Link to the editorial note and the panel discussion can be found here.

Pathaan, an action-thriller film, marked Shah Rukh Khan’s return to the big screen after four years in 2023. Despite grabbing controversy because of its song besharam rang[i] where one of the several bikinis donned and draped by Deepika Padukone was saffron coloured, the film grossed one thousand crores at the box office. This success overrides the controversy around the Beshram rang as fans across India and the globe celebrated the release of the movie almost as a festival (The Indian Express, 2023).  Among other things, the blockbuster shows Shah Rukh Khan in a new masculine avatar with his six-pack abs, his profuse nationalism, and his loyalty to an ethical-moral-military mission. Interestingly, in this military-nationalist ethico-moral project, the film cautions against a populist demonizing of the enemy camp, incidentally, Pakistan. One way in which this is accomplished is by humanizing Rubai, played by Deepika Padukone, the former ISI agent who finally joins the protagonist Pathaan, played by Shah Rukh Khan, in saving the Indian nation by preventing the spread of a lethal biological weapon.        

In this paper, I discuss Sah Rukh Khan’s masculinity– first as an ex-RAW official and a founding member of the Joint Operation Covert Research (JOCR)[ii], drawing his role and his performance in the film closer to the idea of hegemonic military masculinity. In the second stance, I suggest the possibility of queerness within this hegemonic military masculinity through the absence of Pathaan’s ‘overt heterosexuality’ in the film. I further explain this (queerness) using Dana Seitler’s (2019) concept of ‘lateral reading,’ which involves reading a text through historical entanglements and frictions. In doing so, I read the film also in the context of a burgeoning queer movement and a gradual rise and acceptance of queer cinema in Bollywood. 

Pathaan, His Hegemonic Military Masculinity and the Muddle?

In modern societies, military masculinity situates one at the top of the male hierarchy. It consists of moral orientation, self-discipline, physical ability, emotional control, martial arts skills or intelligence that is beyond other civilians (Hinojosa 2010). Arguably, military service offers men unique resources for the construction of a masculine identity defined by an overt heterosexual desire, physical fitness, self-discipline, self-reliance, the willingness to use aggression and physical violence, and risk-taking, qualities that are tightly aligned with the military (ibid). As a former-RAW official in India and a founding member of the JOCR, the character of Pathaan owns all the above qualities. While reflecting on the cast of the film, a critic affirms Khan’s physical prowess thus- “From Deepika Padukone’s outfit to John Abraham’s chiselled muscles to Sah Rukh Khan’s CGI-enhanced six-pack abs—Pathaan has too much in store that does not let you complain…” (Kukreja 2023).  Pathaan’s bravery, valour and martial skills are on display when he indomitably attacks Jim (John Abraham)^[i] in Dubai; the latter has his affiliation with a contract-based country-neutral terrorist outfit. In the plot, Jim plans to kidnap two Indian doctors at the behest of a terrorist group; the doctors were to be detained to develop a deadly virus in the laboratory. The biological weapon produced by the Indian hostage doctors would help in executing the revenge plans of Pakistani terror groups against the reading down of Article 370 in Kashmir (India).

The other crucial point where Pathaan shows his military prowess, dedication to the nation, and fearless macho spirit are in retrieving ‘Raktbeej’ (blood seed), a code word for the deadly smallpox virus, stored in Vault 412 in the Woskwitch Tower on its 92nd floor in Moscow (Srivastava 2023). Reflecting on the military-martial abilities, risk-taking and heavy machoism of Khan, in this context, Srivastava (ibid) writes- “You have seen Khan in Chayya Chayya, but Pathaan gives you much more. He is fighting on top of a hummer, then somewhere mid on a rope tied between two helicopters and then jumps on a truck”. Though these visual effects are achieved more through camera techniques and computer technology, Khan’s six-pack abs and action adventures, copied from Hollywood action movies, evoke great enthusiasm and energy among the audiences.

