UTV Motion Pictures

Phantom is far from a typical Indian film in which you have numerous songs and dances and plays on romance. It is one of those films that actually makes sense.

The film opens with Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan) in a car chase against an alleged terrorist who ends up falling off a bridge after a fist fight.

Looking buffed, but ruggedly handsome, Khan enacts the character of Phantom '€” a member of the Indian army who was dismissed for leaving his squad in a war zone.

The Indian army calls him back on an undercover mission to take revenge on the mastermind of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai when 166 people died. Many senior police officers lost their lives.

While the perpetrators were caught, the suspected organizers are still alive in Pakistan.

The Indian army designated Agent Nawaz Mistry (Katrina Kaif) to help Phantom identify the organizers of the 26/11 massacre. In the course of their partnership, Phantom managed to kill two of the organizers. There was one more he needed to take care of and that was Hariz Saeed, the head of the Laskhar militant group.

In the second half of the film, Phantom makes his way inside Pakistan to find Saeed. Mistry supports him on his endeavor by doing the back work.

Although Saif Khan'€™s acting was good, his portrayal of a man of determination is nothing unusual. Saif is always portraying a no-nonsense man in many of films. In Kaif'€™s case, her acting brings about an unknown side of her.

The director, Kabir Khan, recently made a name in his movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan about a girl from Pakistan lost in India, which promoted peace and harmony between the two nations.

In the movie Phantom, which is based from the book entitled Mumbai Avengers by Hussain Zaidi, the director tries to mold a feeling of nationalism and revenge for the crime that was allegedly perpetrated by the Pakistanis, but it was not convincing enough. The film has also raised controversy, with objections having already been lodged by both Médecins Sans Frontières and the suspected terrorist Hafiz Saeed.

Like most Indian movies, the cinematography was at its best. The sets were very real and the streets of Pakistan were realistically portrayed by the director. The director also portrayed extremely opposite locations, starting from a showcase of a clean, scenic Chicago to an overly populated slum in Pakistan.

While transporting the audience, the director successfully created suspense, especially on the D-day when Khan was supposed to press a button to cause Saeed'€™s death. It kept the viewers glued to their seats as they waited for the Phantom to implement the assassination plan.

The plot of the story was good, but was unrealistic at times and the editing could have been better as there were scenes that could have been rearranged, especially in the beginning when there was a car chase between Khan and an alleged criminal who turned out to be a hired stuntman.

The scene showed Khan going to jail, but the next scene had the Indian army finding him living secluded on a snowy mountain. That was slightly confusing as anyone would ask, how did he get out of the jail?

As the film moves on, one can just put the pieces together that the first scene was actually a flash back.

On the other hand, Kaif'€™s makeup was also not fitted for some scenes. For instance, there was a scene when she provided a backup for Khan in the streets of Syria and her eye makeup was too heavy.

In all, Phantom is worth watching even though it got mixed reviews from the film critics. As the Indians would put it, it is more than a '€œtime passer'€.
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Phantom (UTV Motion Pictures, 135 minutes)

Directed by Kabir Khan
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Mir Sarwar, J. Brandon Hill and Shahnawaz Pradhan

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