Shah Rukh Khan’s much anticipated comeback to Bollywood’s big screen has officially started counting down. There has been growing anticipation for Pathaan, King Khan’s first action-packed epic, as we count down the last weeks until its release. SRK will play the title character in the movie, an undercover agent who has built a shady name for himself in the industry. The Bollywood kingpin teased a “clash” between his on-screen rival John Abraham’s character and himself in a new image posted ahead of the movie’s release.
In the new poster, Abraham’s character dominates the dimly-lit image as he stands boldly in a black leather jacket whilst looking ferociously ahead at his target. Wielding a gun in his hand, Pathaan’s foe shows off his threatening tattoo, which reads: “Everyone will come to my funeral to make sure I stay dead.” Abraham’s character is something of a mystery to eager audiences as they have previously only seen a snippet of what is to come from the previously shared teaser. In the clip, we see him go head-to-head with SRK’s Pathaan in full force as they battle it out on top of a moving lorry. The only other insight we’re given is a brief shot of Abraham’s ruthless counterpart is in a scene of him kitted out – and ready to kill – with a rocket launcher in hand, taking an unapologetic aim at a car. Although the details of where their enmity has sparked from are sparse, it’s clear Pathaan’s foe has a problem with him meddling in his business and he has no plans to take it lying down.
Abraham has earned a reputation of his own for his back catalog of action epics, such as Force and Dishoom, and his involvement in Pathaan feels like a clear nod to Khan’s clear desire to really cement himself within the genre. After formally departing his three-decade-long legacy of heart-swooning romances, Bollywood’s biggest name made his intentions clear to carve out a Tom Cruise-esque title for himself at the Red Sea Festival in Saudi Arabia earlier this month. “I’m 57 years old, and I thought for the next 10 years I have to do action films, I want to do Mission Impossible-ish kind of films,” SRK told Deadline. “I want to do over-the-top kind of action films.”
