Shah Rukh Kahn was already one of the biggest stars in the world when he returned after a four-year hiatus to take the lead in Pathaan, the fourth film in Yash Raj Films’s Spy Universe. Ostensibly about a retired Indian Intelligence agent teaming up with a Pakistani spy to stop a rogue group from carrying out a mass casualty event, Pathaan quickly reveals itself to be a deeper discussion of subcontinent politics. Along the way are direct lifts from Captain America: Winter Soldier, three Mission Impossible movies, and includes elements from most James Bond films and the entire Fast and Furious franchise. The result is an action packed hundred-million-dollar blockbuster that transcends corn, camp, and pastiche to be quite possibly the greatest action film of all time. Join me and my son Luke as we try to contain our excitement scene by scene through “King” Kahn’s Bollywood action masterpiece which begs the question, is Tom Cruise the American Shah Rukh Kahn?
