Pathaan craze: Over 1 million tickets sold on BookMyShow, 2.75 lakh tickets sold across INOX cinemas

The advance booking for Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming action thriller Pathaan has clearly indicated a blockbuster opening as the film releases in theatres ahead of the Republic Day on Wednesday, January 25. Over a million tickets have already been sold on movie booking website BookMyShow and the numbers are expected to go much higher by Tuesday night. The cinema chain INOX has also confirmed a sale of 2.75 lakh tickets by Monday. Also read: Deepika Padukone talks about Shah Rukh Khan and shooting for Pathaan songs, calls Besharam Rang ‘massive hit’

Sharing the advance booking status, the official Twitter handle of INOX Movies tweeted late Monday night, “India goes berserk! A whopping 2.75 lakh #Pathaan tickets sold till weekend across all INOX cinemas in India! Do not miss the craze, book your tickets now for the biggest action blockbuster of 2023. JUST 2 DAYS FOR PATHAAN.”

Rajender Singh Jyala, Chief Programming Officer – INOX Leisure Ltd told Hindustan Times, “The fantastic booking trends for Pathaan reiterate the significance and appetite for good quality content coming out from the Indian film industry. We are already seeing records being tumbled, the major one being the highest ever advances for any Hindi film. We are sure that the movie would live up to the tremendous hype that it has created, with Shah Rukh’s comeback presence along with a great line-up of stars. The entire country is looking forward to this much anticipated release, which is an absolutely encouraging sign, not only for the cinemas, but for the entire film industry. The way the Bollywood craze has come back to life, augurs well for us, and we are sure that the content line-up in the near future would sustain this hysteria.”

A new India Today report quoted Ashish Saksena, COO, Cinemas, BookMyShow as saying, “After a long four-year wait, Shah Rukh Khan is all set for an electrifying comeback with Pathaan jet-setting on advance sales. The much-awaited action-thriller has crossed 1 million tickets in advance sales on BookMyShow already. Advance sales for Pathaan have been opening up in phases with over 3500 screens available on the platform so far, even as a surge in demand has led select cinemas across India to open up early morning shows for the film.”

Film exhibitor Vishek Chouhan told HT the film has “mind blowing advances everywhere, best for any hindi film ever”. He said its already rubbing shoulders with KGF2 and is only behind Baahubali 2. He also indicated that it could be the best non-holiday release.

Filmmaker Siddharth Anand is returning with Pathaan after the success of his 2019 film War, starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. The film was a hit for its action sequences and glam quotient and had collected over ₹300 crore at the domestic box office and gross worldwide collection of ₹475.5 crore.

Shah Rukh is returning to the silver screen with Pathaan after four years of his last release, Zero. This is his fourth film with Deepika Padukone, who made her film debut opposite him in Om Shanti Om and went on to deliver yet another blockbuster Chennai Express. They have also worked together in Farah Khan’s Happy New Year. John Abraham plays the antagonist in Pathaan. It also stars Dimple Kapadia and Ashutosh Rana in pivotal roles.