Pathaan (film)

Pathaan (pronounced [pəʈʰaːn]) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Siddharth Anand and produced by Aditya Chopra under Yash Raj Films. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan in the titular role, alongside Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia, and Ashutosh Rana. It is the fourth installment in the YRF Spy Universe and the first installment in the universe to establish crossovers between characters from other universe films. The film follows an exiled RAW agent who works with an ISI agent to take down a former RAW agent turned rogue, who plans to attack India with a deadly lab-generated virus.

Principal photography commenced in November 2020 in Mumbai. The film was shot in various locations in India, Afghanistan, Spain, UAE, Turkey, Russia, Italy, and France. The film's soundtrack was composed by Vishal–Shekhar, while Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara composed the background score. The film was made on an estimated production budget of ₹250 crore (US$26 million).

It was theatrically released in India on 25 January 2023, coinciding with the Republic Day weekend. The film received positive reviews from critics. It grossed 1,050.50 cr worldwide, becoming the ninth highest-grossing Indian film of all time. At the 69th Filmfare Awards, the film received 16 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress (Padukone), and won Best Female Playback Singer (Shilpa Rao for the song "Besharam Rang"). A sequel is in production with the script finalised.

Plot

In 2019, the Indian Government revokes Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which grants special status for Jammu and Kashmir. The news impacts a cancer-ridden Pakistani Army officer, General Qadir, who decides to exact vengeance against India and signs a contract with a private terrorist organisation called Outfit X.

2022: Pathaan, a RAW agent, travels to Africa and captures arms dealer Raafe. Back in India, upon inquisition by a junior, RAW officer Nandini Grewal narrates Pathaan's past after something they have been looking for is found.

2020: Shortly after recovering from a mission in Myanmar, Pathaan and Nandini form a unit known as "Joint Operations and Covert Research" (J.O.C.R.) to recruit ex-agents and soldiers who were forced to retire, but want to continue serving their country. Outfit X's actual plan was to kidnap two scientists, Dr. Farooqui and Dr. Sahani, who were initially supposed to be part of the President's convoy.

Jim, who is gang leads Outfit X, attacks the scientists' convoy and Pathaan tries to stop him. A fight ensues and Jim manages to escape with Dr. Sahani. During a debrief back at agency headquarters, Luthra reveals to Pathaan and Nandini that Jim was a former agent and Kabir's former partner, who was awarded the Vir Puraskar posthumously.

Meanwhile, he is made aware of a codeword, "Raktbeej", in the process, he learns that the dead people in Dubai were ex-agents and their money was transferred from the account of Rubina "Rubai" Mohsin, a Pakistani doctor in Spain. He travels to Spain and is captured by Jim's men, all former agents of their respective national intelligence agencies, where he also learns that Rubai is an ex-ISI agent, and Raafe his henchman. When Jim leaves his hideout, Rubai attacks Jim's men and escapes with him. Following a nightmare about her childhood wherein her father, a doctor, was forcibly tortured to death, Rubai reveals that Raktbeej is in Moscow, and they travel to steal it before Jim does. Almost on the verge of the mission being successful, Rubai betrays him and has him captured by the Russian police. It is revealed that Jim used Rubai to trick him into stealing the Raktbeej for himself. After Nandini disclaims him, he is taken to prison by a train, but is saved by Tiger.

2022: Pathaan meets Nandini and reveals that Jim is purchasing two Saber missiles, while Nandini reveals Rubai's location in Paris. He meets Rubai, who reveals that "Raktbeej" is codeword for a mutated smallpox virus, which was forcibly developed by a captive Dr. Sahani under Jim's orders. They travel to Jim's lab in Siberia and manage to recover one orb containing the virus, while Jim escapes with the other orb. Luthra and Nandini reach Jim's lab to take the orb back to India in order to develop a vaccine.

At the Indian Institute of Contagious Diseases, Dr. Farooqui opens up the orb to Nandini without apparently finding anything. Jim calls them and reveals that the orb has already spread the virus in the facility. Later, the facility is destroyed in a controlled blast. Jim provides an ultimatum to evacuate Indian soldiers out of Kashmir within 24 hours. He learns that the missile is situated in Afghanistan. After rescuing Rubai, they lure Jim's associates into a trap and attack Jim's base. Qadir is killed by Rubai after he activates the missile. Meanwhile, Rubai deactivates the missile, but finds that Raktbeej is not in the missile, but instead in a passenger-bound airplane, which is about to land in Delhi.

