One of the most-awaited films of the year, Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, and John Abraham in lead roles, was released worldwide on January 25. Despite mixed reviews, the film managed to break a major box office record even before its release. As per trade analyst Taran Adarsh, Pathaan, as of January 23, became the highest ticket-selling Hindi film for the opening day with 4.19 lacs tickets, surpassing Hrithik Roshan’s War (4.10 lakh) and Aamir Khan’s Thugs Of Hindostan (3.46 lakh).
The action film crossed Rs 50 crore in advance bookings, including selling tickets worth more than Rs 23 crore on day one, and over Rs 13 crore on day two. Overall, a whopping one million tickets were booked in advance for the film on BookMyShow.
As per YRF, the exhibitors decided to increase the 300 shows of Pathaan after witnessing positive footfall. The total screen count now is 8000 screens worldwide across Hindi, Tamil & Telugu formats. Domestic – 5,500 Screens, International – 2,500 Screens. It is the biggest ever release for a Hindi film ever in the history of Indian cinema. This makes it the biggest-ever release for a Hindi film in the history of Indian cinema.
“After a long four-year wait, Shah Rukh Khan is all set for an electrifying comeback with Pathaan jet-setting on advance sales. The much-awaited action-thriller has already crossed 1 million tickets in advance sales on BookMyShow. Advance sales for Pathaan have been opening up in phases with over 3500 screens available on the platform so far, even as a surge in demand has led select cinemas across India to open up early morning shows for the film”, Ashish Saksena, COO – Cinemas, BookMyShow, told India Today.
In its review, the financialexpress.com wrote. “The credit for the film should go to Shah Rukh Khan and his massive fan following, other than that, Pathaan has a weak plot, cliché, and at times cheap dialogues, and gravity and logic-defying illogical scenes.”
Directed by Siddharth Anand, Pathaan is the fourth installment in the YRF Spy Universe. The other parts were Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai, and War. SRk’s Pathaan tells the story of an exiled RAW agent named Pathaan, played by SRK, who fights a terror organisation named Outfit X that is planning attacks on India. As per Times Now, the OTT rights of the film have already been sold to Amazon Prime Video for Rs 100 crore, and it is likely to premiere digitally in April.
Pathaan is a part of Aditya Chopra’s ambitious spy universe and has the biggest superstars of the country Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in it.