John Abraham’s first look as Pathaan villain revealed, Siddharth Anand teases ‘extraordinary battle’ between him and Shah Rukh Khan
A new poster for John Abraham’s villainous character in the upcoming action film Pathaan has been unveiled. The film serves as Shah Rukh Khan’s grand return to the big screen after a four-year gap. The film also stars Deepika Padukone in a pivotal role.
Pathaan motion poster begins with a ticking timer, which then transitions to a shot of John looking menacing in combat gear. The actor has long been synonymous with action movies, breaking out after a starring role in the first Dhoom film.
Rumoured to be a part of a planned shared universe of spy films that will also include the Tiger series starring Salman Khan and War, which featured Hrithik Roshan, Pathaan is directed Siddharth Anand. Salman has already confirmed that he has filmed a cameo for Pathaan. The actor is currently shooting the third instalment in the Tiger series, under the direction of Maneesh Sharma.
Siddharth said in a statement, “John Abraham is THE antagon, THE villain of Pathaan. And I have always believed in the fact that the villain’s projection should be as big, if not bigger than that of the hero’s. Only when the villain is massive, can the tussle between them be spectacular. And we have an extraordinary battle when SRK takes on John! We wanted to present John in a super slick avatar.”
Not just Shah Rukh, even Yash Raj Films is relying on Pathaan to turn their fortunes around. The studio has delivered a series of high-profile, star-driven flops this year, including Ranveer Singh’s Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Akshay Kumar’s Samrat Prithviraj and Ranbir Kapoor’s Shamshera. Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap had offered studio head Aditya Chopra some unsolicited advice in a recent interview, and had said that he should shouldn’t interfere with the creative process of the filmmakers that he hires.
Pathaan is Shah Rukh’s first film since 2018’s Zero, which was a notorious bomb at the box office. The film will arrive in theatres in January 25. He will follow it up with Atlee’s Jawan, and Rakumar Hirani’s Dunki.
