Oscar winning makeup artist Greg Cannom did the amazing prosthetics and makeup for Gaurav’s look in Fan. He worked with Brad Pitt on Benjamin Button, and took the mold of Brad’s cheeks to make prosthetics for Gaurav’s face. He also did the age makeup for Rishi Kapoor in Kapoor and Sons.
YRF released this behind the scenes Making of Gaurav video for the movie Fan. I had so many questions after watching the film a second time, and really looking at how different Gaurav is from Shahrukh. Besides the big cheeks, the eyebrows are different, and he just looked slimmer and smaller over all.
This 14 minute video answered a lot — it was prosthetics and lots of VFX on top. This is the same special effects makeup artist who worked with Brad Pitt on Benjamin Button. So he looked up in his work shop and saw a mold of Brad Pitt’s face, and decided to use those unique cheekbones to make Gaurav’s look. Fascinating!
When I first saw the trailer for Fan, I was frankly creeped out by the look of the character Gaurav (the Fan). Through the use of prosthetics and major CGI, the filmmakers have made Shahrukh look just similar enough, and just different enough that it’s eerie. The eyebrows are straightened out of their normal “S” shape. The cheeks are too wide and the teeth different, and mostly, he looks so young!
But once you watch the film, it’s great, because Shahrukh Khan the actor has been able to create two distinct characters in this film. Aryan Khanna is for the most part the real SRK, a little more arrogant and less warm maybe. And Gaurav is the young obsessed fan from Delhi. The prosthetics and CGI let you see them as two different people immediately.
I was fortunate to see Fan before I really read any reviews or saw anything about the plot. Of course, I had my suspicions that this would be a darker psychological thriller, and it most definitely is. I was traveling for a conference in Las Vegas on Friday, and asked at an Indian restaurant which of the total two theaters in town showing Fan would be a safer neighborhood to take an Uber. Totally worth it to see it the first night! I knew a bit what I was getting into, that there would be no songs, but I think the audience I was seeing it with really didn’t know. As the end credits started, the guys behind me said out loud, “What, no song?” The tone and moment that the film ends with, I’m glad that we didn’t have that peppy Fan Anthem song over the credits. It would have been jarring. (Like the credit song was for Badlapur!)
I don’t want to spoiler the movie at all. I’m just going to tell you that you should really see this film. It is a return to Shahrukh the actor, which I had been hoping for! This is acting of a level with Darr, with Swades, or Chak De! Yes, it really is that good. It’s up with all the great performances. I’ve already seen the film twice and I plan on seeing it again in a few days with a friend. For a Shahrukh Khan fan, there is so much to delight in references to real past movies of SRK’s. Real old interview footage, footage from his SLAM! Tour in the US in big stadiums – they even filmed at his home Mannat on his birthday to capture the craziness.
You can guess from the trailer that it’s about a super star, and an obsessed fan, and things are going to get crazy. I’m giving it four and a half stars out of five, because I loved it that much, but there were a few logical leaps in the second half. I’m not sure the logic of the thriller completely worked, but I just loved watching it unfold before my eyes anyway. The action set pieces are really good, and Dubrovnic is gorgeous!! (That’s the rooftop chase from the trailer.)
I’ve seen people say this is a copy of the Robert DeNiro/Wesley Snipes film The Fan, and it really isn’t. Yes, you have an obsessed fan in both thrillers, but that’s where the similarity really ends.
None of the other actors in the movie are big names. There’s another rival “star” in the film named Sid Kapoor that I think is supposed to be a take on Hrithik. I recognized the character actors playing Gaurav’s parents, but really the movie is Shahrukh vs. Shahrukh. I also admire Shahrukh for poking a little fun at his own stardom. There’s a scene where Aryan is performing for a wedding for a huge fee, and even him punching the star Sid Kapoor at a party could be reference to real dustups that Shahrukh has had in his own life. Aryan is an aging star, who has declining box office for his films, and Gaurav at first won’t stand for any rival to take his God, HIS star’s place.
What is fantastic in this double character study is that your sympathies go from one character to the other and back and forth again. There are shades of gray to both characters, and I loved that. This was writer/director Manesh Sharma’s dream project for years. Yash Raj had him prove himself with a few other films first, and he started with Band Baaja Baaraat, and what a debut that was! He had to wait fot the timing to be right for Shahrukh to be involved — really I don’t know if I can think of any other Bollywood actor more perfect for this dual role. It’s a triumph for Shahrukh, Manesh Sharma and the VFX team.
I’m so excited for Raees now!
A few weeks ago, I answered a question on Quora, “Does anyone besides Indians watch Indian movies?” This post is adapted from the answer I gave. At first I gave a brief answer, but then people commented and wanted to know WHY? Why would a non-Indian love Indian films? Many commenters were at first incredulous, but then thanked me for showing them an outsider’s view of their cinema. As of this writing, the answer has garnered over 170,000 views, and made me a Most Viewed Writer about Bollywood on Quora. (Which still blows my mind.)
