Pathaan (film)

*This is about the film. For the character see, Pathaan*

## YRF Spy Universe

> Party Pathaan ke ghar pe rakhoge ... toh mehman nawazi ke liye Pathaan toh aayega ... aur patake bhi layega
> (English: If you organize the party at Pathaan's place ... then Pathaan has to be there for hospitality ... and he'll bring fire crackers as well)
>
> Pathaan

***Pathaan*** is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Siddharth Anand and written by Shridhar Raghavan and Abbas Tyrewala, from a story by Anand. It act as a sequel to *Tiger Zinda Hai*, *War* and is the fourth installment in the YRF Spy Universe, it stars Shah Rukh Khan as the titular character, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, and Ashutosh Rana.

## Synopsis

Indian RAW agent “Pathaan” gets to know of a major impending attack against India, mounted by a mercenary group led by the ruthless enigma Jim, who has a history of his own. With the doomsday clock ticking away and an agent Rubai his only possible ally, Pathaan must fight countless betrayals and deal with destruction as he takes on Jim.

## Plot

In 2019, the Indian Government revokes Article 370, which grants special status for Jammu and Kashmir. The news impacts a cancer-ridden Pakistani army general, Qadir, who decides to exact vengeance against India. He signs a contract with Jim, who leads "Outfit X", a private terrorist organization.

In 2020, Pathaan, a former RAW agent, and his senior officer Nandini Grewal open a unit dubbed the "Joint Operations and Covert Research" (JOCR) unit, to recruit former RAW agents who were forced to retire due to past trauma or injury, but want to serve their country.

With RAW Joint Secretary, Colonel Sunil Luthra's acceptance, Pathaan and his team head to Dubai to stop Outfit X's plans of attacking the President of India at a scientific conference. However, they realize that their actual plan was to kidnap two scientists, Dr. Farooqui and Dr. Sahani instead and the information they received about the imminent attack on the President was a ruse to mislead them. Jim attacks the scientists' convoy and Pathaan tries to stop him. A fight ensues, where Jim manages to escape with Dr. Sahani. At the debrief back at the agency, Luthra reveals that Jim was a former RAW agent, who was awarded with the Veer Puraskar for his bravery after the agency could not find his body when Somalian terrorists killed his wife and unborn child in a negotiation gone-wrong. He had apparently faked his death in order to seek vengeance against the agency and country for not saving his family.

Meanwhile, Pathaan learns via Shweta Bajaj, about the codeword dubbed "Raktbeej" and also that the dead people in Dubai were ex-agents and their money was transferred from the account of Rubina "Rubai" Mohsin, a Pakistani doctor in Spain. He travels to Spain and is captured by Jim's men, where he also learns that Rubai is an ex-ISI agent and a part of Outfit X. When Jim leaves his hideout, Rubai attacks Jim's men and escapes with Pathaan. Rubai reveals that Raktbeej is in Moscow, where they travel to steal it before Jim does. However, Rubai betrays Pathaan and has him captured by the police. It is revealed that Jim used Rubai to make Pathaan steal the Raktbeej for himself. Pathaan was captured, tortured and taken to prison via train, but he was surrounded by Russian prisoners who were ready to beat him up. He almost managed to take them down until he couldn't which is when he was rescued by Avinash "Tiger" Singh Rathore, whom Nandini approached.

Two years later, Pathaan travels to Africa and captures Jim's henchman Raafe. He meets Nandini and reveals about Jim purchasing two saber missiles, while Nandini reveals Rubai's location in Paris. Pathaan meets Rubai, who reveals that the Raktbeej is a mutated smallpox virus, which was forcibly developed by a captive Dr. Sahani under Jim's orders. She also expresses guilt about betraying Pathaan without knowing that her country would plan such an heinous attack. They travel to Jim's lab in Siberia and manage to recover one orb containing the virus with great difficulty, while Jim escapes with the other orb. Luthra and Nandini reach Jim's lab to take the orb back to the Indian Institute of Contagious Diseases (IICD), in India in order to develop a vaccine. Luthra also has Rubai arrested for having questionable loyalties.

