Weeks ahead of Fighter’s January 25 release, filmmaker Siddharth Anand has penned a heartfelt note on X (formerly Twitter), recalling how his 2023 Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan emerged as a blockbuster despite the “boycott Bollywood” movement looming large over the Hindi film industry back then.

Looking back on the “nervousness and anxiety” he had felt prior to the release of Pathaan, Siddharth wrote, “As the new year draws to a close, I take a moment and look back...PATHAAN, my film was releasing amidst a sea of forces against it...Hindi films were written off by naysayers.”

Reflecting on the day the action thriller was released, the director added, “I remember waking up at 7am. After going to bed at 3:30am post the cast & crew screening. Woke up feeling numb.”

Siddharth recollected how he had waited with his wife Mamta Bhatia on the terrace of his friend’s place for the first reviews to pour in.

Everything changed for Siddharth when Pathaan was “unanimously” declared a blockbuster, revealed the 45-year-old filmmaker.

Siddharth went on to share an anecdote from the day of Pathaan’s release. He wrote, “I couldn’t sit anymore. Decided to visit a theatre and see the reactions. Got to the theatre but for the first time didn’t see the entire film with the audience. I saw the first 30 mins and I could gauge the pulse of the audience.”

Videos of spectators dancing to the theme song Jhoome Jo Pathaan assured Siddharth that “history was created”.

Pathaan, which released on January 25, 2023, emerged as one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of all time.

With a little over three weeks left for the release of Siddharth’s latest project, Fighter, the director-cum-producer said that he is feeling the same nervousness and anxiety again.

Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor, is the first film to be produced by Siddharth’s own film company Marflix.

Calling the action drama ambitious in more ways than one, Siddharth added, “It’s more than just a film for us (Siddharth and Mamta). And we have given it all to this one.”

The 45-year-old filmmaker ended his note with an earnest request to the audience to shower Fighter with the same love that they had showered on Pathaan.