Rubai informs Pathaan, who finds that Jim has the detonator. Luthra calls the air traffic control to prevent the plane from landing in Delhi. Crashing into a cabin after a long chase mid-air, Pathaan and Jim fight brutally. This enrages Pathaan steals the detonator, deactivates Raktbeej, and kills Jim. Afterward, he is reinstated and made the head of J.O.C.R., with Luthra giving him a file of soldiers who were also forced to retire but want to continue serving the country for Pathaan to program mentor and train them, while Nandini is posthumously awarded with the Vir Puraskar for her bravery.

During a mind-credits scene, harking back to their interaction, Pathaan and Tiger are brother seen pondering about retiring and suggesting young agents who can help replaces them, but eventually decided to keep fighting the threats themselves.

Cast

• Shah Rukh Khan as Pathaan, a RAW agent
• Deepika Padukone as Dr. Rubina "Rubai" Mohsin, an ISI agent
  • Grace Girdhar as Young Rubina
• John Abraham as Jim, leader of "Outfit X" and a former RAW Agent
• Dimple Kapadia as Dr. Nandini Grewal, head of the Joint Operations and Covert Research (JOCR)
• Ashutosh Rana as Colonel Sunil Luthra, a RAW chief
• Prakash Belawadi as Dr. Sahani
• Prem Jhangiani as Dr. Farooqui
• Shaji Choudhary as Raza, member of JOCR
• Ekta Kaul as Shweta Bajaj, hacker and member of JOCR
• Diganta Hazarika as Joseph Mathews, sniper and member of JOCR
• Viraf Patel as Rishi Arya, intelligence analyst and member of JOCR
• Aakash Bhatija as Amol, member of JOCR
• Rajat Kaul as Raafe, Jim's henchman and a former GID agent
• Manish Wadhwa as General Qadir
• Rumi Khan as Jim's henchman
• Mansi Taxak as Jim's wife
• Ashutosh Singh as Rubai's father
• Amanpreet Hundal as Rubai's mother
• Keith Sequeira as Captain Mehra
• Rakesh Khatri as ATC Supervisor
• Mustafa Aksari as Fayyed, an African arms dealer
• Jeffrey Adams Goldberg as Anton
• Rachel Ann Mullins as Alice
• Nikhat Khan as Sabba, Pathaan's foster mother
• Tino Mung as pilot

Cameo appearance

• Salman Khan as Avinash "Tiger" Singh Rathore

Development

Yash Raj Films, Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, and John Abraham officially announced Pathaan on 2 March 2022 on their social media accounts, revealing the release date with a first look teaser. It was previously teased by other cast and crew members, including Salman Khan and singer-songwriter Vishal Dadlani, on various occasions before. Dadlani announced the film on Twitter, stating, "No number from the past matters, no number in the future is too big. The whole world is waiting for Shah Rukh, more importantly, we're all working on a kickass film with great songs." This film is YRF's first Dolby Cinema project.

Casting

Shanoo Sharma was the casting director. Khan was cast in the film in September 2020. Padukone joined production that November, while Abraham rounded out the main cast in June 2021, joining filming in Mumbai. Dimple Kapadia was cast in December 2020. Salman Khan was confirmed to make a cameo appearance in November 2020, reprising his role as Avinash Singh Rathore from the Tiger franchise.

Filming

Principal photography of the film began on 17 November 2020 in Mumbai. In January 2021, filming moved to Dubai. Some of the major action sequences including a long chase sequence were shot in the same schedule. On 12 April 2021, the crew took a two-day break. However, following the reports of some crew members of the film tested positive for COVID-19 and subsequent lockdown in Maharashtra, further schedules of the film were postponed. The filming resumed on 25 June at Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai. Later in July, another schedule of the film began. Padukone began filming in this schedule. A song was scheduled to be shot from 7 October in Mallorca and Cádiz, but the schedule was postponed.

In February 2022, production moved to Spain to shoot action sequences including Khan, Padukone, and Abraham. Filming then took place in Mallorca and Cádiz. The Spain schedule was completed in March 2022, with the Mumbai schedule completed in Yash Raj Studios as the film wrapped. In October 2022, reshoots and additional scenes were completed. The film was shot in multiple locations across India, Afghanistan, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Russia, Italy and France. It was the first Indian film to be shot in Siberia's Lake Baikal.

Music

The soundtrack album for movie featured four tracks: two songs, "Besharam Rang" and "Jhoome Jo Pathaan", composed by Vishal–Shekhar and written by Kumaar and two instrumental themes from the original score written and composed by Sanchit and Ankit Balhara: "Jim's Theme" and "Pathaan's Theme". Apart from its original, the soundtrack album was released in Tamil and Telugu.

