11 Interesting Things About “Pathaan” You Probably Didn’t Know

Pathaan, which made it to the big screens on 25th January, has broken several records at the box office. It is the first Bollywood movie to have earned Rs. 100 crores on its opening day. Shah Rukh Khan’s return to the cinemas after such a long absence just added fuel to the fire and drew an unparalleled response from hungry fans and media.

The movie stars John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia, also Ashutosh Rana and is a part of YRF’s spy universe. With the release, it seems to have surpassed everyone’s expectations. The SRK fans from all over the country have been brimming with excitement long before the release of the film. To celebrate its release, they performed a lot of extraordinary things like dancing in cinemas and going as far as installing massive billboards of the actor.

The plot of the film centers around the spy Pathaan played by Shah Rukh Khan, who emerges from exile to prevent Outfit X, a terrorist organization led by Jim played by John Abraham, from attacking India in a devastating manner.

Here are some interesting facts about Pathaan that you probably didn’t know:

1. The Action Director for Pathaan is none other than Casey O’Neill who has worked as the Stunt Coordinator for many Hollywood blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) 

2. Pathaan became the first Indian film that was shot in Lake Baikal in Siberia, also the movie was shot in several locations across India, Afghanistan, UAE, Spain, Turkey, Russia, Italy, and France

3. Shah Rukh Khan, in a scene from the film Pathaan, refers to a character called Karen as “K…K…K…Karen” with his infamous stutter from Darr (1993)

4. Pathaan became the first Bollywood film that was shot with the help of IMAX cameras and it is also Yash Raj Films’ first-ever Dolby Cinema release

5. Pathaan is Shah Rukh Khan’s first ever movie where he worked with John Abraham whereas John and Deepika Padukone have previously worked together in two other films before, them being Desi Boyz (2011) and Race 2 (2013)

6. The director Siddharth Anand gave us many rom-coms like Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007), and Salaam Namaste (2005) before he delivered such action blockbusters like Bang Bang! (2014), War (2019), and, now, Pathaan (2023)

7.  The famous song from the movie, Besharam Rang, was sampled from the song Hamen To Loot Liya Mil Ke Husn Walo Ne from the film Al Hilal (1958), the tune is somewhat similar to Koi Fariyaad from Tum Bin (2001) and Makeba by Jain

8. The person who directed the much-loved movie Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (2008), Abbas Tyrewala, is also one of the writers of the film Pathaan

9. Pathaan is SRK and Deepika’s fourth collaboration, Om Shanti Om (2007), Chennai Express (2013), and Happy New Year (2014) also coincidentally the music for all of these four films has been composed by none other than Vishal-Shekhar

10. Nikhat Khan, the person who plays SRK’s foster mother in the movie is  actually Aamir Khan’s real sister

11. The other writer of Pathaan, Shridhar Raghavan, has also written the screenplay for the iconic TV show C.I.D. War (2019), Bluffmaster! (2005), and Khakee (2004)