'Pathaan' off to flying start with Rs 106 crore worldwide gross on day1, biggest for any Hindi movie
New Delhi, Jan 26: Superstar Shah Rukh Khan made a grand comeback to the big screen with his new Hindi film "Pathaan" raising a whopping Rs 106 crore in worldwide gross on the opening day, the makers announced on Thursday.
According to production house Yash Raj Films (YRF), the movie registered the "biggest opening day in the history of Hindi cinema".
Domestically, the movie's nett day one collection stood at Rs 55 crore, which was the "highest grossing first day for a Hindi film", with its dubbed versions bringing in additional Rs two crore. "Pathaan" was also released in Tamil and Telugu on Wednesday.
The Siddharth Anand directorial, which faced boycott calls over the song "Besharam Rang", marks Shah Rukh's return to movies after a gap of over four years. His previous film was 2018's "Zero".
YRF said "Pathaan" had set multiple new records, including the "widest Hindi release of all time in India" and "highest grossing first day for a non-holiday release".
The first day gross collection of the stylish spy thriller is also the "highest ever" in Shah Rukh's career as well as for co-stars John Abraham and Deepika Padukone, director Anand and YRF, the studio stated in a press release.
"It is a historic day for Indian cinema and we are humbled to see the love and appreciation that is flowing for 'Pathaan' globally.
"For 'Pathaan' to shatter records in this fashion on a non holiday, just proves that the theatrical business is here to stay, provided we make films that entice people to come to the cinemas to witness a never seen before experience that entertains them thoroughly," Akshaye Widhani, CEO of Yash Raj Films, said in a statement.
With its record day one haul, "Pathaan" has exceeded the expectations of the industry experts who were banking on the action spectacle to pull out Bollywood from the trenches of the pandemic and a string of box-office duds.
The film opened on Wednesday in over 5,000 screens across the country, including big cities like Delhi and Mumbai. The movie has a five-day extended opening weekend as it released just the day before Republic Day.
Till Tuesday, "Pathaan" sold with 4.19 lakh tickets sold in advance booking reflecting 80 per cent occupancy on day one, even for early morning shows beginning at 6 am or 7 am, said industry insiders.
Buoyed by the phenomenal response to the star-studded entertainer, production banner YRF on Wednesday said it had added a post midnight 12.30 am show across the country.
Besides, 300 more screens were added due to high demand, according to trade analyst Taran Adarsh, taking the film's total screen count to 8,500 worldwide.
"Pathaan" is the fourth film in producer Aditya Chopra's ambitious spy universe, following Salman Khan's "Ek Tha Tiger" (2012) and "Tiger Zinda Hai" (2017), and "War", featuring Hrithik Roshan (2019).
The movie follows the titular spy Pathaan (Shah Rukh) who comes out of exile to stop terrorist group Outfit X, led by Jim (John), from launching a debilitating attack on India.
"Pathaan" also has a guest appearance by Salman as fellow spy Tiger.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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