Justice, on celluloid

Nonika Singh

Waise toh most cinema is wishful thinking. But there is one wish that one billion plus India is making in unison since bomb blasts shook Mumbai in 2008. That wish is simple--make Pakistan or at least terrorists behind the dastardly attack pay for it.

No doubt Phantom isn’t the first film that treads on this ground, not the first one that talks of Pak-sponsored terrorism and has its heroes as men of great patriotism and valour who hunt down terrorists. Baby did it and D even brought us the dreaded D-Day on platter. Now, it’s Phantom’s turn to avenge our honour. Named after the invisible man rightly so in tribute to those unsung heroes who put their lives in the line of fire. Here this man is Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan), a disgraced Army officer whom RAW picks up for the arduous, nay impossible, task. As he crosses continents, he tracks the key men, including David Headley, involved in the attack. Yes, the film has no compunction in calling Headley, now locked in a US jail, by his real name though the hate-monger Hafiz Saeed is Hariz here.

But in this marriage of fact with fiction the point is what’s new? Certainly, the treatment, Kabir, as his wont, mixes the predictable with the unpredictable, keeps the element of surprise alive and builds a fine tempo that takes you from the US to London to Syria  and finally to Pakistan. In the second part as the action moves to Pakistan, the engagement with the plot notches many points higher. Kabir cuts the fluff. No naach gaana, no long winding back stories. And no exaggerated emotional drama. Unlike his previous outing Bajrangi Bhajaan, he doesn’t make you shed buckets of tears. Yes, the film touches but fleetingly and more than emotions it’s about justice. As a key dialogue in the film reiterates---all India wants is justice. Since that is not happening, Kabir brings you one on celluloid screen at least. 

So, does Kabir, who built bridges with Pakistan with his last flick, burn them this time? Yes and no. Certainly, he makes no bones that the real mastermind is in Pakistan and also that the Pakistan government is complicit. But he also underlines that terrorism knows no religion or even borders and that Pakistan or at least its people have suffered as much. But he doesn’t let this side track overtake the main narrative.

Sure, the film is not completely wholesome. There are missing links. For one why Katrina Kaif, Nawaz Mistry here, who works as a security consultant, gets embroiled in the anti-terror mission is rather hazy. The sequence in Syria too is haphazard. Actors, however, especially Saif, fit their parts yet do not dominate the film’s storyline essentially based on Hussain Zaidi’s Mumbai Avengers. Zeeshan Ayub, as the officer whose brainchild the mission is, impresses once again as he has done in all of his earlier films like Raanjhana and Tanu Weds Manu Returns. Minus jhatka matkas Katrina looks pretty, does a fair job and her mismatched accent is explained by her Parisian blood. 

Oh yes, the lead brave-heart is a Muslim. Clearly patriotism is not an exclusive preserve of one community alone. For this thought and for many others watch the film. And lest we forget the film is packed with many a ‘heart in your mouth’ moments too. This is one film that will keep your heart racing   and offer you as well as make you yearn for closure to the night of terror that engulfed  our commercial capital seven years ago.