Pathan: Hot RAW Agent & Hot ISI Agent Create Liquid Gold
Pathan is the liquid gold that binds broken people together to make them more powerful than they ever were
All those who watched aghast as the state vented its ire on India’s most loved actor had already decided that they would take one for their beloved Shah Rukh Khan and watch Pathan First Day First Show. So what if the trailer looked terrible and the songs were so-so? It was for SRK, right?
Now, after watching the film, I’m convinced the filmmakers intentionally produced a sub-standard trailer so that SRK haters would feel gleeful and maybe, just maybe, leave the film alone. The abuse and attacks against the colour of one of many outfits worn by Deepika Padukone in the song Besharam Rang, seem hilarious in retrospect. In case you missed that tedious controversy, see how some of our elected representatives found the time to comment on a Hindi movie song here and here.
Honestly, I went to the theatre expecting a bad film. I mean…Hot RAW agent meets hot ISI agent in Bollywood…So did most critics I think. As screenwriter and critic Raja Sen tweeted the day before the film released: “I don’t like the songs. I can’t stand the trailer. Yet by now I’m super pumped to watch #Pathaan on a giant screen, surrounded by noisy fans. Have a blast, Shah Rukh Khan. Clearly India needs to see you have an infectiously good time.”
I’m happy to report that Pathan surprises. It’s everything and more that one expects from a well-made, mainstream Shah Rukh Khan film. On the surface Pathan is a slick spy thriller that nimbly globetrots from Spain to France to Russia. Its leads are Indian and Pakistani and from almost its first dialogue, about the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, Pathan is an extremely entertaining rollercoaster ride.
It’s quite clear from the start that only Pathan—the soldier with the body so strong that the man torturing him gets tired before he does (haha)—can save India from its enemies. As his boss Dimple Kapadia puts it, Pathan is “our centre forward, our opening batsman….our everything.”
Pathan is patriotic without being jingoistic or hateful. He’s all heart and ready to give everyone—yes, even a Pakistani—a second chance. The best “desh ka sawaal” though, comes after the last song so sit tight and don’t rush out of the theatre.
Pathan is the liquid gold that binds broken people together to make them more powerful than they ever were. Is there a greater analogy for the power Shah Rukh Khan holds to bring this battered country and region together? As I wrote last year, he is the living, beating heart of India’s most influential, once syncretic industry.
Unlike in My Name Is Khan, where SRK has to inform us and his fellow Muslims that “God’s path is love’s path, not the path of terror and war,” in Pathan SRK doesn’t spend any time educating us about good Muslims and bad Muslims. There are not even any particularly good countries or bad countries. Pathan is only interested in our shared humanity and how we must come together to fight those who threaten it.
Psychopathic terrorists are the equivalent of CEOs of big corporations here, and not driven by religion or borders. The villain, played by John Abraham, is post-patriotic; his country is wherever he places his feet, he says. India broke his heart (he whistles Ae mere watan ke logon sarcastically) and it will break Pathan’s too, he forecasts. Does it?
Pathan says his parents left him in a movie theatre and his country looked after him. When he grew up, he adds, he thought he would return the favour. The movie is littered with powerful analogies such as this one.
We loved you from the moment we saw you on a big screen, Shah Rukh Khan. Thank you for loving us back. Thank you for not losing hope. And thank you for reclaiming Jai Hind. As Ashutosh Rana, who plays a RAW bigwig, says: “Saving the country has to be done together.”