Kangana Ranaut wants to rename Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan to ‘Indian Pathaan’: ‘Indian Muslims are patriotic and very different from Afghan Pathans’

Kangana Ranaut claimed that Pathaan is showing the 'enemy nation Pakistan and ISIS in good light', and implied that it doesn't reflect the sentiments of the Indian public.

It’s only been a few days since Kangana Ranaut’s return to Twitter, and the actor has has already stirred debate. On Friday, she posted a series of tweets claiming that even though Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan might be a success, the country will still chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Kangana said that it is ‘India’s love and inclusiveness’ that is making the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer a roaring success.

Kangana claimed that director Siddharth Anand’s film shows “our enemy nation Pakistan and ISIS in good light.” She later corrected ISIS to ISI. She continued, “It is this spirit of India beyond hate and judgements that makes it Mahan… it is the love of India that has triumphed hate and petty politics of enemies…” Her follow-up tweet read, “Lekin all those who are having high hopes please note… Pathan sirf ek film ho sakti hai … goonjega toh yahan sirf Jai Shri Ram… (For all those who have high hopes, please note that Pathaan might be a film, the country will still roar with Jai Shri Ram).”

She further wrote, “I do believe Indian Muslims are patriotic and very different from Afghan Pathans … the crux is India will never be Afghanistan, we all know what is happening in Afghanistan,it’s beyond hell there, so apt name for the movie Pathan according to its storyline is the Indian Pathan🙏”

When a parody account said that “Pathaan’s single day earning is more than your life time earnings,” Kangana responded to them and said that she had mortagaged everything she owned for her upcoming film Emergency.

Previously, Kangana had commented on Pathaan’s success and said ‘aisi films chalni chahiye (such films should work).’ At the wrap party of her upcoming film Emergency, she told reporters, “Pathaan acha kar rahi hai. Aisi films chalni chahiye aur I feel ki jo hamare Hindi cinema wale piche reh gaye hain, har insaan apne level pe koshish kar raha hai (Pathaan is doing very well. I feel films like this should do well, and we’re all trying to do what we can to bring Hindi cinema back to glory).”

Before making these comments, Kangana went on a Twitter rant about the film industry focusing more on the numbers instead of focusing on the filmmaking. One of her tweets read, “We as artists mustn’t speak or think like dhandewale, we must retain the sanctity of art and vidya, whatever money it brings to the table is a consequence of people’s love and whoever wants can go to business websites there are plenty of them and find out about money made.”

In 2021, Kangana’s Twitter account was “permanently suspended for repeated violation of Twitter rules.” Her vitriolic comments were often flagged on Twitter and sparked outrage among netizens. “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. The referenced account has been permanently suspended for repeated violations of Twitter Rules specifically our Hateful Conduct policy and Abusive Behaviour policy,” read a statement from Twitter at the time.

Pathaan earned approximately Rs 70 crore on its second day at the box office. In the first two days, the film managed to earn more than Rs 120 crore nett in the domestic market. The film is on its way to collecting Rs 200 crore in the opening weekend.