''Phantom '' is a 2015 Indian

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

-language

action thriller The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

film directed by Kabir Khan, produced by

Sajid Nadiadwala Sajid Nadiadwala (born 18 February 1966) is an Indian film producer, film director and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. He is the owner of Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and the grandson of filmmaker A.K. Nadiadwala. Sajid has written ...

and Siddharth Roy Kapur, starring

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who primarily works in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. The titular head of the Pataudi family since 2011, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore a ...

and Katrina Kaif in leading roles. The screenplay of the film was written in coordination with author Hussain Zaidi's book ''Mumbai Avengers'' on the aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The film was released worldwide on 28 August 2015 to mixed reviews.

Plot

The film begins with a car chase in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, which leads to a scuffle between a man ostensibly named Jude Rosario and an American male known as Matthew Brody. The scuffle ends with Brody falling into the icy waters of

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). The river is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance: the related Chic ...

, and his body missing. This results in Rosario being arrested and convicted of murder. A flashback to six months prior shows the office of the Indian RAW chief Roy, where he and his trusted men plan a daring covert operation. The man, known as Jude Rosario in the opening sequence, is shown to be Captain Daniyal Khan, a dead-end ex-soldier with a completely deadpan sense of life and death which is pulled out of oblivion and pressed into service by the spy agency to wreak vengeance on the men who planned the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. He agrees on the assurance that he will be reinstated in the Indian army to the same rank from which he was court-martialled, which meant regaining the respect of his estranged father, retd. Col. Usman Khan, and mentee, Dilawar Singh. His only team member, Nawaz Mistry helps him find his first target

Sajid Mir Sajid Mir (born 1976 or 1978) is a Pakistani national and a member of the militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba. Mir was the chief planner of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and has also managed the tasks of the 'foreign affairs' of Lashkar-e-Taiba's ...

at a cricket match in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. On reaffirming his identity after breaking into his apartment, Daniyal rigs up an explosion which kills Sajid, which makes the headlines explaining it was accidental, resulting in an investigation by the Pakistani ISI. In the present day, Daniyal, aka Jude, has landed in the same jail as David Headley, his next target. He contacts Nawaz in order to acquire money to buy a battery, as a replacement for another one which holds a certain poison. The poison, ( succinylcholine), is untraceable as it can kill a person when it touches the tongue, causing a heart attack. After killing Headley by plugging the poisonous battery into a

shower A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor. Most showers are set up to have adjustable temperature, spray pressure and showerhead nozzle angle. The si ...

head he usually uses, Brody, who supposedly died upon falling in the river, is found alive, and Daniyal is released as his earlier sentence is rendered null and void. Meanwhile, ISI agents gather information about him. Daniyal and Nawaz travel to Syria via

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, to get in touch with the fighters of

Lashkar-e-Toiba Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is a Pakistani Islamist militant organization driven by a Salafi jihadist ideology. The organisation's primary stated objective is to merge the whole of Kashmir with Pakistan. It was founded in 1985–1986 by Hafiz Saeed ...

. There, Daniyal is held captive by the L-e-T and is forced into revealing the purpose of killing Sajid Mir and David Headley, on camera. The chief of L-e-T in Syria tries his best to send the video of Daniyal's confession to ISI, but the war-torn situation of Syria has led to a mass disruption of communication networks. Nawaz, with her team of soldiers, kills the subordinates of L-e-T, much to the chagrin of Daniyal. Subsequently, Daniyal, Nawaz, and the team escape from the clutches of the L-e-T after a bloody gunfight. Daniyal manages to kill the Syrian chief of L-e-T, just before he is about to send the video to the ISI, and destroys the recordings. Subsequently, the ISI kills the Indian Consulate General of Jordan, Mr. Rajan Sampath, in a gas explosion, similar to the killing of Sajid Mir, as a revenge attack. The RAW chief Roy reprimands Daniyal for unnecessarily killing someone who was not meant to be killed and asks him to call off the mission. Nawaz encourages Daniyal to carry on the mission to avenge the

2008 Mumbai Attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...

by killing the direct people who orchestrated the whole mission. She offers to take him and herself to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Daniyal and Nawaz go to

to take down the last two perpetrators, Sahabuddin Umvi and Haaris Saeed. There, they make plans of killing Saeed with the help of a local restaurant owner and RAW agent Khalid, by an explosive planted in the mic used during his public rally. However, their plan fails, leading Daniyal to pursue Saeed in a car and shoot him dead, also causing an explosion. Umvi is killed with the help of a nurse Amina Bi, a mother who lost her

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...

son in a

suicide attack A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

, who replaces his regular medicine with poison, later shooting herself after the police find her at her home. With the Pakistani army and ISI pursuing them, Daniyal and Nawaz make their way to the coast to escape through the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

. Their accomplices get caught and interrogated for information or are killed. While they are escaping on a boat, the Pakistani military finds out about it and sends patrol boats to apprehend them. While hiding in the waters with Nawaz, Daniyal gets shot by the military and dies. Nawaz later gets rescued by the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

, after they leave. Later, she goes to the

Taj Hotel Taj Hotels is a chain of luxury hotels and a subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, India. Incorporated by Jamsetji Tata in 1902, the company is a part of the Tata Group. The company employed over 20,000 people ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, where she meets a tea seller who was giving tea for free as his son, who was a waiter in the hotel and was killed by the terrorists in attacks, has now been avenged as Daniyal killed them. She buys two cups of tea from him, fulfilling a promise earlier made to Daniyal.