At the IICD in India, Dr. Farooqui demonstrates the orb to Nandini. Jim calls them and reveals that the orb has already spread the virus in the facility. The infected scientists, along with Nandini die in the facility by shooting themselves, to curb the spread of the virus. Later, the facility is destroyed in a controlled blast. Jim provides an ultimatum to evacuate Indian soldiers out of Kashmir within 24 hours. Pathaan interrogates Raafe about the location of the missile, and learns that the missile is situated in Afghanistan. After rescuing Rubai, they lure Jim's associates into a trap using their hologram tech which replicated an exposed Raktbeej orb, and attack Jim's base. Jim kills Raza who tried to save Pathaan, and leave the base using a jetpack. Qadir activates the countdown for the missile containing the virus and fights Rubai, just to get killed. Pathaan chases after Jim with a jetpack and they both crash land into an abandoned cabin on a cliff.

Meanwhile, Amol and Rubai deactivates the missile, but finds that Raktbeej is not in the missile, but instead in a passenger-bound airplane, which is about to land in Delhi. She informs Pathaan, who finds that Jim has the detonator. Luthra calls the Air Traffic Control to prevent the plane from landing in Delhi. In the cabin, Pathaan and Jim fight brutally, resulting in the cabin begin sliding off a cliff. Despite getting stabbed by Jim, Pathaan steals the detonator, deactivates Raktbeej and throws Jim out of the cabin as the foundation is about to break. While Jim holds onto a plank, Pathaan takes away his *Veer Puraskar*, deeming him unworthy of it. He stomps and breaks the plank Jim was holding onto, resulting in him falling to his apparent death.

Afterwards, Pathaan is reinstated into RAW and made as the head of JOCR, while Nandini is posthumously awarded with the *Veer Puraskar* for her bravery. Colonel Luthra tells Pathaan that everybody is needed in the next mission, including Tiger, Kabir, various RAW Agents, and Indian Army soldiers, so that everybody can come together and help each other for the sake of their country.

In a mid-credits scene, Pathaan and Tiger are seen pondering about retiring and suggesting young agents who can replace them, but eventually decide to keep fighting the threats themselves.

## Cast

* Shah Rukh Khan as Pathaan
* Deepika Padukone as Rubina "Rubai" Mohsin
	+ Grace Girdhar as young Rubai
* John Abraham as Jim
* Dimple Kapadia as Dr. Nandini Grewal
* Ashutosh Rana as Colonel Sunil Luthra
* Prakash Belawadi as Dr. Sahani
* Prem Jhangiani as Dr. Farooqui
* Shaji Choudhary as Raza
* Ekta Kaul as Shweta Bajaj
* Diganta Hazarika as Joseph Mathews
* Viraf Patel as Rishi Arya
* Aakash Bhatija as Amol
* Rajat Kaul as Raafe
* Manish Wadhwa as General Qadir
* Rumi Khan as Jim's henchman
* Mansi Taxak as Jim's wife
* Ashutosh Singh as Rubai's father
* Amanpreet Hundal as Rubai's mother
* Keith Sequeira as Captain Mehra
* Rakesh Khatri as ATC Supervisor
* Mustafa Aksari as Fayyad
* Jeffrey Adams Goldberg as Anton
* Rachel Ann Mullins as Alice
* Karishma Singh as Female Interrogater
* Jayna Ruchandani as Female Interrogater
* Amrita Mishra as Female Interrogater
* Aritro Banerjee as New recruit
* Nikhat Khan as Sabba
* Salman Khan as Avinash Singh "Tiger" Rathore

## Appearances

### Locations

* Pakistan
	+ Lahore
	+ Islamabad (mentioned by Jim)
* India
	+ New Delhi
* Somewhere in Africa
* Somalia
* United Arab Emirates
	+ Dubai
* Spain
* Afghanistan
* Russia
	+ Moscow
		- Woskwick Tower
	+ Siberia
* France
	+ Paris
		- Palais Metro
* Myanmar (mentioned by Nandini Grewal)
* Gulf of Aden (mentioned by Rishi Arya)

### Organizations

* Pakistan Army
* Outfit X
* RAW
	+ JOCR
* NSG
* Indian Army
* US Army
* Daesh (mentioned by Rishi Arya)
* Boko Haram (mentioned by Rishi Arya)
* Aleph (mentioned by Sunil Luthra)
* Interpol (mentioned by Sunil Luthra)
* ONGC (mentioned by Sunil Luthra)
* Somalian Pirates
* IICD
* CIRG

