The trailer of Shah Rukh Khan’s heavily-anticipated film Pathaan was released on Tuesday morning. Not only is Shah Rukh returning to the big screen in a lead role after a long sabbatical with the film, but he is also returning to the action genre after several years. The high-octane trailer had fans praising the star’s action turn and many gave the verdict that he was here to ‘save’ a faltering Bollywood.
Directed by Siddharth Anand, Pathaan has been in the making for over a year. It features John Abraham as the antagonist alongside Deepika Padukone and a rumoured cameo by Salman Khan. The film sees Shah Rukh in the titular role of a spy while Deepika is a fellow soldier. The trailer features several aerial stunt sequences, big-ticket crashes, and a hero-villain fight atop a speeding truck.
Reacting to the trailer, one fan wrote, “Only SRK can save Bollywood.” This is a reference to many big-budget Hindi films failing at the box office over the last two years and the industry hoping Pathaan can ‘revive’ it. Other fans praised how effortless Shah Rukh looked doing action even though his USP – for decades – has been romance. “Srk is the finest actor no one can beat him,” wrote one.
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Praising the stunts of the trailer, one fan tweeted, “The stunts are insane. This is Bond-level action.” Many others also compared the action sequences to Hollywood films. “Sheer goosebumps all throughout! SRK's each glimples is simply fire, Deepika looks gorgeous, and John is killing it... can't wait to experience this combo in theatre,” read one comment.
Pathaan is one of Yash Raj Films’ most ambitious projects and it is also a part of Aditya Chopra’s spy universe that has two deadly agents, Tiger (Salman Khan from the Tiger series) and Kabir (Hrithik Roshan from War). Directed by Siddharth Anand, Pathaan is set to release on Jan 25, 2023, in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
