Shaheer Ahmed
Bollywood’s Pathaan is a story of an Indian spy who battles against the leader of a gang of mercenaries who have a heinous plot for his homeland, India. Even though Pathaan works in cahoots with ISI we found out, ‘Pathaan’ is a biased movie on Pakistan, another cringe Portrayal of Pakistan!
In South Asia, Shah Rukh Khan’s celebrity is well-known. He is most known for reinventing heterosexual romance for generations born in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and his popularity, particularly among women, has only risen. Their love for Shah Rukh transforms and adapts itself to reinvent the meanings of life, as they move from his films to his interviews.
According to Dawn’s report, Bollywood’s Pathaan was being screened illegally in Karachi at the Defence Housing Authority. Pathaan screenings were being organised by a company called ‘Firework Events’ at various locations around Pakistan. Previously, advertising for Rs 900 PKR tickets was put on two famous Facebook pages
Watch: Pakistani Review of Mission Majnu & Pathan | Neemopani Originals
Over the past decade or so, his films have lost some of their shine and appeal. Films like Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017) and Dilwale (2016) were only parodies of the iconic SRK character. Zero (2018), his last picture before Pathaan, was a box office flop.
The narrative follows India’s repeal of Article 370, which granted Jammu and Kashmir unique status. The film celebrates the repeal of Article 370, but it has been met with unprecedented excitement in Kashmir, where several single-screen theatres have reopened in response to increased demand.
Through these contradictions of escaping blatant jingoism and soft Hindutva messaging, Pathaan reminds the Indian audience of the once flawed secular nation-state that India used to be. I call it defective because it was problematic from the start. In India, caste, gender, and other ethnic characteristics remained dangerously oblivious. It demanded that Muslims demonstrate their patriotism and commitment, but this imperfect secularism also fostered coexistence, diversity, and multi-religious peace.
Also Read: Barzakh: Featuring Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed after 10 years
Intolerance against Khan escalated when he refrained from making any additional statements about India’s rising intolerance of minorities. With this backdrop of a vendetta against India’s Muslim superstar, his middle-class roots, interfaith marriage to a Hindu woman, and open embrace of India’s secular and multicultural ethos, Shah Rukh’s latest film Pathaan has broken all previous records by becoming Bollywood’s highest-grossing film ever.
Although Pathaan criticises the institutions from the start, we don’t see why they have to depict Jim as a Muslim terrorist. Portrayed by John Abraham, Jim is a former Indian agent who has become an independent operator who works for pay. Jim has not become an adversary for no cause, and his animosity for his country is explained in the backdrop, in which his pregnant wife is assassinated by terrorists when the Indian government refuses to deal with terrorists. This makes no logic to us. Are they trying to make the Indian government look bad?
The narrative follows India’s repeal of Article 370, which granted Jammu and Kashmir unique status. The film celebrates the repeal of Article 370, but it has been met with unprecedented excitement in Kashmir, where several single-screen theatres have reopened in response to increased demand.
Pathaan also has a cringe-worthy portrayal of Pakistani intelligence officials. Rubina is a sharp cop who sprints, pursues, and triumphs with Pathaan. The dresses Rubina dons are far off from reality. With her lean body, the way she sprints and hustles with a chubby man makes ISI in the spotlight because if this was a real-life story, they have done some amazing work with Rubina.
Their stereotype of Pakistan men and women just baffles us.
Pataan is a hit globally but it didn’t sit very well with us. Why do they need to include Pakistan to make their story work? Can’t they work without mentioning us? Even Mission Majnu is far beyond reality. Thus, ‘Pathaan’ is a biased movie on Pakistan, a true Bollywood cringe Portrayal of Pakistan.
Neemopani also had a review of Pathaan and Mission Majnu, do watch it and let us know about your comments. We would want Shahrukh Khan and Bollywood to kindly exclude Pakistan and stop portraying Muslims as bad guys because we want to see happy movies with happy endings. leave the politics behind when you write the movies. this is our humble request to all the Indian and Pakistani moviemakers.
