India's response to hatred through Pathaan's popularity is a tribute to Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh Khan's portrayal of a struggling actor who refuses to buy into the narrative of hatred but nevertheless responding to his detractors shines through in Pathaan.

Shah Rukh Khan and another superstar of his era—call let's him Bhaijaan—accept their advancing years in Pathaan, which is arguably the most meta film Shah Rukh Khan has ever made. Both of them are aware that 30 years is plenty time to leave a lasting legacy, despite their soreness and aches. They have also swapped a strip of pills. They dismiss one possible heir after another with the thought, "Who next?"

We, the audience, are grinning broadly yet swaying uncomfortably in our chairs. That exact same conversation has taken place in our homes, on Twitter, and occasionally on newspaper pages.

We have finished writing their obituaries, approved of our professional eulogies, and acknowledged the end of the superstar period. They are the last of a rapidly extinct breed, and their time is running out. Tick, tick, tick.

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They smirk at us and say, "We know what you believe, and you are wrong," in this delightfully hilarious moment that was filmed on a demolished railroad bridge where machismo and vulnerability collide. We have a long way to go. At that very time, when they all stand up with creaking bones and sensitive joints, SRK says, "bachchon pe nahi chhod sakte (can't leave it to youngsters)".

The Badshah has proven them wrong, and they couldn't be happier as the theatre erupts once more. The movie is full of these self-aware moments where the actor and his character, who is making a comeback, merge into one. He allows the wounds that have been inflicted on him over the past few years appear and then brushes them off.

These meta moments are what you will remember and take away from a movie that is one action set-piece after another, on trains and with jetpacks, on polar ice shelves and on top of trucks in cities with skyscrapers.

Even if they are entertaining, the vehicle chases, swerving helicopters (this movie really loves its choppers), and zipping gunfire are left behind in the plush theatre darkness. But it is a topic for another day and another essay. The action parts are so regular that they can get tedious.

Let's concentrate on the Badshah this time and just him. Shah Rukh dominates the screen with his rippling muscles, pecs, and eight-pack. He feels and appears larger. Even those who grew up with Raj-Rahul have no issue accepting him as the man who can easily tear your spine in two and seduce you with those liquid eyes.

At 57, becoming an action star wouldn't have been simple, but during the past ten years, his romance with us has experienced its fair share of ups and downs, with more downs than ups. His core fans has recently asked him for some time away due to his recent lacklustre flicks that attempted to capitalise solely on his superstardom. It wasn't so much a break as it was an opportunity to reset the relationship and reconsider the decisions.

Pathaan, release of Pathaan, and Shah Rukh Khan Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, was released on January 25.

Distance made hearts grow fonder over these four years. Shah Rukh matured in Pathaan rather than changing, despite all the talk of transformation. He keeps his core values and then

The eight-packs and the rough exterior with a soft chocolate centre underneath them are both attractive. Early on in the movie, a character states of Shah Rukh Khan 3.0, "Humein laga Pathaan mar gaya par woh to nayi kitab likh raha tha (We had written off Pathaan, but he was writing a new chapter)".

Pathaan is wise enough to uphold rather than undermine what SRK is seen as in India: inclusion, a deep sense of humanity, and the conviction that anything is possible with enough will.

However, Pathaan's patriotism is not the kind that commands, "Andar ghus ke maarna (we will enter your home and attack)," but rather, it is the kind that asks, "What can you do for your country?" Earlier, Mohan Bhargav of Swades and Kabir of Chak De! India addressed the same query. He tells the man across from him and us in the crowd, never letting go of our eyes, "Ek soldier ye nahi poochta ki desh ne uske liye kya kiya, puchta hai ki woh desh ke liye kya kar sakta hai (a soldier doesn't ask what the country can do for him, he asks what he can do for the

The "Jai Hind" that comes next is not him demonstrating his patriotism; rather, it is him letting the haters know that not everyone has the right to adore the homeland.

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The movie is both a show of faith to those who love him and a response to the vicious hostility he has faced over the past few years in a highly divisive nation. He says, "Khauf logon ko andha kar deta hai (fear makes people blind)," possibly referring to the hatred directed at him due to the dread of the "other." Despite going by the moniker Pathaan, he is an atheist.

He was given a name and an identity out of pure love after being found inside a movie theatre (is there any more theatrical a tale than that?).

Those who are unsure whether the audience swaying in the theatre aisles and the lines forming to see the movie should grasp Shah Rukh's appeal before making that assumption. He ceased being a celebrity a long time ago, and now he represents a feeling that surpasses the limitations imposed by religion and culture by his adversaries. He is a survivor who doesn't save anything for the swim back, and he serves as a reminder of a welcoming nation. Both he and we are all in.

The success of Pathaan speaks volumes about the guy at its centre as well as the nation as a whole and goes beyond any meaningless box office numbers. They serve as evidence for India's claim that even after 30 years, their love affair is far from finished.