Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Kashyap recently addressed Shah Rukh Khan as an actor with the strongest spine when he expressed his joy over Pathaan’s box office success. Kashyap had said that Shah Rukh had maintained his integrity even during the painful days of Aryan Khan’s arrest in a fake case. Shah Rukh indeed never gave any media interviews or shared social media posts against his son’s arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau. Aryan was later released after staying in a Mumbai jail for a month before the NCB acquitted him of all charges months later. But, King Khan recently appeared to make his first indirect reference to the pain suffered by him over his son’s arrest and the subsequent hounding by India’s boycott gang. His reaction came just days before Pathaan appeared set to cross Rs. 1,000 crore mark at the box office globally.
Shah Rukh wrote, “The Sun is alone….it Burns….and comes out of the darkness to Shine again. Thank u all for letting the Sun shine on #Pathaan.”
Pathaan faced widespread calls for a boycott by India’s Hindutva fanatics ahead of its release. The campaign to boycott Pathaan also received support from powerful BJP leaders. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra raised objections to the film’s song, Besharm Rang, accusing the makers of hurting Hindu sentiments. Assam’s BJP Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he did not know who Shah Rukh was. Hours later, he tweeted saying that King Khan had phoned him at 2 AM and he was happy to receive his call even though he first claimed to not know about the Bollywood megastar.
Reacting to Pathaan’s success, Kashyap had said, “There is euphoria. This euphoria is beautiful. This euphoria was missing. This is also a socio-political euphoria. It is like making a statement.”
He added, “The man with the strongest spine with the most resilience and integrity, who’s kept quiet through everything. He’s spoken. He’s spoken on screen, with his work. And you know what. It is beautiful.”
One NCB officer, who headed an SIT to investigate the charges against Aryan, had revealed how Shah Rukh broke down before the team.
“We have been painted as some kind of big criminals or monsters who are out to destroy society and we find going to work tough every day,” Shah Rukh had reportedly told the NCB officer, Sanjay Singh, with eyes welling up in tears.
Meanwhile, Pathaan is set to become the first Bollywood film to cross Rs. 500 crore at the box office in India. The film is also destined to surpass Rs. 1,000 crore at the box office globally.