As cinema halls across the country continue to increase the number of shows for Pathaan, on January 22, fans of superstar Shah Rukh Khan gathered at one of Mumbai’s favourite tourist spots – the promenade of his palatial bungalow Mannat – to cheer for his return to the big screen with the action extravaganza. But this euphoria and frenzy surrounding Shah Rukh aren’t just limited to his home city or country alone.
More than four years after Zero (2018), he is all set to appear on the silver screen as a gun-trotting spy. It is no secret that his fan clubs are gearing up to host the first-day first show of the film in cinemas all around India. And considering the massive fan base that he enjoys across different nooks and crannies of the globe, his fans and admirers in various countries are busy planning and preparing to come together to watch their favourite actor in the theatres too. News18 exclusively catches up with the owners of some of his international fan clubs, who express their excitement and exhilaration as they intend to make January 25 abundantly special for themselves and their favourite star.
Monika Bucher, who runs SRK Universe Switzerland, aims to make the day memorable by not only catching up with other fans but also distributing artwork made by her among them as her token of love for the star. “I had to make some effort in the past few weeks with the support of Beate, the admin of SRK Universe Austria, and Sunil from SRK Universe UK so that we in Switzerland can also enjoy seeing Pathaan. We came to know just a few days back that it will be shown in Pathé cinemas in Switzerland. I’ve sketched and painted a poster featuring Shah Rukh Khan, which will be signed by me. I will have it printed and give them as gifts to my SRK Universe Switzerland members, who will be watching Pathaan with me on January 25th, so that we all remember this day,” she tells us, rather enthusiastically.
SRK Universe Austria, on the other hand, has gotten ‘specially designed buttons and printed flyers as giveaways for each and every fan’ who will come together to watch the first-day first show of Pathaan. Beate Herzog, the admin of the fan club, remarks, “The most important thing is that we will watch Pathaan together and enjoy it on the big screen. We will have a meet-up before the show where we will take pictures and videos and share our excitement about the film. After we finish watching it, we will sit and chat about how we liked the film. It will be a wonderful evening together, enjoying what we like the most - Shah Rukh Khan.”
She further shares that the release of Pathaan in Austria might have happened ‘very late’ but it didn’t deter his Austrian fans from making grand plans for this Wednesday. Talking about his fandom in her country, Beate adds, “There are SRK fans in all countries and they just adore him and it’s no different in Austria. We look forward to his fans right from the moment the first bit of information comes out. We love and admire SRK, follow everything that’s published about him on social media and enjoy everything we learn about him. We like to watch his films together such as in private film evenings, and enjoy the time when we talk about him.”
SRK FC Chennai has already planned more than 200 first-day first shows across different cities in India. Its founders, Rakshit Shah and Sudhir Kothari, reveal that a similar plan is on for fans in several other countries. “SRK’s fans in Dubai have already booked their tickets and are awaiting the first-day first show of Pathaan. Fans will gather for the first day first show in the UK, Australia, Turkey, Brazil, Germany and the USA too. The film will release in Peru on February 2 and the first day first show will take place in Lima and people from as far as Cusco, which is about 18 hours away from Lima, will also travel to the capital to catch it,” they say.
They further continue, “There is still some ambiguity about the film’s release in countries like Iran, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, China, Malaysia and Nigeria. But our teams are all set and are preparing to catch the first day first shows of Pathaan in case it releases in these nations.”
The co-admin of SRK Universe (India) tells us that apart from the screenings, their fan clubs in London and Berlin ‘will have a fan parade and mega celebrations’ before and after the screenings. He goes on to elaborate, “In addition to the 200+ shows we are doing in India for the first day first show of Pathaan, which in itself is a record, we are also taking the Pathaan mania internationally by a storm. We have organised special fan screenings and shows across the world through our various branches in countries as varied as USA, UK, Egypt, Syria, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Malaysia and even most of the Gulf countries. Not just that, we have special multiple shows lined up in countries like the USA and the UK.”
Talking about how these get-togethers are symbolic of a unified force of love for Shah Rukh, he expresses, “We are going to become the first fan club of any actor in the world to have so many special screenings for their star’s movie. Pathaan mania is sure to take the world by storm and SRK Universe can’t wait to make fans feel like they are under the [same] roof from across the universe.”
Pathaan is a part of producer Aditya Chopra’s ambitious spy universe and it also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. It is set to release in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.
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