India’s Tom Cruise Shah Rukh Khan May Have Just Saved Bollywood With His Blockbuster ‘Pathaan’

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A comeback hit from one of the country’s biggest movie stars is just what the flailing Hindi-language film industry needed.

Shah Rukh Khan Pathaan
Shah Rukh Khan in "Pathaan." (IMAX)

Shah Rukh Khan just reclaimed his status as one of India’s biggest butts-in-seats draws after a four-year absence from movies.

Director Siddharth Anand’s action spectacular “Pathaan,” a loosely connected installment in India’s ongoing YRF Spy Universe series, earned $77 million in its first week of global release. The immediate success both reaffirmed Khan’s bankability and provided a much-needed jolt to a struggling Bollywood industry. 

Khan was a name synonymous with Bollywood in the 1990s and 2000s. However, as explained by film critic and pop culture journalist Siddhant Adlakha, he was known more as a romantic lead than as an action hero.

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