''International Guerrillas'' (Original title: International Gorillay) is a 1990
spy
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangib ...
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...
as its main villain.With Rushdie's Approval, Britain Lifts Its Ban on Anti-Rushdie Film Suzanne Cassidy, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', Retrieved 27 Nov 2015. The film was made in the
Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu" '' it also features several musical numbers including songs and dances.Review at ''Nanarland.com'' (in French), Retrieved 27 Nov 2015
The film was produced by
Sajjad Gul
Agha Sajjad Gul ( ur, آغا سجاد گل) is a producer, director and one of the biggest media moguls in Pakistan. He is the youngest of the sons of renowned film studio owner and a pioneer of Pakistan film industry, the late Agha G. A. Gul (1 ...
, who described it as a purely commercial project rather than an artistic one.
Plot
The film's protagonists are three Pakistani brothers, the older one being a police officer and the younger two, small-time hoodlums. The three brothers ultimately reconcile in the light of the controversy over ''
The Satanic Verses
''The Satanic Verses'' is the fourth novel of British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism ...
'': in a dramatized version of the
Islamabad
Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...
police firing on a mob on 12 February 1990 when five demonstrators were killed and 83 injured, their younger sister is killed by the police while demonstrating against Rushdie. The three brothers decide to avenge her and Islam's honor by hunting down and killing Rushdie. They receive the help of a female police officer in the course of their mission.
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...
, played by Afzaal Ahmad, is portrayed in the film as a sadistic criminal mastermind, working for an international conspiracy devoted to destroying Islam (as the Muslim faith is an obstacle to his wishes of building
casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
s,
nightclubs
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
and
brothels
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub ...
around the world). He is depicted as hiding in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, guarded by a private army led by an
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i general.
Saeed Khan Rangeela
Mohammad Saeed Khan (1 January 1937 – 24 May 2005), better known as Rangeela, was a Pakistani Lollywood actor, singer and director. He is regarded as one of the finest comedians of the Pakistani film industry. He performed in over 300 film ...
stars as "Chief Batu Batu", Rushdie's main
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
henchman. Rushdie lives a life of hedonism and other excesses and routinely amuses himself by torturing and killing the
mujaheddin
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...
s who regularly try to hunt him down. He also enjoys torturing Muslims by making them listen to readings of ''The Satanic Verses''.
The protagonists arrive in the Philippines and start their hunt for Rushdie, who escapes them repeatedly thanks to the use of multiple
decoy
A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lu ...
s. In the course of one of their attempts to kill Rushdie, the three brothers appear wearing Batman disguises. The Israeli general's sister is sent to seduce one of the Muslim guerrillas but ends up falling in love with him and ultimately converting to Islam in the final scene.
The film ends with a
gunfight
A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only in ...
opposing the four "International Guerrillas" and Rushdie's army of Israeli henchmen. The heroes defeat the villains and, as Rushdie attempts to flee the scene, three giant
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
s appear in the sky and fire lightning bolts at the writer, incinerating him.
Mustafa Qureshi
Mustafa Qureshi is a Pakistani film and television actor.
He has acted in more than 600 movies, in Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi languages.
He is best remembered for playing the antagonist Noori Natt in '' Maula Jatt'' (1979).
He was born into a ...
*
Saeed Khan Rangeela
Mohammad Saeed Khan (1 January 1937 – 24 May 2005), better known as Rangeela, was a Pakistani Lollywood actor, singer and director. He is regarded as one of the finest comedians of the Pakistani film industry. He performed in over 300 film ...
*
Babra Sharif
Babra Sharif ( ur, ), (born 10 December 1954) is a Pakistani film actress, most known for her roles from the mid-1970s to the 1980s. She started her career in television commercials. She has worked with many famous names of her time, including Sh ...
* Hamayun Qureshi
* Naghma
* Afzaal Ahmad as Salman Rushdie.
Temporary ban in the UK and response by Rushdie
The film was denied a certificate by the
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...
, effectively denying it a cinema release in the UK. The board cited the safety of Salman Rushdie as an argument for refusing the certificate, arguing that it could inflame some to violence.
Although the film portrayed Salman Rushdie very negatively, he opposed the ruling of the BBFC, arguing that:
The ban was overturned, and the film was classified at 18. Rushdie later said, "If that film had been banned, it would have become the hottest video in town: everyone would have seen it". While the film was a great hit in Pakistan, it enjoyed only a limited release in the West, where it went virtually unnoticed., Retrieved 27 Nov 2015