, however guileless he may be, whether he’s from a big city or a small town, would simply assume that a woman who has allowed him into her bed would automatically be open to a live-in relationship, but Raghu and Gayatri are so charming in those scenes that it becomes easier to set incredulity aside. It’s a tad irritating that even someone of Sahni’s caliber uses cigarette smoking as the earliest indicator of a girl’s liberalism the way so many Hindi film makers do (Bollywood may not believe this, but there are ACTUALLY a ton of liberal Indian women out there who don’t smoke or drink!) but in the larger scheme of things this is a passing irritant. I mean, it’s hard to remain angry for too long with a man who can write songs like Tere mere beech mein, Chanchal mann ati random and Shuddh desi romance. Besides, it’s quite amazing that without a single sermon, the film manages to make the point that a romp between the sheets doesn’t come without responsibilities. Sadly though, once what had to be said has been said in the first half of the film, no one seems to know what else to say. This is a film that needed to be compact but instead unnecessarily stretches itself to 2 hours and 21 minutes.

Yash Raj Films should be vocally commended for having made the director and writer’s names such a prominent part of their promotional material. How many Bollywood production houses bother to give that kind of respect to writers? Interestingly, it’s the written word that both makes and breaks this particular project. Shuddh Desi Romance is brave all the way and bouncy up to a point, beyond which it just gives up.

Rating (out of five): **3/4

CBFC Rating (India):	U/A
Running time:	2 hours 21 minutes

Poster and videos courtesy: Yash Raj Films

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Hle83Plpo&feature=youtu.be

Tere Mere Beech Mein: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_ALp-Bqg9M&feature=youtu.be

Gulabi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll-LluZrNqw&feature=youtu.be

Shuddh Desi Romance title track:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=varo0G9I-gk&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLCB05E03DA939D484

Chanchal mann ati random: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdWe8J-m_Ug&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLCB05E03DA939D484

REVIEW 129: BITTOO BOSS

Release date:	April 13, 2012
Director:	Supavitra Babul
Cast:	Pulkit Samrat, Amita Pathak, Ashok Pathak

The trailer of Bittoo Boss reminded me of two recent films. Apart from the similarities in lingo, look and feel, there’s also the fact that Bittoo Boss’ hero shares his first name with the lovable Ranveer Singh’s character in Yash Raj Films’ Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) … remember that crazily charismatic fellow? And perhaps the resemblance to the posters and promo of TanuWeds Manu (2011) has something to do with the fact that TWM and Bittoo Boss are both Viacom 18 films.

But should the comparisons end there? Unfortunately, yes.

I say “unfortunately” because I adored Band Baaja Baaraat, I found the first half of Tanu Weds Manu lots of fun, and Bittoo Boss is a film with tremendous potential that it simply does not live up to.

Bittoo is an attractive, talented and cocky wedding videographer in Punjab who revels in the attention he gets from female guests. His ultimate goal is to become a feature film maker, but when the going gets tough, he decides to take up pornography to make a quick buck. I can’t tell you more without giving away too much. But promising story brief, right?

The interesting premise is let down by a patchy screenplay and inconsistent casting though. TV actor and film debutant Pulkit Samrat is pleasing to the eye and convincing as the aspiring film maker Bittoo who walks an unusual path to attain his goal. No, he doesn’t have the electrifying screen presence with which Ranveer Singh zapped us in BBB, but remember that Ranveer might have been half the smashing debutant he was without Maneesh Sharma’s brilliant direction, the impeccable writing by Sharma and Habib Faisal, and spunky Anushka Sharma as Shruti Kakkar providing the perfect foil to his OTT character. Still, Pulkit in Bittoo Boss displays a noteworthy ability to swing between the smug small-town heart throb with the swagger, the proud professional who can’t bear the slightest slight even if it could lead to a significant career break, the angry lover and the guy who can’t walk away from his golden heart. But too many aspects of his character and story are glossed over in this half-baked screenplay. For instance, are we seriously expected to believe that it takes just one hard knock for this supremely confident young man to take such a dramatic career decision? 

And before that, there is this other question: why did he fall for the leading lady? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not for a moment suggesting that only beautiful women should be cast as heroines in films. And to be fair, Amita Pathak is a good actress. But when almost every single female guest at a wedding is falling all over a cute guy, yet he has eyes only for one among them, she’d better be wonderfully well fleshed out in the script and played by an actress with a striking screen presence. Nay on both fronts here! The character is quite charmless. As for the actress … Well, charisma is not about looks, it’s about an X factor that’s hard to explain. You either have it or you don’t. Sadly, Amita does not. This is disappointing since the lead pair needed to share an exciting chemistry for his despair to be convincing. It’s not. ’Cos they don’t.

Amita is producer Kumar Mangat Pathak’s daughter so I cannot blame the casting team for her, particularly since their choices for some of the smaller parts are interesting. The actors in Bittoo’s attempts at porn feel like real people. A special mention must go to the kid playing the under-age girl whose name, I’m afraid, I missed! In the role of Bittoo’s porn assistant Vicky is Ashok Pathak who is energetic, believable and delightful.

The slumps in Bittoo Boss’ writing and direction are inexplicable since there are parts of this film that are handled in both departments with a simplicity and firmness of hand that are very effective ... such as the quarrel between the lead pair when Bittoo refuses to let a TV channel head insult his work; and especially especially the lengthy portion dealing with Bittoo’s foray into pornography. Here the film makes a superbly subtle point about date rape which is completely unexpected in a country like ours where the “she asked for it” taunt is thrown at most rape victims. In fact, this part of Bittoo Boss is so absorbing that it almost feels like someone else helmed the rest of it.

Erratic … that’s what Bittoo Boss is!

Rating (out of five): **

CBFC Rating:                       U/A
Language:                              Hindi with Punjabi

Photograph courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bittoo_Boss