Pathaan (pronounced [pəʈʰaːn]) is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Siddharth Anand and written by Shridhar Raghavan and Abbas Tyrewala, from a story by Anand. The fourth installment in the YRF Spy Universe, it stars Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Dimple Kapadia, and Ashutosh Rana. In the film, Pathaan (Khan), an exiled RAW agent, works with ISI agent Rubina Mohsin (Padukone) to take down Jim (Abraham), a former RAW agent planning to spread a deadly lab-generated virus across India.
Produced by Aditya Chopra of Yash Raj Films, the film began principal photography in November 2020 in Mumbai. The film was shot over various locations in India, Afghanistan, Spain, UAE, Turkey, Russia, Italy and France. Two songs were composed by the duo Vishal–Shekhar, while Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara provided the score. The film was made on an estimated production budget of ₹225 crore (US$28 million) with a further ₹15 crore (US$1.9 million) spent on print and advertising.[4] Against the norm, pre-release publicity was limited with no media interaction or public events.
Pathaan was theatrically released in India on 25 January 2023, coinciding with the Republic Day weekend, and generally received positive reviews from critics who praised its action sequences, music and cast performances.[6][7] The film had the all-time highest opening day, all-time highest single-day, all-time highest opening weekend and all-time highest opening week collection in India.[8][9][10] It eventually became the highest grossing Hindi language film ever in India and set new records in all major overseas markets like US - Canada, UAE - GCC, United Kingdom and Australia.[11][12][13] The film has grossed ₹1,050.3 crore (US$130 million)[14] worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Indian film of 2023, the second-highest-grossing Hindi film of all time, the fifth-highest-grossing Indian film of all time and the eleventh highest grossing movie of 2023.[15] The movie set several other box-office records in India and for a Hindi-language film.[16][17][18][19] Pathaan became the first Hindi film to gross ₹1,000 crore (US$130 million) worldwide without a China release.[20]
Plot
In 2019, the Indian Government revokes Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which grants special status for Jammu and Kashmir. The news impacts a cancer-ridden Pakistani army general, Qadir, who decides to exact vengeance against India. He signs a contract with Jim, who leads "Outfit X", a private terrorist organization. Meanwhile, Pathaan, a former RAW agent, and his senior officer Nandini Grewal open a unit dubbed the "Joint Operations and Covert Research" (JOCR) unit, to recruit former RAW agents who were forced to retire due to past trauma or injury, but want to serve the country.
With RAW joint secretary, Colonel Sunil Luthra's acceptance, Pathaan and his team head to Dubai to stop Outfit X's plans of attacking the President of India at a scientific conference. However, they realize that their actual plan was to kidnap two scientists, Dr. Farooqui and Dr. Sahani instead and the information they received about the imminent attack on the President was a ruse to mislead them. Jim attacks the scientists' convoy and Pathaan tries to stop him. A fight ensues, where Jim manages to escape with Dr. Sahani. At the debrief back at the agency, Luthra reveals that Jim was a former RAW agent, who was awarded with the Vir Puraskar for his bravery after the agency could not find his body when Somalian terrorists killed his wife and unborn child in a negotiation gone-wrong. He had apparently faked his death in order to seek vengeance against the agency and country for not saving his family.
Meanwhile, Pathaan learns about the codeword dubbed "Raktbeej" and also that the dead people in Dubai were ex-agents and their money was transferred from the account of Rubina Mohsin (Rubai), a Pakistani doctor in Spain. He travels to Spain and is captured by Jim's men, where he also learns that Rubai is an ex-ISI agent. When Jim leaves his hideout, Rubai attacks Jim's men and escapes with Pathaan. Rubai reveals that Raktbeej is in Moscow, where they travel to steal it before Jim does. However, Rubai betrays Pathaan and has him captured by the police. It is revealed that Jim used Rubai to make Pathaan steal the Raktbeej for himself. Pathaan is captured and taken to prison by train, but is saved by Avinash Singh "Tiger" Rathore.
Three years later, Pathaan travels to Africa and captures Jim's henchman Raafe. He meets Nandini and reveals about Jim purchasing two saber missiles, while Nandini reveals Rubai's location in Paris. Pathaan meets Rubai, who reveals that the Raktbeej is a mutated smallpox virus, which was forcibly developed by a captive Dr. Sahani under Jim's orders. She also expresses guilt about betraying Pathaan without knowing that her country would plan such a heinous attack. They travel to Jim's lab in Siberia and manage to recover one orb containing the virus with great difficulty, while Jim escapes with the other orb. Luthra and Nandini reach Jim's lab to take the orb back to India in order to develop a vaccine. Luthra also has Rubai arrested for having questionable loyalties.
At the Indian Institute of Contagious Diseases (IICD), Dr. Farooqui demonstrates the orb to Nandini. Jim calls them and reveals that the orb has already spread the virus in the facility. The infected scientists, along with Nandini die in the facility by shooting themselves, to curb the spread of the virus. Later, the facility is destroyed in a controlled blast. Jim provides an ultimatum to evacuate Indian soldiers out of Kashmir within 24 hours. Pathaan interrogates Raafe about the location of the missile, and learns that the missile is situated in Afghanistan. After rescuing Rubai, they lure Jim's associates into a trap, and attack Jim's base. Qadir was killed by Rubai after he activated the missile containing the virus. Pathaan chases after Jim with a jetpack and they both crash land into a cabin.
Meanwhile, Rubai deactivates the missile, but finds that Raktbeej is not in the missile, but instead in a passenger-bound airplane, which is about to land in Delhi. She informs Pathaan, who finds that Jim has the detonator. Luthra calls the air traffic control to prevent the plane from landing in Delhi. In the cabin, Pathaan and Jim fight brutally, resulting in the cabin begin sliding off a cliff. Despite getting stabbed by Jim, Pathaan steals the detonator, deactivates Raktbeej and throws Jim out of the cabin as the foundation is about to break. While Jim holds onto a plank, Pathaan takes away his Vir Puraskar, deeming him unworthy of it. He stomps and breaks the plank Jim was holding onto, resulting in him falling to his apparent death. Afterwards, Pathaan is reinstated into RAW and made as the head of JOCR, while Nandini is posthumously awarded with the Vir Puraskar for her bravery.
In a mid-credits scene, Pathaan and Tiger are seen pondering about retiring and suggesting young agents who can replace them, but eventually decide to keep fighting the threats themselves.
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