Mumbai, Nov 2 (IANS): The king of romance - Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan turned 57 on Wednesday and the on the occasion, the teaser of his upcoming film 'Pathaan' was unveiled which has set time ticking for the audience.

The film's director Siddharth Anand shared that the idea behind secretly dropping the teaser of Pathaan was to celebrate Shah Rukh Khan's birthday with his countless fans across the globe.

Siddharth, who set the cash registers ringing for Yash Raj Films with his last blockbuster 'War', said in a statement: "The craze for a glimpse of 'Pathaan' has been unprecedented. After a long, long time there's insane buzz for a film that is genuine and organic. And it's all due to the super stardom of this one man - Shah Rukh Khan. His fans, and we are talking of millions of them, have been clamouring for just a peek of him and his film. And thus, there could be no better day to put out the teaser of 'Pathaan' than SRK's birthday".

The visually stunning action extravaganza, which also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in pivotal roles and Salman Khan in a cameo, is part of producer-director Aditya Chopra's spy universe.

Talking about the film, Siddharth further mentioned: "He, truly, has been ruling the hearts and minds of audiences for decades and 'Pathaan' marks his return to the big screen after a gap of four long years. So, while we decided to surprise them all on his birthday, the pressure to deliver was immense."

Siddharth shared that given the massive expectations of fans, the teaser of 'Pathaan' had to deliver the goods.

"We had to make a unit that justifies their wait to see something of Pathaan as well as the fact that we have chosen his birthday to release the first big asset of the film! It had to be spectacular and memorable at the same time and I think we have managed to make them very happy, given the incredible reaction that we are witnessing for Pathaan's teaser", he added.

For the team behind the action saga, 'Pathaan' goes beyond the realm of being just a film, "For us, Pathaan is not just a film, it is an emotion as we are aiming to make the biggest action spectacle with one of the all-time biggest on-screen icons that Indian cinema has ever seen", the director concluded.

'Pathaan' has one of the biggest on-screen pairings of SRK and Deepika from the Hindi cinema given their epic blockbusters like 'Om Shanti Om', 'Chennai Express' and 'Happy New Year'.

The film, produced under the banner of YRF, will arrive in cinemas on January 25, 2023.