“Deepika Is Amar, I’m Akbar, John Is Anthony”: SRK’s Message On Unity

Shah Rukh Khan likened himself and his Pathaan co-stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham to “Amar Akbar Anthony”, the characters from Manmohan Desai’s 1977 hit, stressing the message of unity.

“This is Deepika Padukone, she is Amar; I am Shah Rukh Khan, Akbar; this is John Abraham, he is Anthony. And this is what makes cinema. Amar Akbar and Anthony. There are no differences that any of us have for anybody. Any culture, any aspect of life.

We love you and that’s why we make films. We love you to give us love. Give us love, we are hungry for love,” said Shah Rukh Khan at a live session on Monday in which Team Pathaan addressed the media on the massive success of their film.

The actors are just playing characters and not trying to hurt anyone’s sentiments, said the superstar, adding that the aim of cinema is to “spread happiness, brotherhood, love, kindness”.

“To be honest when we make films, be it in north, south, east, west, our aim is to spread happiness, brotherhood, love, kindness… Even when I’m playing a bad guy in ‘Darr’ or John is bad in this film… We are just playing characters. None of this is meant to hurt any sentiment. It is just entertainment,” he said.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan, now in its sixth day on screens, continues to rule the box office. The action-thriller has made over ₹ 500 crore worldwide. It opened in over 100 countries on 8,000 screens – the highest of any Hindi film.

“We have to keep our culture, our old stories all that is seeped into this country, beautiful country, which is India. We have to tell the stories in modern ways, in different ways. And when we tell them in different ways there is no way we are deriding anybody. We are just trying to speak the language of youngsters which has changed,” explained the superstar.

The song Besharam Rang had caused some controversy because of Deepika’s outfits and there were protests ahead of the film’s release.

The 57-year-old star called his fans his safe place and spoke about how greeting them from his balcony gives him strength. Shah Rukh said his fans love him whether his films work or not.

“I was told when something doesn’t work, go to those who love you. I am very fortunate that I have millions who give me love. When I am happy, I come to my balcony, when I am sad, I come to the balcony,” he said, adding an SRK flourish – “I am fortunate to have been given a permanent balcony ticket,” said SRK.

Pathaan is Shah Rukh Khan’s first release in a leading role since 2018 film Zero.