Kangana Ranaut praises Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan at Emergency party: ‘Films like this should definitely work’

Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan released in theatres on January 25. The craze for the movie is soaring, with the actors’ fans from all across the country queuing up to watch the action movie. Even actor Kangana Ranaut spoke about Pathaan at the wrap-up party of her upcoming film Emergency. While speaking to media alongside her Emergency co-stars Anupam Kher and Satish Kaushik, Kangana said that she wants the movie to ‘definitely work’ as she praised the action film, which also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. Also read: Karan Johar says Shah Rukh Khan ‘went nowhere, waited for right time to rule’, hails Pathaan as ‘biggest blockbuster’

Kangana said, “Pathaan acha kar rahi hai. Aisi films chalni chahiye aur I feel ki jo hamare Hindi cinema wale piche reh gaye hain, har insaan apne level pe koshish kar raha hai (Pathaan is doing very well. I feel films like this should definitely work. Hindi cinema has been lagging behind other film industries, and we are all trying to finally bring back the business in our own little way).” Anupam Kher also said in Hindi, “It (Pathaan) is a huge film, made on a huge budget.”

Days before its release, Pathaan had generated buzz among fans, with the number of advance bookings soaring high. As per a PTI report, industry experts had backed the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan to open somewhere between ₹45-50 crore at the box office. The Yash Raj Films project, which marks Shah Rukh’s return to films in a lead role after his 2018 film Zero, released a day before Republic Day, on Wednesday, which gives the Hindi film a five-day extended opening weekend.

The advance bookings for Pathaan had opened on January 20. As per trade analyst Taran Adarsh, Pathaan will revive Bollywood and will mark the beginning of a fantastic 2023 for the film industry, which went through a lean period in recent years, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic. “The film is going to take a historic start at the box office with opening day collections of ₹45-50 crore. The box office revival will begin with Pathaan, especially looking at its advance booking, which is very rare. It is a great start to 2023 despite being a working day,” Adarsh told PTI.

Earlier, trade analyst Atul Mohan had said that a total of 90,000 tickets were sold on the first day of the advance booking. According to him, PVR has sold 35,000 tickets, INOX sold 30,000 and Cinepolis sold 25,000 till 9pm on January 19. He told Hindustan Times, “The trend is that the advance bookings are at highest on the first day, and then it peaks on the day before release. We can safely say that the shows are good. Four out of five screens are being given to Pathaan at most properties like Cinepolis, PVR and INOX etc.”