The trailer of Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer Pathaan is out now and the movie is part of Yash Raj Films’ spy universe. The movie would hit Indian cinemas on January 25, the day on which the country celebrates National Voter’s Day.
“Mehemaan nawaazi ke liye #Pathaan aa raha hai, aur pataakhen bhi saath laa raha hai! [Pathaan is coming with his hospitality and also bringing fireworks],” Shah Rukh said as he shared the trailer of the movie on Twitter.
Though the movie title and the lead star were trending on social media it is facing a boycott campaign from Hindutva extremists, whose members last week tore down portraits of movie stars in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
It began after Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra raised objections to one of the songs of Pathaan, Besharam Rang. “The costumes in the song at first glance are objectionable. It is clearly visible that the song of the film Pathaan has been shot with a dirty mindset,” he told reporters. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are both ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
However, Shah Rukh, who has a fan following across the world, believed that as long as there were positive people like him out there, he can face the world.
“The world has become normal. We are all happy, I am the happiest. And I have no issue with stating that the world can do whatever, me and all the positive people, all of us are alive,” he said at the opening of the 28th Kolkatta International Film Festival (KIFF) last month.
The film is produced by Yash Raj Films and directed by Sidharth Anand. John Abraham would be seen as an antagonist in the movie. It would be released in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Shah Rukh last year appeared in cameo and special appearances in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva, and Laal Singh Chaddha.
Media insiders and fans have huge hopes that Pathaan would end the dry spell of Hindi movies at the Indian box office. Movies shot in Hindi languages over the past many months have not been able to prove mega box office hits like in the past. Many critics have also attributed the “boycott campaigns” trend has affected movies like Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha and Akshay Kumar’s Raksha Bandhan.
