Let it sink in – Shah Rukh Khan is back on the big screen after 4 years with Pathaan. 4 years, people. And when you’ve waited for 4 years to watch SRK in Pathaan, co-starring Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, on the big screen, what’s another 30 mins of teasers and trailers? 3 teasers – Jawan, Kisika Bhai Kisiki Jaan and Bholaa, and 2 trailers – Shehzada and Tu Jhooti Main Makkaar – later, you open to Circa 2019, at a momentous occasion in Indian history.
General Kaadir, a Pakistani general finds out about India scrapping Article 370 just as he’s diagnosed with a terminal disease. A war is waged, and John’s Jim, a rogue ex-RAW agent, is outsourced the task of bringing India to its heels. Deadline: 3 years. You know Pathaan AKA Shah Rukh Khan will save India in the cinematic realm, but will it be enough to save Bollywood?
Pathaan, also an ex-RAW, now part of a new unit JOCR, is tasked with stopping Jim’s attack. His search brings him to Deepika Padukone. One Besharam Rang song later – which, by the way, retains the saffron bikini, and if one must know, there’s a looooot of it too, from dancing to romancing to severe action scenes – Pathaan realises she’s an undercover ISI agent, trying to catch Jim from the inside. Pathaan collabs with her only to be double-crossed later, just as a key element of a bio-weapon is found. Yeah, our Pathaan is not the smartest nut, he is goofy though. So, we forgive.
Like any spy thriller minted at Yash Raj Films’ studios, Pathaan is slick, stylish, clean. Sprinkled with a generous dose of Bollywood masala that YRF grows in its backyard, Pathaan perfectly caters to a section of paisa-wasool entertainer-wanting cine-goers. But, what about the Shah Rukh Khan fans, who aren’t used to seeing their God of Love bleeding from the mouth? In fact, never in my tricenarian life have I ever witnessed Shah Rukh Khan whack so many people – enemy bones popping, jaws breaking, skulls cracking, blood splattering. What about them?
For them, Pathaan comes with a distinct Shah Rukh Khan tadka too. He is the King Of Romance, after all. So, there have to be epic pickup lines, flirty innuendos that make your cheeks red, and that intoxicating, hypnotising gaze – the Shah Rukh Khan stare – that honestly makes you go ‘okay, that’s 1400 bucks well spent’.
PERFORMANCES – SHAH RUKH KHAN, DEEPIKA PADUKONE, JOHN ABRAHAM
The menacing John as Jim is not your average Joe. This ex-RAW agent carries a medal India awarded him posthumously close to his chest as a reminder that his country did not stand by him when he needed it the most. So Jim harbours angst, and it was as if John, the actor’s characteristic plank-like expressions were a perfect fit for the character. And then he added what he does best – flexing his sleuth muscles making the veins in his arms pop, which in turn, makes you fear Pathaan’s nemesis. Deepika Padukone’s ISI agent had more meat than say, Katrina Kaif’s Zoya from the Tiger series, also an ISI agent. Also, trust Deepika not to be happy with just a dance number and some gorgeous shots which was the case in War. So, we have a full-fledged role, where Dippy delivers, looking super stylish, almost to a flaw.
PS. Why do all ISI agents fall in love with RAW agents?
Shah Rukh Khan, well, is Shah Rukh Khan. Even though you thought you saw shadows of Raees or Don in SRK’s Pathaan, let me assure you, it is nothing like that. Shah Rukh has never looked fitter. At 57, this man is grinning through those bloodied teeth, smashing heads, kicking enemies off trains, and what not. But he does all that with the grace we associate with him on and off screen. What a comeback! It is what he needed and deserved. It is what we needed and deserved.
IS PATHAAN BANG FOR YOUR BUCK?
But, truth be told, Pathaan is as illogical in parts as the Tiger series or War was, and yet, as entertaining. I mean, a helicopter pulling off a vertical soar more complicated than Top Gun Maverick‘s Pete Mitchell (Tom Cruise) just because Shah Rukh Khan is flying it, is a bit much for even a hard-core SRKian like me. Yet, you cannot help but whistle. You ask, ‘are enemy missiles imbeciles, because they just never hit the target’? Yet, you cannot help but whistle. You question everything you learnt in your Physics textbooks, but then, you cannot help but whistle.
The storyline also is unnecessarily complicated, with too many flashbacks to different points in time, which may make it difficult for you to understand what is happening in real-time. But, in the end, it all strings together. Just focus on Shah Rukh.
SALMAN KHAN + SHAH RUKH KHAN = DHAMAKA
Salman Khan’s Tiger cameo tries to steal the show away from Shah Rukh Khan significantly. SRK dexterously shifts gears, turns on his goofy allowing his sense of humour to play on the front foot, for let’s face it, action mein toh Bhaijaan is clearly a pro with 2 Tigers already under his belt. The banter between these 50+ actors, their camaraderie – especially when they are running parallel atop a train during a very high-octane fight sequence, almost juxtaposed like a scene from Karan Arjun – are moments that will be ingrained into your mind. At the end of it, when they, very matter-of-factly admit that ‘ab nahi ho raha, 30 saal se kar rahe hai‘ and hint at letting the younger lot take over, you know it is a sly hat-tip to critics who point out their age. But, ‘desh ka sawal hai, baccho se nahi hoga‘ declare the two. There goes your criticism.
PS: Ab toh Tiger ka intezaar rahega, Pathaan se phir milna jo hai.
IS YOUR LOVE FOR SRK ENOUGH TO MAKE PATHAAN A HIT?
If I had a penny for every time I looked at the screen and said ‘I have seen this in a Marvel movie’, I’d be able to recover my ticket cost. Deepika Padukone’s very Black Widow action moves, and if that was too subtle for you, she even dresses like Scarlett Johansson at one point, Shah Rukh Khan and John Abraham’s very Iron Man and Falcon-like winged aerial fights, so on and so forth. It is a bummer, to be honest, but, you gotta shake your head, move on and immerse yourself in Shah Rukh wala laal ishq.
SHAH RUKH KHAN IS THE EMBODIMENT OF BOLLYWOOD IN 2023
Final thoughts? Bollywood has always spread its arms and accepted India – and every idea of it – with a dimpled, twinkled smile. Yet, for over 2 years, Bollywood has been dragging its feet, mocked, criticised, ridiculed, and ripped apart on every social media platform. It is, therefore, about time it clenches the fists of those spread arms and punches back.
Now, read that para again and you will realise that Shah Rukh Khan is the embodiment of Bollywood in 2023. The rising-from-the-ashes process has begun. Kursi ki peti baandh lijiye!
