Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi hail SRK's 'Pathaan' in Parliament? Here's the truth

PM Modi spoke about theatres running into packed houses in Srinagar.

New Delhi Feb 09: Social media is abuzz with the talks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising Bollywood movie 'Pathaan', which has Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone in the leads.

The fans of Shah Rukh Khan are claiming on social media that PM Modi lauded 'Pathaan' in Parliament on Wednesday. The movie found a mention in his speech during his Motion of Thanks to President's address, Khan fans said.

Is it true?

Well, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about theatres in Srinagar running into packed houses after decades. "Srinagar ke andar barso baad cinema houseful dekhe gaye (After decades, cinemas of Srinagar went houseful)," he is heard saying in a viral clip.

The PM did not particularly mention about 'Pathaan' in the Parliament and he was apparently highlighting that Srinagar is coming to normalcy after the abrogation of Article 370.

On August 5, 2019, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government announced its decision to revoke the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, and divided the erstwhile state into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. There were protests in the valley after the special status, which allowed the state to have its own laws, was abolished.

Reactions to PM's Comment

"The theatre have been open for a year and a half now but only pathaan did this. None of the movie could do this, even hit movies like drishyam, rrr etc, [sic]" a user said. Another user claimed, "That's the power of SRK pm ko be heran kar diya Pathaan movie se Shahdom 🔥🔥👑👑 [sic]"

However, another set of people pointed out to them that he did not talk about 'Pathaan'. A netizen said, "SRK fans are at another level, he didn't even mention the name of the movie, but SRK fans took the credit anyways. If some Spanish movie runs houseful in buenos aires, then SRK fans will be there to take credit for Pathan. This TL is pure comedy gold. [sic]"

"He meant decades of islamic terror didnt allow shows in kashmir, as soon as he opened theaters people are so much inclusive of democracy that they went running for movies. Highlighting that the closing of theaters was never public will .. but was forced upon public for decades, [sic]" anothe rone added.

'Pathaan' was released worldwide on January 26. The movie had landed in trouble over Deepika's vulgar song 'Besharam Rang'. There were protests in Gujarat and MP over the track and the BJP leaders too had added fuel to the fire.

However, the Prime Minister, at the BJP's National Executive Meeting, asked the party leaders not to make unnecessary comments on films. This paved way for smooth release of the Hindi flick.