Sometimes, victimisation and victimhood coalesce inadvertently to impact a result.

It has often been said that the more virulent the abuses of his opponents, the higher the number of votes in Modi’s favour. Fence-sitters or those who couldn’t be bothered to exercise their franchise were spurred to ink their fingers as an answer to abusers.

Similarly, as the hysteria of antiPathaan voices grew without seeing even a frame of the film, the crowds swelled exponentially to show solidarity with YRF and its hero. When Twitter handles vented outrage, some physically filibustered outside theatres and home minister Narottam Mishra of Madhya Pradesh called for a boycott of Pathaan for ideological reasons that had little to do with the content of the film, it aroused the ire of those with different political leanings, awakening even larger numbers of those who would otherwise have been indifferent to the release of a Hindi film.

Indeed, CM Himanta Biswa Sharma’s rather offhand “Who’s Shah Rukh Khan?” followed by his placatory tweet on a 2am chat with SRK also contributed to giving Pathaan the magnitude of public attention no media campaign or PR budget could’ve got it. At the national executive meeting of the BJP just days before the release, Prime Minister Modi’s curious advice to his ministers to refrain from commenting on a film did its bit too when his public statement turned into timely headlines for Pathaan. A quiet word with his errant ministers would not have worked so well for Shah Rukh.

The outpouring of support for Pathaan was thus unprecedented, with not only the politically charged but also an audience that was largely clueless about Hindi films growing more determined and more curious about checking out the new film in the theatres. Thus, what would’ve been the release of just another big-budget SRK-starrer turned into a mega event with everybody snorting to get into the theatres, each for a different reason.

The Monday and Tuesday following the release of a film work like box-office paracetamol. They bring down the initial fever. Once it subsides, the Monday and Tuesday collections indicate whether a film is a genuine blockbuster or has only registered dizzy opening figures.

Meanwhile, YRF and SRK should send a bouquet of flowers to the Prime Minister and to Himanta Biswa with a “thank you” note for boosting their first-day collections so spectacularly. Breasting Rs 100 crore on Day 1, wow. With Narottam Mishra once again talking about Pathaan, this time to say there’s no need for a boycott, the free media coverage continues.

Some people never learn the value of silence, do they?

While the spotlight lingered unwaveringly on Pathaan, there was a quiet cringe moment when director Rajkumar Santoshi spoke to the media before releasing his film Gandhi Godse — Ek Yudh. His producer, who’s supposed to have RSS connections, kept bringing Pathaan into the picture by constantly making spurious remarks about how the big fish were trying to swallow the small. He even drew a difference between people who live in “Mannat, Jannat” and small people like him who live in apartments, trying hard to make headlines by pelting stones at Team Pathaan. Every time the producer opened his mouth, Santoshi valiantly did some firefighting to stress that he had no problems with anybody in the industry, his fictional film was a balanced take on Gandhi and Godse. There were cops in the small preview theatre to handle Gandhi supporters who’d slipped in to protest against Santoshi.

Once again, a bunch of people who hadn’t seen the film, prematurely raging that by giving Godse a cinematic hearing, injustice was being meted out to Gandhi. If only they’d waited, they’d have realised that Santoshi’s effete work was the “Gandhification” of Nathuram Godse and the deification of Gandhi.

But with lessons not learnt, there will be some more noise in June, when Adipurush, the Rs 550-crore retelling of the Ramayana with Prabhas (of Baahubali fame) in the central role, is released. Reworked after the teaser drew much ire, insiders say that Saif Ali Khan has been given a shave to make him look less Moghul and more like Ravana.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author