FAN – Bollywood movie quick review

Shah Rukh Khan both as a movie superstar and his deranged young look-a-like fan

Quite enjoyed this. Well-made, well-acted psycho-thriller that gets pretty tense, serves up a few moments of dark humour, gets uncomfortable at times, yet still manages to do that typical Indian-movie thing of being emotionally-charged.

The only problem is that you don’t know who to root for as neither the superstar, nor the obsessed fan are good guys. Which is rather unusual for the usually black and white moralistic storylines found in your usual Bollywood movies.

One’s a vain, arrogant ego-maniac and the other’s a psychopath and borderline clinically insane. A bit of a brave role for SRK to do (though admittedly he’s done the whole pyscho thing before), and this must have felt a bit close to home for someone who appears to be playing himself.

But in some ways it is easy to relate to both too, as each us can find faults with ourselves we’re not willing to recognise.

Both characters end up taking a long look at themselves and what they are, and it’s a bit of a mirror-of-the-self story driven to a mutually destructive if inevitable climax. Quite clever actually.

There’s a few plot holes, but enough intelligence to keep you hooked.