Fan - The Genre Makes It Tough 

Fan dropped on the second day at key centres which basically sealed its fate.
The genre of the film always meant an uphill struggle to meet expectations
which were mainly there because of a big star like Shahrukh Khan.
It could have succeeded but was never going to be a superstar level hit.
This was always going to be the problem with film unless the content worked all over.
The opening which the film took of was far too high for this type of film.
If a film is nearing 20 crore nett on day one then the content and story telling
has to be such that appeals all over.

The list of disappointments in the genre is huge not just over the last few years
but since they started being made in Hindi.
The last big hit in the genre was Agni Sakshi way back in 1996 and this was
mainly driven by Mumbai circuit which had a tax free status.
The last one to do extraordinary business all over was actually a Shahrukh Khan film
Darr in 1993. This is probably the most successful thriller genre film in India ever.

Basically the bigger the star, the bigger the risk with this genre.
The more popular you are then the higher the expectations go which just can't be met
with the genre especially the sort of number that is expected of a Shahrukh Khan or a
Salman Khan starrer. Its difficult to meet expectations anyway and if a few circuits
reject the film then the gap between expectation and final result can look huge which
is the case with Fan.

The downside of mega stardom is that you can't really go out of the drama, action
and love story genre today as box office numbers are reported everywhere and outside
these genres you need some outstanding film to put up a megastar number.
It is also interesting to note that the other superstar of the day Salman Khan has no
film in the thriller genre in our database which goes back to 1994.
Not only Salman Khan but even the legendary megastars of prior generations with
great box office records are likely to have filmographies devoid of thrillers.

Despite below expectation business, the film is commercially safe as Yash Raj Films
holding all rights there is no one in the chain to lose any money but eventually the
film content has not found acceptance.

The makers of Fan have made a profit or Rs. 16cr.
However, given the fact that Fan was backed by a renowned production house like YRF
and featured a Megastar like Shah Rukh Khan, the numbers might not be exciting
enough and they would surely be disappointed.



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