Last April, Indian superstar actor Shah Rukh Khan released a film called "Fan". It cost a pile of money to make, and didn't do too well at the box office. Reviews were mixed. People who expected another masala entertainer, or a passionate love story, or a fast-paced action movie (all of which Khan has done, and done spectacularly) were not sure what to make of this dark, even creepy story about a fan so obsessed with his superstar lookalike that he tries to destroy him. Haters in the comment sections called it a flop and declared that the fifty-year old actor was now a has been.

I saw "Fan" five times in two weeks. Twice by myself, then one time each with three different friends, all new to Hindi cinema. They were blown away by the story and by Khan's performance. Shah Rukh Khan plays both parts, aided by top-notch special effects and his own physical ability to embody a twenty-five-year-old's energy in his own battered but still very fit frame. There were even people who walked out of theaters singing the praises of "that guy who plays Gaurav", not realizing it was Khan.

A year later, "Fan" still fascinates me. I own it now, in fact. Shah Rukh Khan occasionally refers to it in interviews in a sad, self-deprecating way, as if it were his own personal Edsel. I hope he is kidding. I hope he knows that, box office be damned, it was a risk worth taking. “Fan” is that odd kid from high school that you can’t get out of your mind. And then you meet him thirty years later and he’s so interesting and so attractive that you kick yourself for not hanging out more with him when he was fifteen.

"Fan" may be underappreciated now, but it will be remembered among Shah Rukh Khan's very best works, and certainly as one of his most interesting.

     I am back from my Nebraskan odyssey. There's still lots to think about and write about. In fact, while I was there I managed to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge for the first time ever and now had the beginnings of a novel. (Bucket list item for retirement!)

     One reason I was eager to get home was the opening day of Dear Zindagi, the long-awaited Gauri Shinde film starring Alia Bhatt with Shah Rukh Khan in an extended cameo. For the life of me, I don't know why it's called a cameo; he and Alia dominate the movie. But he never interacts with any of the other characters; maybe that's it. This shows what a newbie I still am. But I do have opinions! For a more informed opinion, check out the "no spoiler" review by my very favorite blogger, Margaret Redlich.

     This is director Gauri Shinde's second film, after the critically-acclaimed English/Vinglish. ​I only got around to watching English/Vinglish a couple of weeks ago, and it really whetted my appetite for seeing Dear Zindagi. I saw the first day, first showing at my closest multiplex, along with two other middle-aged white ladies. I was expecting a nice light entertainment with enough Shah Rukh to warm me up on a chilly November day and also pick up my spirits (badly needed after the bruising, negative election season, which still doesn't seem over.). Dear Zindagi (Dear Life) is so much more! Alia Bhatt is superb as the hard-working, talented cinematographer whose personal life is a disaster. Instead of the old message -- all you need is the right guy -- Gauri Shinde has delivered a fresh story for the 21st century. Shah Rukh Khan hits all the right notes as her therapist, without overshadowing Bhatt with his star power. The rest of the cast is a wonderful, complex ensemble of friends, family, and failed relationships. 

      The messages about gender are so positive, powerful, so progressive, and so amiably portrayed that they are (we can only hope) irresistible. The first one that stands out for me is the gay friend, who is just a nebbishy guy, not a stereotype. That short conversation about his therapist is pure gold. The men aren’t caddish, chauvinist dudes; they are three-dimensional representatives of their respective generations, from the old school uncle to the little brother — who is an absolute charmer. The only exception is her therapist, Jug (SRK), who breaks the mold for male behavior for men of his age — the uncle and the father — in the same way that he blazed a trail for younger men (actually those men, when they were young) in DDLJ.

     So much to love. I love the ensemble feel of the actors playing her family and friends. I love the message about mental health. I love Alia’s performance!!! I love how I felt at the end. I tried to remember the last time a movie was so entertaining, so emotionally complex, and still so happy at the end, and the one that popped into my head was An Unmarried Woman (1978), my favorite women’s liberation era film.

