On 30 January, Shah Rukh Khan appeared on stage and in referring to the secular nature of the Hindi film industry, he compared his Pathaan co-stars to the titular characters of Manmohan Desai’s iconic 1997 film. In a video clip that has gone viral on social media, Khan said that Deepika Padukone, he himself and John Abraham were Amar, Akbar, and Anthony.
“And this is what makes (Hindi) cinema,” he added. “Amar, Akbar, Anthony. There are no differences that any of us have for anybody, any culture, any aspect of life. We love you. That’s why we make films. We love you, to give us love.”
Shah Rukh and his co-stars appeared on stage for the first time since Pathaan had been declared a humongous hit. And it was a coincidence that he spoke on Mahatma Gandhi’s 75th death anniversary, the day India’s secular heartbeat is sometimes questioned and debated.
I believe Shah Rukh’s comment was an afterthought. It was not something producer Aditya Chopra and director Siddharth Anand had planned. But in hindsight, it looks like Pathaan’s casting was indeed a bigger statement about India.