As Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan continues to break box office records globally, some of the film’s accomplishments have been questioned, or at least put into perspective. The film has been called the most successful Bollywood film worldwide, having overtaken Dangal and War. However, on Wednesday, producer Ronnie Screwvala tweeted how Pathaan is still a distant second to Dangal despite contrary claims.
After trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted Pathaan’s second Tuesday business on Wednesday, Screwvala shared that tweet and wrote, “Just to be very factual and clear. Dangal is and will remain the highest-grossing Hindi movie globally – just in China it did 1200+ cr. Just so we keep the record straight.” Screwvala has produced over a hundred films in his career, including Uri, Chennai Express, Dhamaka, and many others.
Shah Rukh Khan’s fans took Screwvala’s comment as an insult to their star and his film. One wrote, “Imagine being a top producer and tweeting against a box office comparison like a 15 year old fanboy.” Another commented, “Screwvala isn’t even associated with Dangal. Why is he being jealous of Pathaan’s success?” Some, however, defended the producer, saying Dangal did earn much more than Pathaan, if one includes the dubbed versions. Screwvala deleted his tweet after a barrage of responses on Thursday.
Dangal remains the highest-grossing Indian film ever with a worldwide haul of over Rs 2000 crore. Pathaan – with its gross of Rs 865 crore so far – is clearly far behind the Aamir Khan-starrer in box office earnings. However, Dangal’s earnings in China were through the Mandarain-language dub. In terms of earings from the Hindi version only, Pathaan has surpassed the Aamir-starrer.
Pathaan is still going strong at the box office. The Siddharth Anand film is expected to cross Rs 900 crore this weekend and make a play at breaking the Rs 1000-crore barrier before the end of its run.
Originally published at www.dnaindia.com