What is remarkable is that the muscular, six-pack hegemonic masculinity of Shah Rukh Khan lacks the display of his overt heterosexuality- a precondition of military and hegemonic masculinity (Hinojosa 2010). Shah Rukh Khan’s cis-masculinity appears to be “certain” while his sexuality appears uncertain as there is hardly an intimate scene displaying his heterosexuality[ii]. Except for a few half-hearted intimate movements between the heroine, Deepika Padukone, and the hero, Khan, surfacing during two song-and-dance sequences- Beshram rang (the world has not seen my true colours), a “beach summer song” shot at different locales in Spain, and the closing one-Jhume jo Pathaan (When Pathaan gets into the groove), there is hardly any moment showing the romantic, heterosexual, erotic inclinations of the hero. Even while dancing in the above two songs, the hero’s feeble embrace of the female protagonist seems to be a conscious effort from the dance director, to not disappoint the audience in an era where on-screen kissing has become a common spectacle in Bollywood.

Pathaan, Military Masculinity and the Absence of Overt Hetero-romance

Deprived of familial love and having spent his childhood in juvenile homes, Pathaan receives love in Afghanistan as he rescues a village’s Madrasa children from a missile attack; the village belonged to the Pathaan community and he was bestowed the name Pathaan by the affectionate villagers. Despite earning familial love, he is unable to encounter an intimate or romantic moment in the film. It can be suggested that his romantic life with Rubai (Deepika Padukone)- an ISI agent- if placed in the story line, would have been appalling and even a scandal when Khan’s nationalist image and agenda are more prominent than everything else in the film. A complete absence of any romantic engagement of the hero in the film, however, raises more questions and probably a fair assessment from the perspectives of alternative sexualities and masculinities.   

In the American context, the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy instituted by President Clinton for non-heterosexual army personnel discouraged open homosexual identities and public displays of affection. This policy, however, recognized the existence of sexually non-conforming persons in the army. Though Clinton’s administration moved away from the MacArthur-era America where non-heterosexuals in federal services were regarded as subversively criminal and were thrown out of jobs on mere suspicion of their sexual non-conformity (Johnson 2004), the dominant official ideology, as mentioned earlier, remains heterosexuality.

The Indian defence establishment remains, however, rigidly heterosexist despite two landmark Supreme Court verdicts- NALSA 2014 and the reading down of Section 377 of the IPC[iii]. The recent attempt by Onir, to direct a film on the real-life story of a gay army personnel who quit his Indian army job due to his sexual orientation was refused permission by the Ministry of Defense (Rao 2022). It reveals and reaffirms that the Indian military services are still premised on heterosexism and queer-phobia. The official assertion of heterosexuality does not, however, obliterate the possibilities of queer constituencies within the army. In a personal conversation, Paromita Vohra, also a contributor to this series, hints at the asexuality of Pathaan in this film. Taking a cue from Vohra, I wish to further elaborate on Khan’s masculinity/sexuality using Dana Seitler’s interpretative method of ‘lateral reading’ (2019). Lateral reading is a mode of interpretation that moves horizontally through various historical entanglements and across the fields of arts to make sense of and see them in a new light, their connections, challenges and productive frictions (ibid). The historical entanglements and frictions I wish to draw upon here are the burgeoning queer movement in India a gradual rise of queer films in Bollywood, and OTT platform series addressing LGBTQIA+ issues (Stephenson 2023).

In juxtaposition to the above, one can also a see heightening cultural nationalism in contemporary India and an emerging Islamophobia mostly in the northern cow belt. While Pathaan articulates his hyper-nationalism in the film to contest Islamophobia and obliquely reflects on the vulnerability of Muslim citizens in contemporary India as he labours hard to prove that a Muslim person can be as dedicated to the nation as his Hindu fellow citizens, his silent and inert sexuality embodied and ingrained to his macho-military masculinity offers itself for imaginative interpretations. It simultaneously provokes a debate on what would constitute ‘queer masculinity’. In popular perception, queer men and their masculinity are associated with femininity. This misinterpretation was challenged in Bollywood through the recent film Badhai Do in which the protagonist police Inspector, played by Raj Kumar Rao, is gay. His appearance and demeanor defy any hegemonic understanding of queer masculinity as invariably effeminate and the ‘other’ of cishet masculinity. Rao, the police official, is as aggressive, firm and resolute in his performance of police masculinity on-screen as any “cishet” male in this profession, yet his sexual orientation does not remain faithful to his cis-normative appearance.

