A still from the movie Pathaan shows Shah Rukh Khan in action.

Gulf Today Report

Megastar Shah Rukh Khan is all set to be back with a bang, if the upcoming release of his latest film ‘Pathaan’ is anything to go by. The star is making his return to the silver screen after a gap of four years, since his last film ‘Zero’ tanked at the box office.

But avid fans are not deterred by this glitch in his career.

 The craze for the King of Romance has reached fever pitch, so much so that the first screening of the film on its opening day, Wednesday, has been scheduled for 6am.

According to media reports in India, the 6am timing is for shows in premium formats such as IMAX 2D and D-BOX 2D due to unprecedented demand. 

The sky is the limit as far as the excitement over his new film Pathaan is concerned. The film is scheduled to release on January 25, a Wednesday, a marked departure from the conventional debut of new movies on a Friday. It comes a day before Republic Day. This means that the movie has a rare advantage of a five-day weekend.

According to reports, advance bookings have smashed all records with 250,000 tickets already sold.

Trade pundits believe that Pathaan will set box-office registers jingling to glory: it is expected to amass Rs300 crore (over Dhs135 million) worldwide on its opening weekend.

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh , in an anti-piracy message,  has urged everyone to watch the action-entertainer in theatres and fight piracy.

On Twitter, he asked all his fans and followers to be a “soldier” for the film industry, according to Indo-Asian News Service.

He wrote: “As #Pathaan fights for India, you too can be a soldier for our film industry to fight piracy!... say NO to PIRACY!”

In a related development, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that Shah Rukh called him up late Saturday night. The actor expressed concern over his upcoming film ‘Pathaan’ poster being burnt by some elements of a right-wing group in Guwahati.

Sarma wrote on Twitter, “Bollywood actor Shri @iamsrk called me and we talked today morning at 2 am.

“He expressed concern about an incident in Guwahati during screening of his film. I assured him that it’s the duty of the state govt to maintain law & order. We’ll enquire and ensure no such untoward incidents.”