2023 was Shah Rukh Khan's. After a gap of 4 years, SRK made a thumping comeback to the silver screen with Pathaan, also starring Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in pivotal roles. Produced under the YRF banner, the movie emerged as a blockbuster. With this, YRF also introduced the YRF Spy Universe including Salman Khan's Tiger franchise and Hrithik Roshan's War franchise.
After Pathaan, it was Tiger 3 and the upcoming is War 2. There are many more movies planned under the YRF Spy Universe. Reports are abuzz that the makers have already planned for Pathaan 2, Tiger Vs Pathaan, and a female-led spy movie with Alia Bhatt and Sharvari as undercover spies.
YRF (Yash Raj Films) is one of the leading production houses in India with a glorious history of delivering several blockbusters. However, the scenario changed post-pandemic. Several movies produced under YRF bombed in theatres and the production banner had to bear a huge loss.
Actress Rani Mukerji recently revealed that her husband Aditya Chopra was confident about the movies released before Pathaan. For that reason, he didn't release those on OTT.
Recently, Rani graced the FICCI Frames 2024, where she spoke about how Shah Rukh Khan and his movie proved to be a game-changer for YRF.
Rani said, "Adi (Aditya Chopra) had some big films, but due to the pandemic, they couldn't be released. However, he was under pressure to release them on OTT platforms for cost collections, but he chose to wait, stating that these films are made for theaters. Despite tempting offers for OTT releases, he showed resilience."
Further, she added, "Unfortunately, when the films were eventually released, they all flopped, causing significant financial distress. The type of content the audience consumed had changed after the pandemic. All of his movies flopped and everyone was in depression as it was a huge financial jolt. Seeing Adi's confidence, we hoped for a miracle soon. Despite our hope for a miracle, nothing changed until 'Pathaan' came, transforming everything for Yash Raj Films. Aditya's perseverance deserves respect in the face of adversity."
Notably, after the pandemic, YRF released Bunty Aur Bubli 2, starring Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Sharvari Wagh. The movie was a disaster. Following that, Ranveer Singh-starrer 'Jayeshbhai Jordaar' was released but its total box office collection was Rs 15.59 crore. The next was Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Samrat Prithviraj' and Ranbir Kapoor's 'Shamshera'. And, both movies bombed at the box office.
After a series of flops, YRF released SRK's Pathaan on 25 January 2023. With a worldwide box office collection of over Rs 1000 crore, everyone connected to the movie in some way earned a good share.