Pathaan director Siddharth Anand: We have an extraordinary battle when Shah Rukh Khan takes on John Abraham

Director Siddharth Anand's previous two stylish action movies taught him that a hero is only as good as his antagonist. This is why the director realised it would be difficult to find the antagonist when he took on the challenge of bringing Shah Rukh Khan back to the big screen after a four-year absence. Reports in Mid Day say that the director saw John Abraham's character, Jim, as a cool-looking foe who always got in the way of Khan's Pathaan's plans.

Anand told the tabloid that he wanted Jim to be as strong as the hero to raise the stakes of their conflict as he reveals the unique appearance of Abraham's character. The filmmaker has always thought that the villain's projection should be at least as large as the hero's. The fight between them can only be exciting when the villain is large. When Shah Rukh and John face off, people will see a remarkable struggle.

In the movie Pathaan, which also stars Deepika Padukone, Khan plays an R&AW agent who emerges three years after being apprehended on his previous mission. Pathaan is a spy action thriller that Siddharth Anand directed based on Raghavan's screenplay. It is the fourth film in the YRF Spy Universe, which Aditya Chopra has produced for Yash Raj Films. The first three films were Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), and War (2019).

Pathaan marks Shah Rukh and John's first outing on the big screen together, while Deepika has appeared in previous films alongside both of them. SRK and Deepika were featured in Om Shanti Om, Chennai Express, and Happy New Year. While John and Deepika were seen together in Desi Boyz and Race 2.

Pathaan is set to release on January 25, 2023, during the Indian Republic Day holiday weekend. It will be shown in IMAX and in dubbed Tamil and Telugu versions.