This is probably one of the most obscure and hard-to-find of all of King Khan's movies, and with good reason. He is barely Shah Rukh Khan in King Uncle, much less King Khan. Yes, he is attractive, energetic and appealing in his supporting role as Jackie Shroff's younger brother, but I got the feeling that the role could have been played by any of a dozen young unknown actors. He seems happy just to be in a film, and enjoying all the dance and action, but the role itself doesn't give him much to work with. Still, it is entertaining and definitely worth seeing, if only to track SRK's development as an artist.

Synopsis. Grumpy, materialistic elder brother (Shroff) neglects his family until his life is transformed by a spunky orphan. Happys ending, as Omi would say!

Worth watching for. Jackie Shroff. I am becoming a big fan of his work, and his comedic turn in the title role is truly engaging. The fight scenes are ridiculous, over the top, and highly entertaining.

Want to see it? Pirated versions come and go online, usually without subtitles. I got my copy through interlibrary loan.

(My dad died of emphysema, so it makes me really sad to know he is such a heavy smoker. But as a former smoker myself, I also know that quitting is very hard.)

H/T to my favorite blogger, Margaret Redlich for posting this fabulous photo. You can find her at https://dontcallitbollywood.com.

Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India! gets my enthusiastic vote for the most underrated Shah Rukh Khan film. It was released in SRK's most prolific year, on the same day as Guddu, and about two months before Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayange, his career-changing hit. It was a commercial failure, but a critical success. I rented it online, watched it twice and then bought it. 

Synopsis. This was an unusual film for its time. It uses familiar -- even clichéd -- Hindi movie conventions to spin a satirical fable about contemporary Indian political and social corruption. Most of the main characters have titles, not names: Miss India, the President, Prince, Hero (Shah Rukh Khan). It helps to be somewhat familiar with Hindi films, as there are constant references to songs, characters, and dialogs from other movies. It reminded me of Doctor Strangelove​ or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Stanley Kubrick's brilliant Cold War satire, with the very Indian addition of romance.

With watching for: An amazing performance by Amrish Puri as the villainous Don Quixote, who is plotting to kidnap the President, install a look-alike in his place, and auction off India to the highest bidder. My favorite Amrish Puri role ever, and it looks like he had a ball doing it. They even manage to poke fun at his acting, when he is asked at one point "Don't you ever blink?" No, he doesn't, and that's why his eyes are so scary! Anupam Kher is wonderful as the President and his many lookalikes, and Javed Jaffrey is both frightening and sympathetic as Prince, Don Quixote's heir. And "the fountain scene" in this musical number is as sexy as anything Shah Rukh Khan as done.

Want to watch? It is a reasonably priced rental on YouTube and iTunes. You might even decide to buy it!

First, a little news. I am ecstatic to have received King Uncle via interlibrary loan, which completes my "early, obscure, and hard-to-find" list. What a relief!

Now, about Josh. not knowing more than a dozen words of Hindi, I thought this was the name of one of the characters. Silly me; it means "frenzy", and it means that this loose remake of West Side Story will have action as well as romance. As Shah Rukh Khan films go, it's in the middle of the pack: worth watching more than once, but not one I need to own. At thirty-five, SRK was poised to break away from the immature roles that first made him famous and take on more grown-up, challenging work. His biggest hit from 2000, Mohabbetein, was just such a role, winning him the Filmfare Critics' Award for Best Actor. Interestingly, the same actress appears with him in both films, to very different effect, in Mohabbatein, Aishwarya Rai plays his tragic love interest; in Josh, she is his twin sister. You can probably guess which casting is more credible.

Synopsis. Max (SRK) and Prakash (Sharad Kapoor) are leaders of two rival gangs in Goa, one Christian and one Hindu. Prakash's brother Rahul, a chef from Mumbai, comes to visit and falls in love with Goa and then with Max's sister, Shirley (Rai). Their secret relationship is the romantic centerpiece of the film, with the gang conflict providing the action and drama. Max also has a love interest, Roseanne, but it seems almost an afterthought. The climax comes -- as in Romeo and Juliet, and West Side Story, from the violent outcome of the gang conflict. Because it is not completely based on either play, there are enough plot twists to keep the story fresh.