Netflix in the US has over 80 Hindi films at anyone time. Because of the kind of films I enjoy, Netflix recommended I watch Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge about 2 years ago. Since I fell in love with Bollywood, I’ve seen over 200 Indian films. I’m lucky that in my area new release films play in a few local theaters. I was able to see Kapoor and Sons just last night and I absolutely loved it.
I’m not the only non-Desi in America to love Bollywood movies, but I wouldn’t say it’s very common.
My father’s church has a monthly movie night, and he asked me to show a Bollywood movie last week. I chose Dil Se, and showed it to 15 people, including my parents, who had never before seen a Bollywood film. They all loved it!
Editing to add my answer from the comments below, WHY I love Indian films:
I also love old Hollywood musicals like Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly films. Hollywood does not make them anymore. I love the singing and the dancing in Indian cinema, but also the earnest love stories are not the kind of films that Hollywood makes either. Rom Coms are becoming rarer and rarer in American films which tend to be more cynical. The emotions in Bollywood films are something that is rare to see in Hollywood or English films. People joke about how much Shahrukh Khan cries in his films, but I really respond to the emotions shown in Indian cinema. Also, the colors on screen! Bhansali’s film Ram-Leela is an example of this.
I listen to Bollywood music all the time, as well.
Indian films just give me things I cannot get from Hollywood or other Western cinema. Plus Shahrukh Khan. I’ve watched 47 of his films alone (which doesn’t count the countless times I’ve watched DDLJ.) 🙂
I do love South Indian films as well, and I have seen a little over 30 South Indian films. I fell in love with Prabhas after watching Baahubali last year (four times in the theater!). I now own many of his Telugu films on DVD.
Recently, I’ve been watching quite a few Malayalam films, especially recent ones with Nivin Pauly and Dulquer Salmaan. I have watched fewer Tamil films, but I asked my neighbor to bring me back some DVD’s from her recent trip to Chennai, and have been working through the dozen films she brought me. Last week, I watched Raja Rani, and liked it.
For those interested, I keep track of all the Bolllywood films I’ve watched on Letterboxd.com, and here’s my list of Regional films I’ve seen, up to 32 now after watching the Malayalam film Classmates last night.
I asked for commenters to recommend their favorite Indian films — and oh boy, did they. I’ve created a Letterboxd list now of all the films recommended there in the comments that I have not already seen. Now up to 372 (!!) films in several Indian languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, etc. The question now is will I live long enough to watch even half of them!
My first Bollywood film ever was Lagaan, back almost 15 years ago when it was nominated for the Foreign language Oscar. That was back when you could only rent Netflix movies via DVD in the mail. I then watched Dil Chahta Hai, because that also had Aamir Khan. But it was not so easy back then for a non-Hindi speaker to find out about other Bollywood films. The internet has helped so much, and Netflix’s recommendation engine is the reason I fell in love with Bollywood 2 years ago. DDLJ was recommended to me, then I was able to watch Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi right after that. I texted my Indian next door neighbor for other suggestions, and she loves Hrithik Roshan and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was also streaming on Netflix and I was off to the races with my new obsession.
I have been mentored by two other non-Desi lovers of Bollywood who then suggested many other films for me to try, and in some cases pushed the DVD’s into my hand saying, “YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS!”
Kathy Gibson of AccessBollywood.net and Margaret of DontCallItBollywood
Shout out also to the gang at Bollywhat forum!
Sometimes there are movies you have been anticipating for months and you do a little prayer before it starts that it lives up to your hopes for it. This is a movie that not only exceeded my every expectation – it blew me away it was so excellent. I’ve seen the movie twice now.
I don’t want to spoiler this movie, because I really enjoyed going into it guessing what might happen in this intense family drama, but not knowing. I laughed, I cried, I gasped in shock at more than one point. This film puts you through the emotional wringer. I really cried at more than one moment in the film.
This is an incredible ensemble of actors. Rishi Kapoor was a hoot as a fun loving 90 year old grandfather whose sudden heart attack brings home the two brothers, played by Siddarth Malhotra and Fawad Khan. There are tensions and secrets that burst out over the family coming together again. The trailer plays up the romantic angle with Alia Bhatt’s character, but that’s just a small part of the drama.
I do love Siddarth, but he is the lesser actor of this stellar cast. The stand out, by far, is Fawad Khan. This Pakistani actor had his Bollywood debut in Khoobsurat in 2014, and I’ll admit it, I caught Fawad Fever. I watched his entire Pakistani soap Humsafar (on Watch Bollywood Movies Online – Eros Now), and this guy can ACT. He’s also incredibly generous with the actors sharing the screen with him. What a choice of a sophomore Bollywood role. It has felt like it’s been forever since Khoobsurat came out, but this film was so worth the wait. When the movie was over I wanted to watch it all over again!
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