FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Somewhere in its opening scenes, as he’s thrashing a tied-up captive, a villainous henchman realises with a shock who the object of his exertions is and breaks into an incredulous whisper, “Pathaan!!….” And Shah Rukh Khan, bleeding like a boxer in the last rounds, fills in the blanks with “…Zinda hai”. The spy he’s playing had been presumed dead and is simply affirming: “No, I’m still alive.” But no one could miss how that applies to SRK himself. From that point on, Pathaan runs along two tracks. One is intrinsic to the film, and the other reaches outside and becomes an extended ode to the star actor himself. Pathaan zinda hai. Those words turned out to have quite a prophetic ring. The film has been an astounding comeback vehicle for Shah…
