After Hrs was the first to report that Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan will be a songless film and will just have one promotional song (No songs for Fan, July 8). The Fan anthem, titled Jabra Fan has been launched and is picking up on social networks. Composer duo Vishal-Shekhar were behind the creation of the track, an anthem that caters to all fans, and not just Shah Rukh’s. Here’s what Vishal had to say...
What was the brief given for Jabra?
Whoever was involved on the song — director Maneesh Sharma, Shekhar or me — there was only one thing we thought about. How would you express yourself if you were enamoured by a superstar? We put ourselves in Gaurav’s place; it was not an engineered thing. The emotions in the song are very genuine, which is why I think everyone is feeling that as well.
Fan was supposed to have no songs at all. How did this one fall in place?
The idea for the song originated from Maneesh. And we were fortunate enough to be able to see bits of the film before we composed the song. He basically showed us Gaurav’s character and told us that this character is obsessed with Aryan Khanna. He wanted a song which expresses his joy, the euphoria that happens when he watches a film or sees his star. The absolute freedom and happiness is what he wanted us to express. And about the language, he was very clear. He wanted us to make it sound more like an ode from a boy from outer Delhi, which is where Varun Grover, who’s written the lyrics, plays a massive part. Without those lyrics, the flavour of Gaurav’s life would go missing.
The best part about the song is you don’t need to be a SRK fan to connect to it. It’s a universal anthem…
I am glad you understood this. It’s a song about being a fan. It can be anyone in this world who you are connected to, as a fan.
When we were making the song, it wasn’t an intellectual process. Everyone’s been someone’s fan. Maneesh himself has been a huge fan of Shah Rukh... even before he was in the film business. In effect, all of us have at some point or the other, felt that kind of an emotion to an icon or an idol we look up to. Without trying to attach it to a particular person, the whole process was effortless because it was genuine.
How many days did you take to compose the song?
We always thought Fan was going to be a songless film. Then we were told that Adi and Maneesh want to do a song for Fan. They asked us and we said we would love to do it. But there was a catch. They said they have Shah Rukh’s dates in five days. So they needed to shoot. We were in the middle of recording for Sultan when we took a five-day break and quickly pulled this one off.
How is Fan different from other SRK films you have given music to?
For any composer, composing for a Shah Rukh film is always a special thing. He carries music in a very natural way. He makes people connect to songs in a way that they believe they own the songs. And that’s the way he performs them. So every composer makes songs for Shah Rukh Khan when he is in the film. But for Fan — this is our fifth film with him — for the first time, we didn’t compose for SRK. We composed for Gaurav, who is the hero for us. If you watch him in the video, the character is not SRK at all. The body language is of a different person... In terms of sheer acting ability, I think SRK is one of the most under-rated actors in this country even now. And from what I have seen in this film — and in fact when I met him on the sets of the song — I told him that Gaurav is a better actor than Shah Rukh. We have watched about 10 minutes of the film, all were essentially the portions featuring the fan.
What was SRK’s reaction?
I wasn’t there when he first heard it. I met him on the sets when he was shooting. He was like, ‘Yeh bahut achcha hai’ and he was dancing his heart out. I assume he liked it. We had a long chat, a cup of coffee, and I even watched him climb that pole. He did all this with a busted left ankle! My admiration for him goes through the roof. He was having trouble walking but you will never see that in the video.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Shah Rukh Khan in Fan")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}