Pathaan: Siddharth Anand says Shah Rukh Khan has been ‘soft target’ in recent years; breaks silence on boycott calls: ‘Audiences came out in large numbers and supported it’

Riding high on the success of Pathaan, filmmaker Siddharth Anand has now given two back-to-back blockbusters. After War and Pathaan, he has become the undisputed number-one director of his genre in India. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone & John Abraham, the film has already collected Rs. 591 crores gross worldwide! But, the film did face its fair share of controversies especially when boycott calls were made after ‘Besharam Rang’ was released. Several outfits had raised objections to Deepika Padukone wearing a saffron bikini. Speaking to Deadline, when asked if he was worried about the negativity around Pathaan ahead of its release, he said, “All I know is they tried to boycott Pathaan and audiences came out in large numbers and supported it. I think if you’re going to boycott something or raise your voice against it, there has to be some merit in that. It has to be substantiated with some facts and some reality. What they were trying to do with Pathaan was just ridiculous and the audience has given its verdict. There’s also been a huge amount of support for Shah Rukh who has been a soft target in recent years. That’s why the film has done such big numbers. There’s been such an outpouring of love – they came in wanting to like the film and not to judge it.” Talking about the recent surge of South movies doing really well in the North market and how Pathaan has broken several records, he added, “We’ve captured all four quadrants, families are going in large numbers, men, women, youth audience, across both multiplexes and single screens. It’s also firing in all territories. Earlier it was a little slow in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh because people were afraid of protests. That was on the first day. But by evening, the numbers started increasing. The South is also coming in with big numbers, not just the Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions, but they’re also coming for the original Hindi version because they want to hear Shah Rukh speaking in his original voice.” On the work front, Siddharth Anand is next directing Fighter headlined by Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone. The film is set for Republic Day 2024 release. ALSO READ: Siddharth Anand proved to be 'pandemic proof'; delivers all-time blockbuster Pathaan