War Witnesses Spike In Viewership on OTT After Pathaan Online Release, News of Jr NTR Joining Sequel

Before the release of Pathaan, YRF hit a masterstroke by announcing the onset of the ‘Spy Universe’. YRF’s cinematic spy universe comprises Salman Khan’s Tiger franchise, Hrithik Roshan’s War, and the latest addition Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan.

The announcement generated enormous excitement amongst movie buffs and the coming together of superstars Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, and Shah Rukh Khan seemed inevitable. The release of Pathaan on January 25, 2022, had the audience thoroughly entertained with the characters of Salman’s Avinash Singh Rathore aka Tiger, and Shah Rukh’s Pathaan delivered an action-packed punch. However, the makers made sure to tease the viewers by keeping alive the mystique of Hrithik Roshan’s Kabir from War (2019) with several references to his character. The intelligent use of the background score from Hrithik’s much-loved entry scene in War too was featured in Pathaan – Tiger’s action scene.

Sources share, “It is a well-thought strategy by the makers of the Spy Universe as they recaptured the popularity of Hrithik Roshan’s character from War in the marketing of Pathaan. Regular Television telecasts of War were scheduled too, post the release of Pathaan. Further, releasing Pathaan on the same OTT platform that streams War is yet another strategy to keep the audience intrigued by the Spy universe. War continues to grab the audience’s attention on TV while there is a spike in OTT streams for War due to the curiosity generated by Pathaan about Hrithik’s character Kabir and his possible connection with John Abraham’s Jim.”

In addition to the increased viewership on television and OTT platforms, social media has also been buzzing with War references in Pathaan.

War was the highest-grossing film of 2019 and was celebrated by audiences and social media, which continues to this date. Right from the entry shot to the action sequences, Hrithik Roshan’s Kabir created a huge frenzy in theatres then. The Hrithik Roshan – Tiger Shroff starrer also broke records with its television premiere becoming the most viewed film on TV with a staggering 68 million reach, War was the highest-rated film ever on TV. A similar hysteria was witnessed during its launch on OTT, and interestingly, with Pathaan released on Amazon Prime Video recently, the viewership of War has seen a spike, to draw parallels to the spy universes. Probably director Siddharth Anand already foresaw the success of War during the making, resulting in the idea of Pathaan and ultimately the spy universe.

Currently, there are reports doing the rounds suggesting that Ayan Mukerji will be directing War 2. While Hrithik is set to reprise his role of Kabir, it is also reported that Jr NTR has been roped in to play a crucial negative role in the film.

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