When you become most anticipated, marketed and hugely expected to be some revolutionary thing, it’s quite tough to satisfy both intellectually and entertainingly. Fan has the most brilliant post-production work for any Bollywood cinema till date in my opinion. It somehow convinces that it can be SRK’s career best till date which is not something that has to be shoved down one’s throat as Shah Rukh Khan can do something magical whenever possible. But living up to this much of hype and excitement is not an easy thing. Brilliantly edited trailer and teaser, all those fan interviews about how Shah Rukh Khan is a ray of hope and inspiration to them, coming up with something fresh and edgy after all those monotonous commercially targeted movies, do all these live up to the buildup?

First things first, Maneesh Sharma is a skilled director. He does whatever could have been done with the script. Let that be creating the perfect vibe between the situation and the screenplay to make the most magical moment on screen, or utilizing the powerhouse of acting talent, his highness, Shah Rukh Khan to the fullest, everything is bang-on. Still, the foreground of how Gaurav became so insanely affectionate of Aryan Khanna fell short of convincibility mostly because of not paying much attention to it. But the idea of his fondness just because of Aryan Khanna’s larger than life stardom was much convincing why his faith towards his favorite actor broke so easily. Especially, brownie points for when his mother realized they should have got Gaurav more focused on Aryan Khanna’s struggle throughout the years, so it would have been a bit hard for him to relate with the star this massively. How Maneesh Sharma played with both the character’s impact on the movie is commendable as it’s a tough call to judge them while the movie is playing.

It’s a simple story of how a 25-year old, Inder Nagar, Delhi resident Gaurav Chanana (Shah Rukh Khan), a doppelganger of superstar Aryan Khanna (Shah Rukh Khan), also happens to be a die-hard fan of the superstar he resembles so much aesthetically. He eats, sleeps and breaths Aryan since childhood and has made him a part of himself throughout these many years. How Gaurav’s destiny is changed when he decides to gift his trophy (won on a local housing society talent show) to his superstar and several incidents later, the biggest fan becomes the biggest nemesis for the superstar is the rest of the story.

Story on obsession, later resulting to enmity is nothing new and has happened several times before, so excellent scripting and exciting out-of-the-box subplots could have made something epic for the viewers to cherish. But sadly, even Habib Faisal fails to impress us by his writing. The scripting is too loose and very faulty at parts which was very disappointing to see at such a hyped movie. With such a brilliant actor who could have carried out anything, scripting could have worked as the gear to make the movie more interesting. Nothing like never-seen-before is there in Fan, and frankly, the actor was trying to jolt the situations for something extraordinary to happen.

The biggest problem with Fan is it shows the symptoms of getting interesting and provocative at certain situations, but the next moment you know, it’s back to stereotyping. The Quick transformation of Gaurav’s sentiment towards Aryan was brilliant at the pre-interval moments, but after interval, it completely tarnishes the thrill it was trying to maintain. *sigh*

Habib Faisal and Sharat Katariya were the brains behind the dialogues and they have failed to come up with anything that can instigate the masses or even try to sound crafty. If you are working behind such a huge and extravaganza movie, these things matter. Camera work by Manu Anand is terribly plenary. It was so uninteresting and primary that cinematography goes totally unnoticed mostly.

Namrata Rao‘s editing could have been much more crisp and brainy. Post-interval after some moments, the movie totally loses focus. Some scenes seem too stretchy after interval, especially unnecessarily long chase sequences and Gaurav’s different moments of taking revenge.

Also, Some things I’ll really like to mention that Aryan Khanna’s security is screened as very dumb and unwanted. It contradicts logic when nation’s biggest superstar going on his own every now and then, here and there and also Gaurav is causing harm or reaching Aryan Khanna whenever he feels convenient. And why is Gaurav suddenly becoming a full duplicate from a doppelganger at certain times when everyone (including Aryan’s wife, building gate security man) is confusing the two of them. That’s not a nice trick to confuse the viewers even and plant a vague idea about how Gaurav is a genius trickster.

Background score by Andrea Guerra is hugely gripping and one of the best elements of this movie. As there are no songs in the movie, the scores had to be engaging and connecting the movie with the viewers for some audible pleasure, it succeeds with flying colors.

