Shah Rukh and Deepika in a still from the movie ‘Pathaan.’

Gulf Today Report

Millions of fans not just in India but the world over are eagerly awaiting the release of the much-hyped Pathaan, Shah Rukh’s comeback film after a gap of four years.

Ticket sales have hit record levels, with over half a million sold on the opening day. It is slated for screening in over 100 countries on Wednesday.

However, in the midst of this mass euphoria, comes a nasty dampener: the movie has been reportedly leaked online by some unscrupulous elements. Several websites such as Tamilrockers, Filmyme4wap, Filmyzilla, Mp4movies, Pagalworld, and Vegamovies are purported to be showing the film, according to Indian media reports.

One website describes its version as a "camrip" and the other as a "pre-DVD rip."

Earlier, Shah Rukh Khan had urged everyone to watch the action-entertainer on the big screen only. Pirated videos were out of the question. Piracy had to be challenged, he said.

On Twitter, he asked all his fans and followers to be a "soldier" for the film industry.

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

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.