Find the similarities between SRK's Fan and Robert De Niro's The Fan

Fans and film lovers have all seen and loved the intriguing, unique, gritty and gripping trailer of Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film ‘Fan’. The trailer that was launched in the presence of over a thousand fans last evening, has already crossed the million mark online.

The film directed by Maneesh Sharma, follows the story of a fan Gaurav, whose world revolves around a mega movie star Aryan Khanna, played by Shah Rukh Khan. When things don't go according to his plan, Gaurav’s love and passion for his ‘God’ turns in to a dangerous obsession that leads him to cross a fine line.

Many are already referring to this film as SRK’s ‘return as an actor’, and some others seem to be blown away by this ‘first of its kind content’. At the trailer launch on Monday, Shah Rukh revealed that the director Manish had approached him years ago to make this film, but couldn't go ahead with it, because they lacked proper equipment and resources.

This would some as a surprise to many, but about two decades ago, an American thriller titled ‘The Fan’, directed by Tony Scott, and starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes hit theatre screens. The film based on a novel by Peter Abrahams, followed the life of a fanatic and a mentally unstable baseball fan, who goes to great lengths get close to his favourite sports star Bobby Rayburn. But when the superstar confesses a few truths that the fan finds hard to swallow, it sends him over the edge.

On a closer look at the trailer, the film’s name and dialogues, one can’t help but notice a handful of striking similarities.

'The Fan' trailer has this scene of the fan, Robert De Niro shouting his idol's name. We see similar scene in SRK's 'Fan', when Gaurav arrives in Mumbai and sees his superstar Aryan Khanna waving from his parapet.

Gaurav screems Aryan Khanna's name that is met with stares by a fellow fan.'The Fan' trailer has this scene of baseball fan, played by Robert De Niro screaming Bobby's name from the stands, that leads to a tussle.

A line in ‘The Fan’ reads, “... Without people like me, you’re nothing!”

And this scene in the ‘Fan’ trailer that reads: ‘Main hu, toh tu hain’ (You are there because of me.)