Take a bow Shah Rukh Khan, you are the heart, kidney, liver, lungs, brain and everything else to this movie. It takes a lot of bravura to come out of comfort zone and invest in offbeat scripts that require sheer talent. And, Fan was that chance to SRK which he carries out on his shoulders like a pro. As an obsessive and sweetly delusional Gaurav Chanana, he engages the audience with those brilliant facial movements and jolly good nature of talking, behaving. But when Gaurav gets serious he can lose his mind completely which was also fascinating to see. A single character had these many shades and Shah Rukh Khan has brilliantly carried out everything. Even, as a strong, successful, arrogant Aryan Khanna, Shah Rukh does brilliantly, but these superstar features come naturally to him, so was a no big deal for him I guess.

Special mention for that scene at the ending, when Aryan is imagining Gaurav in the huge crowd of his followers on his birthday.

1. Finally, Gaurav is successful in leaving a solid impact on the superstar he always admired and wanted to remain the mind of.

2. Finally, Aryan realizes how correct it is what he said casually at an event about how his fans make him what he his today and Gaurav pointing him that out.

A gem of a scene. Biggest takeaway from the movie.

Others like Deepika Amin as Gaurav’s mother and Yogendra Tiku as Gaurav’s father were first-rate. Shriya Pilgaonkar as Neha, Gaurav’s love-interest and Waluscha De Sousa as Aryan’s wife were quite convenient in the screen spaces they got.

Fan is a big battle inside your head whether to get a bit disgruntled as the film is deeply flawed or to forgive considering how much Shah Rukh Khan has tried not to make it look so ordinary, which it sadly is.

Shah Rukh Khan has expressed almost everything about his stardom in the movie so bravely that you cannot but be impressed. He is shamelessly donning a Six-pack abs T-shirt and dancing to his own item song mocking the hell out of himself. He is unapologetic to dance at weddings for cash even if that’s so demeaning for his public image and also his personal temper. He doesn’t care whomsoever he slapped at some occasion for their misbehavior. It takes a whole lot of guts to be so valiant and impolitely correct publicly. Bravo for that!

But sadly, Fan was always on the shoulder of the protagonist lacking creativity as well as credibility. It’s Shah Rukh Khan, who has not let the movie get out of hand. This particular fact will be hard to understand just because Shah Rukh Khan did so bloody good. Even though, it is a complete failure as a thriller.

First things first. If you are some cynic who is more interested in criticizing the “failed” adaptation of Sir Saradindu Bandopadhyay classic crime mystery thriller novels rather than Bollywood’s keen interest to shade some light on that, then I would recommend to keep yourself away from the movie if it hurts your sentiments that much. Or, if possible, try to watch the movie as a thriller with some sleuth keeping aside the “Bakshi(y)” factor. There’s a difference between “Based on the novel by” and “Based on characters created by”, and here’s where Detective Byomkesh Bakshy is entirely discordant than the Saradindu classic, rather than only being dissimilar in the surname spelling.

Director Dibakar Banerjee used the Saradindu Bandopadhyay classic “Satyanweshi” just to introduce the characters and from there, everything is plotted fresh and perky. BYOMKESH BAKSHI used to clear the air by disapproving himself as some sleuth or detective rather than he believed himself to be “Truth-Seeker” whose sole duty is to focus on one’s surrounding and concentrate on every single detail that too very closely as his chances to find the truth was easier that way. But that according to him, is nothing to fancy yourself as some sleuth. Which idea is skillfully preserved in the movie by when you find your nemesis to be as sedulous and cunning as you. What do you do then?

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy is one hell of a ride of mystery, mayhem and arcane events where you expect something to end, but its other dimension just initiates. Dibakar Banerjee has authored one hell of an interesting story based on the original classic but somehow leave some doubtful gestures while plotting. But that is okay as long as it is successful to thrill the viewer.

The film is set in the Second World War torn Calcutta during the 1940s and follows the first adventure of Byomkesh Bakshy, fresh out of college, as he pits himself against an evil genius who is out to destroy Calcutta. Using his wits against the most villainous arch criminal the world has seen, in a world of murder, international political intrigue and betrayal.

Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is an edgy thriller which even after revealing its ominous motive towards one half keeps unfolding more and more conundrums just to keep the anxiety holding till it finally sustains, that is something rarely seen in thrillers. In association with Saradindu Bandopadhyay created characters, Dibakar Banerjee manages to weave a breathtaking tale involving mind games between two equal or slightly unequal geniuses which lead to horrifying aftermath. Who is smarter? I bet you can’t evaluate that. Grim, Gory and Shrewd, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy​ is the most enjoyable ride that keeps you glued to your seats until it decides to finish itself. Must Watch for thriller lovers.