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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Cath Clarke

Pathaan review – daft Shah Rukh Khan spy caper is more fun than Bond

Taking out one last international terror organisation … Shah Rukh Khan in Pathaan.
Taking out one last international terror organisation … Shah Rukh Khan in Pathaan. Photograph: no credit

This enjoyable high-octane action spy movie from India is possibly the most fun you can currently have at the cinema – for the first two hours of its running time at least. At the packed London cinema where I watched it on opening night, the crowd erupted with whoops the moment Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan appeared on screen – face battered to a pulp, gazing up through a bloody swollen half-shut eye.

The film is the latest instalment in the YRF Spy Universe: Khan is Pathaan, a James Bond-ish spy brought out of retirement to take down an international terror organisation known as Outfit X. Its leader is another former Indian spy, Jim (John Abraham), who’s gone rogue, committing atrocities for the likes of Boko Haram and Islamic State in return for cash. Now Jim has got his hands on a biological weapon of mass destruction.

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