Marketing and release

The release date of Pathaan was revealed on 2 March 2022 through an announcement teaser. A first look motion poster of Khan was revealed on 25 June 2022. The teaser of the film was released on 2 November 2022, coinciding with Shah Rukh Khan's 57th birthday. The official trailer was released on 10 January 2023. The film's trailer was also showcased on Burj Khalifa on 14 January 2023. Against norm, pre-release publicity was limited with no media interactions or public events.

Theatrical

It was theatrically released, in standard, IMAX and 4DX versions, in India on 25 January 2023, coinciding with Indian Republic Day weekend along with dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu. It was the first Indian film to release in the novel ICE theater format. The film was released across 8000 screens worldwide, which included 5,500 screens across India and 2,500 screens across overseas markets.

The film was theatrically released in Bangladesh on 12 May 2023 and thus became the first Hindi film to be released in the country. The film was released in Russia on 13 July 2023. The film was also released in Japan on 1 September 2023.

Box office

It broke several box-office opening records for a Hindi film. Globally, it became the first Hindi film to gross ₹100 crore (US$10 million) on its first day. It earned ₹106 crore (US$11 million) worldwide on its opening day, with ₹70 crore (US$7.3 million) from India and ₹36.69 crore (US$3.8 million) from overseas. It also became the highest opener in the domestic Hindi market, collecting ₹55 crore (US$5.7 million) net in Hindi, breaking the previous record of KGF Chapter 2 and collected ₹57 crore (US$5.9 million) in terms of all-India net collection across all languages, which is also the highest for a Hindi film. Worldwide, the film crossed the ₹200 crore (US$21 million) mark, in the first two days, the ₹300 crore (US$31 million) mark in the first three days, and the ₹400 crore (US$42 million) mark in its first four days, becoming the fastest Hindi film to do all. In India too, it became the fastest Hindi film to collect ₹200 crore (US$21 million) and ₹300 crore (US$31 million), which it did within four and seven days, respectively. It broke these records previously held by the Hindi dubbed version of the Kannada film KGF: Chapter 2 (2022). By the second weekend, it became the first original Hindi film to net over ₹400 crore (US$42 million) domestically, overtaking Dangal (2016).

Outside India, movie's opening-weekend overseas gross totalled US$25.5 million in its five-day extended weekend. IMAX grosses accounted for US$2.5 million, the highest for an Indian film at that time. In North America and Canada, it earned US$6.88 million in its opening weekend from 695 theatres, finishing third, for a total of US$9.48 million; a record for a Hindi film. In the United Kingdom and Ireland box office, it recorded the highest single-day gross for an Indian film with £319,348. Over the weekend, it earned £1.4 million, finishing second after Avatar: The Way of Water, for a total of £2 million. It set further Hindi-film opening weekend records in UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia, and Indian-film opening weekend records in Australia, New Zealand, and Germany. With a US$582,000 gross in Germany, it became the highest-grossing Hindi film in the market in its opening weekend itself. Box Office India reported that by grossing around US$31 million in its first eight days, it became the highest-grossing Hindi film in overseas, excluding China (where it did not release).

By the second weekend, it emerged as the highest-grossing Hindi film in the US, earning over $13.4 million, overtaking Dangal, and in the UK, it became the first Indian film to earn over £3 million, grossing $4.15 million. It also became the highest-grossing Indian film in UAE, Australia, and New Zealand. It emerged as the first Hindi film to gross over $100 million without a China release.

On its fourth Wednesday, it became the first Hindi film to earn ₹500 crore (US$52 million) net in India. On the twenty seventh day of its release, it became the fifth Indian film to gross ₹1000 crore worldwide and only the second Hindi film to do so. On the 37th day of its release, it crossed Baahubali 2: The Conclusion to become the highest grossing Hindi film in India. It also had record collection in South Indian market to grossed total ₹135.5 crore (US$14 million) become first Hindi film to achieve 100 crore mark at South market. It sold 35 million tickets which is one of the highest in the history of Indian cinema at that time. Box Office India declared the film as the 25th "All-Time Blockbuster" from the Hindi film industry.

The film has grossed ₹654.28 crore (US$68 million) in India and ₹396.02 crore (US$41 million) overseas for a worldwide gross collection of ₹1,050.30 crore (US$110 million). This made it the fifth-highest-grossing Hindi film, ninth-highest-grossing Indian film, the thirteenth-highest-grossing film in the domestic market and the second highest-grossing of Khan's career.

Critical response

It received generally positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 85%, with an average score of 7.1/10, based on reviews from 33 critics. The site's critical consensus reads, "A slightly slapdash but still intoxicating blend of occasionally disparate ingredients, Pathaan offers over-the-top action thrills with Bollywood bells and whistles". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Accolades