Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Pathaan’ smashes advance opening records in India despite backlash from extremists

More than 4 years after his last release Zero (2018), Shah Rukh Khan is making a comeback to the big screen with Pathaan and the hype around the spy thriller is at an all-time high.

Recently, it was announced that the advance booking of the film will open in India on January 20 but a couple of days before that, a few cinema chains including IMAX shows opened ticket bookings for the audience. And the response was unprecedented.

A lot of people on social media are sharing screenshots & clips of ticket booking site Book My Show where most of the shows of Pathaan are either on a filling fast mode, about to get sold out or simply sold out.

मौसम बिगड़ चुका है #PathaanAdvanceBookingpic.twitter.com/EuRc8h56AU

— Hassan Raza 𓀠 (Fan) (@iamhsnrz) January 18, 2023

A report on Box Office India revealed that one of the best & the biggest multiplexes of Hyderabad, Prasads Multiplex saw a whopping 1800 tickets being sold in just 2 hours of bookings going live.

Several reports further state that the Siddharth Anand directorial has already collected over Rs 2 crore in advances for day one.

The film is now easily on course to be the biggest post-pandemic when it comes to advance booking beating last year’s Brahmastra: Part One – Shiva.

That’s not all, going by the massive response to the advance booking, a report in Bollywood Hungama predicts an opening day in the range of Rs 40 crore plus in India.

The film is releasing on Wednesday, which is a normal working day and to collect in the range of Rs 40 crore on a non-holiday is pretty huge.

Earlier, the advance booking in several international territories opened to massive response and the film is set to create new records in several countries.

Predicting the biz on the extended opening weekend, trade analyst Girish Johar told ETimes that Pathaan is expected to earn Rs 300 crore global gross in the first 5 days of its release.

Also starring Deepika Padukone & John Abraham, Pathaan is slated for January 25, 2023, release.

Earlier this month, Hindu seer Mahant Paramhans Acharya threatened to burn Khan alive for supposedly ‘insulting’ saffron colour in his upcoming film Pathaan.

The threat has come about after extremists raged against a song in the film in which the female lead, Deepika Padukone, can be seen wearing a saffron bikini. The title of the song, Besharam Rang roughly translates to ‘Shameless Color’. Hindus revere the colour, with many priests choosing to wear saffron robes.

Acharya said that the song insulted the saffron color. “People of our Sanatan Dharma are protesting continuously regarding this matter. Today we have burnt the poster of Shah Rukh Khan. If I get to meet the film Jihadi Shah Rukh Khan, I will burn him alive,” he said.

Mumbai Police reported receiving a complaint to fill an FIR against the movie’s director, producer, and actors for the song Besharam Rang. The complaint was regarding the saffron bikini Deepika had worn, saying that the color had been used to hurt the religious sentiments of Hindu people.

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