### Items

* Saber Missiles
* Raktbeej Orbs
* Rishi's Hologram Device
* *Veer Puraskar*
* Outfit X Jet Packs

### Vehicles

* Aeroflot 394C (picture)
* Asgard (picture)
* H145M Helicopter
* Flight LT-72

### Mentions

* Article 370
* Sherna Patel (by Sunil Luthra)
* President of India (by Sunil Luthra, Pathaan)
* Kabir Dhaliwal (by Sunil Luthra)
* Husseini (by Pathaan)
* Raafe's Family (picture)
* Zoya Humaimi (by Jim)
* Nandini Grewal's husband (picture)
* Rudra Pandey (picture)
* Akshat Tiwari (picture)
* 3 unnamed RAW Agents (by Tiger and Pathaan)

## Videos

Pathaan - Date Announcement - Shah Rukh Khan - Deepika Padukone - John AbrahamPathaan - Official Teaser - Shah Rukh Khan - Deepika Padukone - John Abraham - Siddharth AnandPathaan - Official Trailer - Shah Rukh Khan - Deepika Padukone - John Abraham - Siddharth Anand
### Motion Posters

Pathaan - Motion Poster -ShahRukhKhan -Pathaan -YRFShorts -SRKPathaan - Motion Poster -Pathaan -JohnAbraham -YRFShorts -YRFPathaan - Motion Poster - Deepika Padukone -DeepikaPadukone -Pathaan -YRFShorts

## Other Links

* *Also see:* Gallery of images
* *Also see:* Music

## Trivia

* *Pathaan* is the first YRF Spy Universe film
	+ to have a crossover and a mid-credits scene.
	+ to show the YRF Spy Universe logo at the beginning of the film. This would later retroactively be added to the Prime Video releases and the YouTube trailers of *Ek Tha Tiger*, *Tiger Zinda Hai*, and *War*.
* *Pathaan* is currently the highest grossing YRF Spy Universe film.
* *Pathaan* became the first Hindi film to gross ₹1,000 crore worldwide without a China release.
* *Pathaan* was the first Indian film to be shot in Siberia's Lake Baikal.
* *Pathaan* is YRF's first Dolby Cinema.
* *Pathaan* had plenty of references to Shah Rukh Khan's previous films
	+ ***Darr***: During a sequence in Russia, Pathaan infiltrates the bedroom of a Russian woman named Karen to steal. Karen possesses the key to a safe where Raktbeej is kept, in Moscow's Woskwich Tower. She was supposed to be fast asleep after unknowingly taking sleeping pills, however, she wasn't. And when Pathaan is taking her fingerprints, she wakes up leaving him shocked. At that moment, Shah Rukh Khan as Pathaan croons the line "tu hai meri Kiran" from the song *Jaadu Teri Nazar* from *Darr*, and mouths his iconic dialogue K-K-K-K-Kiran." But he replaces Kiran with Karen.
	+ ***Karan Arjun:*** When Tiger and Pathaan exploded the helicopters which landed on the bridge, thus destroying it. Then, Tiger yells "Bhaag, Pathaan! Bhaag!" (Run, Pathaan! Run!). It was a reference to Salman Khan's character (Karan)'s line to Shah Rukh Khan's character (Arjun) "Bhaag, Arjun! Bhaag!" (Run, Arjun! Run!).
	+ ***Main Hoon Na:*** There is a reference to *Main Hoon Na* in *Pathaan* when Tiger jokes with Pathaan that he has made it a habit to remove the pin of a bomb, an inter-textual reference to the climax of *Main Hoon Na*, establishing a link between the soldier played by Shah Rukh Khan in *Main Hoon Na* and *Pathaan*. *Main Hoon Na* was also written by Abbas Tyrewala.
	+ ***Kal Ho Naa Ho***: Pathaan and Rubina can be seen discussing how to steal Raktbeej when Pathaan says '7 din Raktbeej in'. This dialogue is inspired by the '6 din ladki in' sequence from SRK's *Kal Ho Naa Ho*.
* Pathaan even mentions the famous number of *War*, *'Ghungroo Toot Gaye'* in his entry scene.