The difference between Badhai Do and Pathaan is that the former, being a queer cinema, discloses its protagonist’s sexuality through his marriage with a lesbian person projected in the story as a MOC (Marriage of Convenience), while Pathaan is overshadowed by his loyalty to the nation and his projection as a war-hero, which together seem to require deflation of his ‘erotic desire’ and ‘sexuality’.  Talking about mainstream cinema and its viewership, Michele Aron delineates how queerness is not contained in these texts, but instead, knowingly indulged (2004). This is explained by Aron in terms of the audience’s consensual flirtations with gender and sexual ambiguity. Pathaan’s sexuality appears obscure and indeterminate which offers the burgeoning queer movement in India to proffer, appropriate and interpretatively flirt with his ‘robust masculinity’ and yet uncertain sexuality to avow a certain queerness. In this sense, Pathaan embodies and disrupts the idea of a hegemonic-military masculinity. 

In a ‘lateral reading’ attempt, I further glance at a text on Khan by Shrayana Bhattacharya (2021, Kindle edition) which reflects on Khan and his masculinity by comparing and contrasting with two other Khans- Amir and Salman respectively. Bhattacharya (ibid) writes:

Salman plays self-confident men…directing attention instead to his biceps. Amir’s career conforms to a traditional understanding of craft… If Amir’s celebrity is composed of competence and excellent film choices and Salman’s brash masculine confidence, Shah Rukh exudes anxiety and vulnerability. He usually plays fragile figures- the fragile lover, the fragile hero, the fragile husband, the fragile Muslim, and even the fragile villain.

Bhattacharya (ibid) while reflecting on Shah Rukh’s masculinity further submits:

Shah Rukh’s image deviates from standard masculine tropes. Both Amir and Salman have captured many male hearts because they have made their bodies archetypes of phenomenal physical strength. Shah Rukh did join the body-building game. His late acquisition of six-pack abs made it to the front pages of newspapers and magazines. And the actor continues to bulk up for his upcoming 2022 Pathaan. However,for most of his career, he has been lighter in frame, and less visibly muscular. He is built differently from the other two Khans, with a gentler physical presence on screen. Khan decides to have fun with a role meant to be a strong and stoic man… by playing him flirtatious and rather camp in various moments.

In continuation to his ‘camp demeanour’, Bhattacharya (ibid) says that the rumours about Shah Rukh’s sexuality run rife. On a TV show, he quoted Samantha from Sex and the City and described himself as try-sexual (ibid). Bhattacharya calls himthe patron saint of the South Asian metrosexual as he became the first male icon to endorse women’s beauty products (ibid)[iv].

So, in line with the ‘lateral readings’ and Shah Rukh’s assertion of his ‘try-sexuality’, his fragile campy comportments and his uncertain and indeterminate sexuality in Pathaan, one can propose a queer reading of his ‘robust’ military masculinity.  Following on his missing overt (hetero) sexuality in the film, does it make his robust military masculinity contradictory and fragile? Or, does it reaffirm what Onir’s proposed film on gay army personnel and Clinton’s ‘Don’t tell Don’s ask’ army policy suggest? Khan’s robust military masculinity without his overt heterosexuality also draws his persona closer to Raj Kumar Rao’s police masculinity in the film, Badhai Do; several members of LGBTQIA communities, in their private conversations, think of Khan’s masculinity and dormant sexuality as queer and somehow irreconcilable to the idea of hegemonic-military masculinity. 

[i] The saffron two-piece worn by the lead angered the fringe right-wing groups which claimed that it has hurt their religious sentiments (Firstpost, December 19, 2022). The controversy began with the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister, Dr. Narrotam Mishra, claiming the song as ‘highly objectionable’ and ‘shot with a dirty mindset’ (ibid).

