Fan
Director: Maneesh Sharma
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Waluscha de Sousa
Three and a half stars
Given Shah Rukh Khan's recent poor choice of film roles, most admirers of the superstar had somewhat mixed feelings ahead of the release of his latest, Fan.
It offered the perfect chance for Khan to shine in the role of Aryan Khanna, a 48-year-old superstar actor not dissimilar to himself (Khan is 50), who rose from humble beginnings in Delhi to take Bollywood and the country by storm. In addition, thanks to some clever make up and prosthetics, he plays 25-year-old Gaurav Chandna – essentially portraying his own biggest fan.
But excitement over this intriguing set-up was tinged with a concern that Fan would end up being little more than a self-congratulatory show reel to massage Khan's ego. After all, how many actors of Khan's stature have it in them to allow their stardom to be deconstructed for an audience?
This, for me, was Fan's biggest success: the ability to look at Khan and see more than a man who makes the ladies swoon by throwing open his arms over and over again.
Gaurav is Aryan’s biggest fan and also looks a lot like his idol. He heads to Mumbai in the hopes of meeting the superstar on his birthday, convinced that he is entitled to five minutes of Aryan’s time. When he doesn’t get a personal audience, Gaurav snaps and vows to make his hero apologise.
Taking advantage of their resemblance, he impersonates Aryan and ruins his reputation. A few unnecessarily long chase sequences later, Aryan catches up with Gaurav in an attempt to get his life and good name back.
It’s a decent story – the fan chases the star in the first half and the star chases the fan in the second half of the film.
Khan, as the disturbed Gaurav, will remind you of his brilliance that lit up the screen in his Darr and Baazigar days.
But it his performance as a thinly veiled version of himself, in the form of the quicksilver Aryan Khanna, that is the treat every Shah Rukh Khan fan has been waiting for, for years.
You get to see his superstar ego, but also the family man with responsibilities. You see his bravado, but also him swallowing humble pie, while trying to appease an industrialist who kicks him out of a wedding he was hired to dance at.
But most of all you see Khan/Khanna, grappling with his stardom and getting irritated because so much of his life is no longer his own. He basks in his fans’ adulation – but brutally informs his biggest fan, Gaurav, that he owes him nothing.
There is a brilliant early scene in which Gaurav tells Aryan that he is nobody without his fans. You see the nobody, Gaurav, looking down at the very superstar, Khanna. In the next moment, the positions have switched again and Aryan is back on top and in control.
Just for these rare moments inspired by Shah Rukh Khan's real life, you should go and watch Fan.
artslife@thenational.ae
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The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More by Adrian Harte
Jawbone Press
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding