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Directed By:
Kabir Khan
Produced by:
Sajid Nadiadwala, Siddharth Roy
Kapur, Mohammed Zeeshan
Ayyub, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty,
Sohaila Kapur
Music by:
Pritam Chakraborty (songs),
Julius Packiam (background score)
Written by:
Kabir Khan, Kausar Munir
Cinematography:
Aseem Mishra
Duration:
2 hours 28 minutes
PHANTOM
W
ith Bajrangi Bhaijaan proving to be one of all time
blockbusters, it becomes absolutely needless to sayy
that all eyes were again on director Kabir Khan and hiss
latest film PHANTOM. With expectations flying sky-high, Phantom
tom
m
is an adaptation of journalist-turned-author S.Hussain Zaidi’s bestt
seller ‘Mumbai Avengers’. The film mirrors the prickly issue
e off
cross-border terrorism, which has affected India for decades now.
ow..
As Kabir Khan has tackled the subject of global terrorism issue
sue
e
in his earlier releases including Kabul Express, New York and
d Ek
Tha Tiger, his choice of presenting this dramatic tale of avenge
e on
n
the screen seems rational.
PLOT:
The story revolves around Daniyal Khan, a dishonoured Army
rmyy
man and unfolds with his journey across countries to seek justice
stice
as a ‘Phantom’ agent recruited by RAW. A few years after the
Mumbai’s 26/11 attack, when the government and security
urity
agencies are still helpless for not being able to get hold of the
masterminds, the nation still vulnerable, and another infiltrator
atorr
being caught with plans to attack the country, the RAW plans
anss
for an avenge. Daniyal who is a part of this mission gets to meett
Nawaz Mistry (Katrina Kaif), who works for a security agency. It iss
during this journey he realizes that there is always a price to payy
and with this mission, the price was very personal.
PERFORMANCE :
Indian can still relate to the inexplicable pains the horrendous
ouss
attacks of 26/11 gave to the entire nation. The film opens with
Genre:
Drama, Action, Thriller
these heart wrenching visuals from Mumbai and then the tale of
avenge takes over with the sole aim to wipe off every perpetrator
behind the attacks. The choice of the story was fair enough and
had the elements that could be projected on the screen, but
somewhere the potential script appeared weaker. The mission
itself lacked confidentiality and thus, at one point everything
seemed so obvious and predictable, and it is where the script
loses its grip.
The pace of the story is decent enough with a mix of drama,
facts, fiction and action. The movie being shot across various
locations goes well with the demands of the script. While the first
half was more engaging, the second half was barely saved by
the climax. PHANTOM overall is a movie that can be avoided. Its
overly patriotic unrealistic treatment gets boring and untimely
Katrina Kaif was probably a choice for the script only as a glamor
quotient for her flattering demeanor. She looks pretty throughout
the movie. Zeeshan Ayyub was a good watch
DECREE:
Though the film doesn’t have the typical Bollywood song-dance
routine or humour, it runs high on patriotism. It plays on the anger
and condemnation that every Indian has over the attacks of
26/11 on Mumbai. The film offers a hypothetical solution to the
terror menace and about bringing these terrorists responsible for
Mumbai attacks to justice. Highly fictitious considering nothing of it
has anywhere near been attempted in real life. Overall execution
is slow.Worth watching for cinematography and style.
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