Shah Rukh Khan does his own singing on Apun Bola, and it is very funny. The backstory is even funnier; according to him, he had so much trouble carrying a tune was recorded one or two words at the time and then spliced together. 

Want to watch? There is a version on YouTube with no subtitles. I got my copy through interlibrary loan.

Chaahat (Desire) was Shah Rukh Khan's second major release in 1996, and his first film with director Manesh Bhatt,who also directed him in Duplicate. There are some similarities between the two films, notably the contrast between SRK's goofy, simple character (Roop in Chaahat, Bablu in Duplicate) and his angry, violent avatar (Roop again in Chaahat, Manu in Duplicate). For reasons I can't quite fathom myself, I liked him better in Chaahat  than in Duplicate. Maybe it's Manu's tongue thing. Ew.

Worth watching for: The performances of Naseeruddin Shah as Reshma's villainous brother Ajay and Anupam Kher, who are at the top of their form. The scenes with them and Shah Rukh Khan are top notch, but the opening father-son dance scene and the Khan-Kher fight scene are my favorites. In fact, the fight scenes in Chaahat have finally won me over to Hindi film fighting. Yes, I know I outed myself as a "delicate flower" in my post about Dil Se. But I watched Chaahat twice in two days for the fight scenes. Also: Ramya Krishnan as the obsessed lover!!! It is fabulous to watch her try -- repeatedly to seduce Roop -- and to see him move from oblivious to wary to complete rejection of her advances. This fan video mix of most of the pertinent scenes captures it pretty well (the ones in blue light with the piano are her fantasies, not his).

One last reason to watch Chaahat: it's gorgeous. Consider this beautifully filmed number, which sets up the dramatic climax:

This was Shah Rukh Khan's last release in his biggest year. While it got off to a good opening day, thanks to three big stars (not only Khan, fresh off of DDLJ, but also popular veterans Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor) and a well-respected director, it fizzled fast thanks to negative word of mouth and reviews. It was listed as a flop by Indian sources, despite record-setting first day collections. In my opinion, it is underrated. Flawed, but still watchable and entertaining. Trimurti had been plagued with troubles from the beginning. It was supposed to release on Christmas 1994 but due to Sanjay Dutt's imprisonment most of the film had to be reshot with Anil Kapoor in the role, which resulted in the film being released an entire year later. 

Synopsis The "Trimurti" (Trinity) in the title has a double meaning. In Hindu mythology, it refers to the combination of Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver) brother and Shiva (destroyer). They are represented by Romi (Khan), Shroff (Shakti), and Kapoor (Anand/Sikander), respectively, as the three sons of a virtuous police inspector, Satyadevi Singh (Priya Tendulkar). Satyadevi defies a corrupt priest and in return, he murders her husband and frames her for a murder, resulting in her sent to prison. She hopes her sons -- her Trimurti -- will someday avenge her fate and bring the priest to justice. But the two older sons argue over how to raise the youngest and Anand leaves home and becomes a criminal (taking the name Sikander). There's a couple of romantic interests, but the main plot line is the destruction and repair of the brothers' relationship. (And of course, a prolonged and dramatic scheme at the end where evil is defeated and good triumphs!)

Worth watching for: Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff are always worth my time. This is, in some ways, a rewrite of their film Ram Lakhan, with the added presence of a baby-faced and very lively Shah Rukh Khan. This is the only movie in which Anil Kapoor and SRK appear together, and Anil's manic scenes with SRK are some of the best in the film, at least for me. They are both high energy performers, and exhausting to watch (in a good way). "Very Good Very Bad" is my favorite musical number in the film, partly because of their chemistry. It may be the only credible brother casting I have seen for either of them. Trimurti also offers a rare opportunity to see SRK in drag, when he dresses like a maid to visit the object of his affection.