.jpg?rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1080&auto=format%2Ccompress&fmt=webp&width=720)
This summer is going to be all about fans. I don’t mean the kind Rakhi Sawant wants banned, but the diehard crazies who love their filmi superstars. While Maneesh Sharma’s thriller Fan starring Shah Rukh Khan in a double role remains the much awaited potential blockbuster of the season, there’s also a gem of a film that you might not have heard of yet- Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak.
While Shah Rukh, the psycho fan sets out to destroy the very superstar who is the centre of his universe, Nagesh’s happy film is a magical story of two kids who walk across a blistering Rajasthan, just to get a glimpse of their superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
Well yes, one only has the films’ trailers to go by as of now and no, neither of these is likely to crush the other at the box office. Still, I can’t help but compare how the two trailers left me feeling.
Dhanak is the happy story of a witty, visually impaired 8 year old boy named Chotu, who’s sister Pari is a huge fan of king Khan, and believes that Chotu will get his eyesight back if she can somehow manage to have him meet SRK. An impossible but innocently heartwarming dream. So, they set out on a journey of a lifetime. It’s simple, subtle and feel good. The Dhanak trailer begins with Pari and Chotu facing a wall full of SRK’s film posters, almost like the first shot of the Fan trailer.
Fan, for those who have somehow managed to miss the trailer despite the film’s aggressive promotions, looks like a version of Darr (1993) being retold by Shah Rukh Khan, who is playing both the obsessive fan and his superstar obsession. While the film might turn out to be a lot more than that, the trailer doesn’t leave us guessing how it’ll all end up.
Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak will hit screens on June 10th and Maneesh Sharma’s ambitious blockbuster will be out much before, on April 15th. But somehow, I’m more curious about whether the Dhanak kids get lucky in the end.
Fan, with its racy chase sequences, exotic locations and double SRK dhamaka, doesn’t celebrate the joy of being crazy and star struck. But Dhanak, a film that was shot in just 33 days, comes across as a real story, with a childlike simplicity.
Thankfully, for once we can have the best of both worlds without having to choose which of these to watch on the big screen. But my guess is that Dhanak will make you smile, even though SRK might not actually feature in it at all! How’s that for a fan film? Even SRK loves it!
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)