[ii] JOCR, in the movie, was formed by retired or injured RAW members to serve the interest of the nation (India). It operated under the guidance and supervision of the senior official Nandini played by Dimple Kapadia. Pathaan reported to her.

^[iii] Jim was an elite-level agent of RAW who was captured by a Somalian terrorist group, along with his pregnant wife. The terrorists asked for a ransom from the Indian Government. But the Government decided not to negotiate with the terrorists, leading to the killing of Jim’s pregnant wife by the terrorists. This led to Jim creating a country-neutral corporate terrorist group that took up work on contracts (Srivastava 2023). Pathaan (2023) Ending Explained – How does Pathaan stop Jim and Rakt Beej from reaching India? (thereviewgeek.com)

[iv] There is no romantic engagement for the protagonist Pathaan. The anti-hero, Jim, played by John Abraham is a former RAW official and patriot that later turns into a ruthless mercenary, and was married.  As brought out earlier, his pregnant wife gets killed by a Somalian terrorist outfit. As a former RAW official, however, Pathaan’s past had no marriage or romance. Similarly, in the later phase of his life as a founding member of JOCR, there is again no trace of romance and sexual engagement for the hero.

[v] While the 2014 NALSA Verdict of the honourable Supreme Court extended citizenship to the Transgender Communities, the reading down of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code legalized homosexuality in India.

[vi] By beginning his journey as a ‘Lux Girl’ in 2005, Shah Rukh Khan became the first male star to endorse female products (Zompa, 2021)

References:

Aaron, Michele. 2004. ‘The New Queer Spectator’, in Michele Aron (ed) New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader, pp 187-200.

Bhattacharya, Shrayana. 2021. Desperately Seeking Sah Rukh Khan: Lonely Young Women and Search for Intimacy and Independence. Delhi: Harper Collins.

Firstpost, 2022, ‘Beshram Rang: How the Controversy Surrounding the Pathaan Song Refuses to Die Down’. ‘Besharam Rang’: How the controversy surrounding the Pathaan song refuses to die down (firstpost.com)

Jonhson, David. K. 2004. The Lavender Scare: The Cold war Persecution of Gay and Lesbians in the Federal Government.  Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Kukreja, Monika Rawal. 2023. “Shah Rukh Khan’s Come Back Film is High on Action, Low on Logic”. Pathaan movie review: SRK’s comeback is high on action, low on logic | Bollywood – Hindustan Times

Rao, R. Raj. 2022. ‘Onir: Its Illogical to Allow Films about Army Men Depicting Heterosexual Love but not Gay Love’, Onir: ‘It’s illogical to allow films about army men depicting heterosexual love but not gay love’ (scroll.in)

Seitler, Dana 2019. Reading Sideways: The Queer Politics of Art in Modern American Fiction.  Fordham University Press: Fordham.

Srivastava, Arnav. 2023. ‘Pathaan (2023) ending Explained: What was Raktbeej? Did Pathaan Stop Jim? What Does Post-credit Scene Mean? ‘Pathaan’ Ending, Explained: What Was Rakht Beej? Did Pathaan Stop Jim? What Did Post-Credit Scene Mean? | DMT (dmtalkies.com)

Stephenson, Brad. 2023. ‘The Best LGBTQ shows on Netflix’. The Best LGBTQ Shows on Netflix Right Now (June 2023) (lifewire.com)

The Indian Express. 2023.  ‘Sah Rukh Khan Thanks Fans for Turning Pathaan into a Festival, shares videos: Ye to Kafi Jyada Ho Gaya’ Shah Rukh Khan thanks fans for turning Pathaan into a festival, shares videos: ‘Yeh to kaafi zyada ho gaya…’ | Entertainment News,The Indian Express

Zompa, Tenzin. 2021. ‘Meri kubsurti ka raaz…: Sah Rukh’s bath-tub ad that made lux soap bold and beautiful’. ‘Meri khubsurti ka raaz…’: The Shah Rukh bath-tub ad that made Lux soap bold & beautiful (theprint.in)

***

Pushpesh Kumar is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad.