If there were any doubt that Shah Rukh Khan is still the King of Bollywood cinema (as well as being one of Empire’s Greatest Actors), Pathaan dismisses those concerns within its first five minutes. Held captive by a host of evil goons, the 57-year-old actor quickly dispatches them in a flurry of John Wick-esque moves, all while boasting abs that you can grate cheese on and hair that is forever bellowing in the breeze thanks to a seemingly invisible wind machine.
In many ways, Pathaan is designed to be the perfect Bollywood blockbuster, to break the chain of big budget flops that have hammered the industry of late. The fourth instalment in the incredibly popular YRK Spy Universe — think the MCU, but with chiselled Indian secret agents instead of superheroes — Pathaan delivers everything that an Indian blockbuster should: a guaranteed box office draw with Khan, exotic locales, crowd-pleasing cameos, stunning dance numbers and gravity-defying stunts that make the Fast And Furious franchise look restrained.
Ultimately, it is the sheer charisma of Shah Rukh Khan that holds it all together.
But that is also the problem. If you have seen any Mission: Impossible or Fast And Furious films of the past decade, there is nothing overly new about Pathaan. The plot offers up little you haven’t seen before: stolen viruses, betrayed secret agents, double crosses, triple crosses, and car chases around glamorous locales. And while Tom Cruise and Vin Diesel have super-sized budgets to play with, Pathaan — despite being one of the biggest-budgeted Indian films of all time — doesn’t have the Hollywood cash to fully realise its more elaborate action sequences.
Ultimately, it is the sheer charisma of Shah Rukh Khan that holds it all together. Whether he’s flirting with Deepika Padukone’s Pakistani agent, trading one-liners with John Abraham’s lead terrorist or playfully chiding his superiors, it’s easy to see why he continues to remain one of the world’s most successful stars, despite a four-year hiatus from acting. And it’s clearly worked because, at the time of writing, Pathaan’s box office returns have smashed records both at home and abroad — guaranteeing that, like another superspy before him, Pathaan will return.