Shah Rukh Khan's "Fan" promises to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller, a genre the superstar hasn't experimented with in a long time. While this is good enough to draw the audience, two other factors that could work towards making the film a success are its running time and certification.
At little over two hours long, "Fan," has the capacity to pack in a good number shows in a day, which means more money, according to trade analyst Taran Adarsh. "The longer the runtime lesser number of shows. In that regard, a shorter run time will help Fan earn more money at the ticket windows for sure, [sic]" he told DNA.
The film's editor, Namrata Rao, said "Fan" sits at two hours and 10 minutes long without the end credits. "Especially for Fan, the end credits might be a little longer given that there are so many people working on the film and mainly the VFX team, [sic]" she told the daily.
Another aspect which may aid the film in raking in cash is its certification. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has passed the film with a "U/A" certificate, which means it is open for viewing to a larger audience.
Adarsh said the certification will work in favour of "Fan." The plus is, it's summer vacations time for school-goers, which means more viewers. "Despite no songs and a low-key promotion, there has been tremendous hype around the film. Fan isn't a holiday release but the promos have done the magic and the return of the SRK-YRF combo is enough to get everyone excited, [sic]" he said.
Talking about screen count and opening-day collections, Taran said it was too early to predict but it should be the "biggest of the year till now for sure." "Screen count is not fixed yet. That number will be locked only two days prior to the film's release, [sic]" he said.
"Fan" isn't a regular fan-meets-superstar story. It follows the life of actor Aryan Khanna's die-hard fan Gaurav Chandana, who travels all the way from New Delhi to catch a glimpse of his "God." Their lives change when Gaurav's obsession for his favourite cine idol turns into bitterness. Both the characters have been played by SRK.
Scheduled for an April 15 release, the Maneesh Sharma directorial also stars Waluscha De Sousa and Sayani Gupta in key roles.