Why Pathaan is a strong rebuke to #BoycottBollywood gang

It is a sign of truly dire times when watching a run-of-the-mill, masala action Bollywood film is being seen as a political act. Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan, proving true to the reports of record advance bookings, has thus far been a humongous success, grossing Rs 100 crore on the second day itself. While he had been a bigwig actor in the Hindi film industry for several decades, after successive failures in Jab Harry Met Sejal and Zero, his shineseemed to dim. And wisely, he stayed away from acting for a while (barring a couple of cameos). And yet, the magic of SRK is once again working on the big screen.

I chose an early morning show and yet hardly a seat was empty. Fans cheered, whooped, and hooted throughout. And at a certain cameo in the third act, there were deafening shouts and hollers.

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Preceding the release of the film, the Twitter hashtag #BoycottBollywood, a constant companion of films starring the Khans of Bollywood, trended for weeks (it is still trending for some reason). I remember there weresomething like a hundred thousand tweets mentioning the trend once.

The said trend was believed to be the reason behind the expensive failure of Laal Singh Chaddha, theAamir Khan-fronted reimagining of the 1994 Hollywood classic Forrest Gump. But clearly either the keyboard warriors behind #BoycottBollywood were negligent in their efforts with Pathaan, or Twitter trends are not indicative of the general opinion. Less than 50 per cent of Indians, after all, have access to the internet. And despite all the noise, the fracas, breaking news, and the headlines suggesting Twitterati believes this or that, the Elon Musk-owned site is still only the fourth most visited social media platform after Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

What's behind the #BoycottBollywood trend?

Also Read:Pathaan movie review: It serves brand Shah Rukh Khan well

This is a long story. In a sense, it all began after Kangana Ranaut lobbed the accusation of nepotism at Karan Johar and got a sizeable section of Hindi film fans to turn to her 'cause' (quotes because something tells me it isn't entirely benevolent). Then in 2020, a young and talented actor Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide. The tragedy deepened the distrust of Bollywood, or at least against those who are believed to be pulling the strings. Some alleged a conspiracy behind the death, orchestrated by the power players to reassert and gain back control of the industry from new upstarts.

There is a belief that nepotism has led to a lack of opportunities for outsiders and has helped to maintain the dominance of certain established families and individuals. Kangana has made several public statements accusing certain members of the industry of promoting nepotism and creating a "mafia" that controls the industry. She and others believe actors and directors work in cliques, and this creates a lack of opportunities for fresh talents.

Add to that, the Khans, and other actors of other faiths who are considered to be in league with them, have been demonised by many on social media. Do you call it Bollywood? They prefer Urduwood or Khanwood. The film industry has supposedly been dominated by Muslims and is working against the interests of Indians and Hindus.

This also leads to the nepotism debate, one side of which says that the industry is closed to outsiders, who, despite their talent, have to struggle to score even supporting roles. Star kids, on the other hand, get plum roles straight out of the cradle. Or something.

Also Read:Pathaan box office day 2: SRK, Deepika Padukone film mints Rs 130 cr

Does the #BoycottBollywood trend work?

Not really. At least not the way you think. Sure, it may have swayed a few on-the-fence people. But it is at the end of the day a Twitter trend, on a relatively minor social media platform in India. Sony Pictures in the US decided to cash in on the Morbius trend (remember 'It's Morbin' time!"?) to rerelease it, to see if it will earn some money this time. It bombed worse than before. Obviously. And that is the US, where internet penetration is over 90 per cent. In India as well, apart from Pathaan, the #BoycottBollywood gang failed to dent the box office numbers of Brahmastra, which incidentally had SRK playing a short but fun cameo.

So... is Pathaan any good?

Like all the others, I also whooped and shouted at the appropriate times because I was indeed enjoying the film. Pathaan has all the ingredients of a typical Indian masala entertainer. It is overall well-directed and shot, and slows the action every now and then to show in detail the stars (Deepika Padukone and John Abraham also star in the film) doing cool things. The action is nice and well-choreographed, and the performances are also mostly very good.

Sure, I found many things to groan at. Pathaan also has all the flaws of masala films. I even eye-rolled every time the film revealed something it definitely felt would shock audiences. Oh, and characters are by turn smart and stupid. They do whatever the plot requires them to do. Speaking of the plot, it is mostly nonsensical. Abraham's Jim, the villain, changes his end goal at the drop of the hat. Deepika's beautiful ISI agent Rubina glides on a frozen lake using ice skates to help Pathaan fight Jim, the latter two riding sports bikes. I didn't laugh only because, well, it's Deepika!

Also Read:'Laal Singh Chaddha' is not 'Forrest Gump' and Aamir Khan is not Tom Hanks: A disappointing remake

And no, the film is not a win for the forces of progressivism or secularism. The film's politics are hazy, and unclear I suspect even to the writers. There are usual standards exhortations of how sacrificing for the country is the supreme duty of a soldier. SRK celebrates his Muslim identity here as much as he celebrated his NRI identity in Swades. He makes it clear he is without religion, and was named Pathaan lovingly by this Afghan family he saved on a mission as a soldier.

All that aside, I found myself falling under the spell cast by SRK. I certainly would not have enjoyed the film on a TV or computer screen. The raucous SRK fans all around me added to the experience. The director (Siddharth Anand) made sure the focus of the film was always its main star. And the said star effortlessly turns on the charm from the very first moment we see him, bloodied and tortured in the clutches of a bunch of goons. And right until the end, you could not take your eyes off him.

I now see the appeal of him. Why fans in the theatres across the country were literally dancing. SRK is not just a good actor, he is a star, theKing Khan.

(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)

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