While we wouldn’t even dream of objecting to the Censorboard’s justified decision of banning Phantom in Pakistan (no matter what the cause, influence and reason) we do find the exchange of insults between actors on both sides of the border extremely distasteful. Actors are cultural ambassadors, meant to diffuse stressful situations and not aggravate them. Plus, why kick a dead dog (strictly pun intended)!
Judging by the reviews that Phantom is receiving in India, this propaganda mission was destined to die itself own sad little, whimpering death sooner than you could “Saif.” By scandalizing his comments his critics have only given him more air time. Bottom line: no one wants to watch this Phantom of a film, not even in India, except for maybe the anti-Pakistan enthusiasts who find solace in agenda-based cinema.
The reviews are rolling in and they’re terrible, panning both Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif for their lackluster (in other words, terrible) acting. But while Indian actors are not our concern, we do wonder what Asrar is up to these days. For whatever the film was worth, ‘Afghan Jalebi’ is not a bad number at all!