Cast

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Daniyal Khan, Raj Rif * Katrina Kaif as Nawaz Mistry, a former R&AW Agent * Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Samit Mishra, R&AW officer * Rajesh Tailang as Alok, R&AW officer * Sabyasachi Chakrabarty as Roy, RAW chief * Middat Khan as Khalid Hussain * Sohaila Kapur as Amina Bi * Shahnawaz Pradhan as Haaris Saeed * J. Brandon Hill as David Coleman Headley * Mir Sarwar as

* Sunil Nagar as Sabahuddin Umvi * Kaizaad Kotwal as Pakistan

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Shehriyar Baig * Tushar Pandey as Ashraf Ali, Amina Bi's assistant * Mukul Nag as Qureshi * Yaad Grewal as a man in Sajid Mir's flat * Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal as Mehrun Khan, Daniyal's mother * Denzil Smith as ISI Chief Haider * Ashwath Bhatt as ISI agent Firoz * Pooran Kiri as ISI agent Javed * Prashant Kumar as Moosa * Sumit Gulati as Shehzad * Anoop Gautam as Pakistani Commando Noor Mohammad * Mohan Maharishi as the National Security Advisor of India * Hemant Mahaur as Pakistani boatman * Rajiv Gupta as Indian Naval officer

Production

Development

Kabir Khan and author S. Hussain Zaidi had come together to collaborate on Kabir's then untitled film, based on the scenario post-26/11 Mumbai attacks with

and Katrina Kaif signed in leading roles. The screenplay of the film is an adaptation and is co-written in conjunction with Hussain's then-unreleased book. The film earlier had a working title as ''Daniyal Khan'', before being titled ''Phantom''. Saif Ali Khan and Kaif have reportedly learnt Kurdish and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

for their roles. The plot of the film weaves a fictional story to kill the perpetrators of

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...

- Sajid Mir, David Coleman Headley,

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi (, born 30 December 1960) is a Pakistani Islamist militant and co-founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba. One of the prime perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he is featured on India's NIA Most Wanted list. In January 2021, he wa ...

(named as Sabahuddin Umvi) and Hafiz Saeed (named as Haaris Saeed). The film also depicts incidents similar to the Assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh and

Boston Marathon bombing The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as simply the Boston bombing, was an Islamist domestic terrorist attack that took place during the 117th annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarna ...

. Kashmiri Sufi singer Qazi Touqeer featured in the Afghan Jalebi song.

Filming

Filming began in October 2013 in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

. Around 10% of the film was shot in

in areas including downtown

, the populous area of Khandaq al-Ghameeq, and the mountainous areas of Kfardebian, with the latter two representing

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. The shoot of the film required a recreation of a Syrian refugee camp, which involved almost 400 locals in acting as rebel militias. The sets of the film were so realistic that many people in the area believed actual militia groups had set up camp, and the Lebanese army began circling planes over the set. However, the confusion was cleared after the first day. Due to the country's recent political turmoil, security was provided to the crew. In January 2014, action sequences were shot in

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

near Pahalgam hill station and in a ski resort in

Gulmarg Gulmarg (), known as Gulmarag (; in Kashmiri language, Kashmiri), is a town, hill station, tourist destination, skiing destination, and a notified area committee in the Baramulla district of the northern Kashmir Valley of the Indian union terri ...

for five days. The scenes involved a blast sequence in the peak of winter, when the entire valley was covered in a 10-foot blanket of snow. In March 2014, filming continued in a small town in Malerkotla,

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

where the area was recreated to resemble a Pakistani marketplace. The entire area was dressed up to look authentic, complete with

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

hoarding, posters, and flags. The makers narrowed down Malerkotla due to its mosque, local people, narrow lanes, and overall architecture, which creates the verisimilitude of a town from

. In July 2014, filming resumed in

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

near the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

on the banks of

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, Charing Cross station,

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

cricket ground in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

and Ealing road in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. The next shooting schedule was done in various locations in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in August 2014, including the centre of West

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

and Thurlow streets which involved several high-octane chase sequences. In September 2014, the last schedule of the film was completed in

, with scenes being shot at the city's eastern ferry wharf, near the

Gateway of India The Gateway of India is an arch-monument completed in 1924 on the waterfront of Mumbai (Bombay), India. It was erected to commemorate the landing of George V for his coronation as the Emperor of India in December 1911 at Strand Road near We ...

, and at

Filmistan Filmistan is an Indian film studio based in Goregaon, Mumbai. Spread over five acres, near Patkar College on S.V. Road, the studio has seven shooting floors, and a temple and garden for outdoor locations. Patkar College's reputation has incre ...

Studios in the suburb of Goregaon. An underwater action sequence has been shot by

and Katrina Kaif at the Orca Dive Club in

Marketing

The trailer of the film was released online on 25 July 2015. A launch event was held on the same day with the presence of Kabir Khan,

and Katrina Kaif. A promotional song titled 'Afghan Jalebi (Ya Baba)' was released on 30 July 2015. The video was choreographed by Ahmed Khan. Other promotional songs, 'Saware' was released on 13 August 2015 and 'Nachda' on 25 August 2015. The world premiere of the film was scheduled on the closing night of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne on 27 August 2015. Saif and Kaif have also promoted the film on several Indian reality television shows, including '' Dance Plus'', '' Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Reloaded'' and '' Indian Idol Junior''. On 23 August 2015, they made an appearance at the 2015 Pro Kabaddi League Final.

Soundtrack

The songs featured in the film were composed by Pritam, while lyrics are by Amitabh Bhattacharya and Kausar Munir. The music rights were acquired by T-Series. The album was super hit & one of the best album of that year. "Afghan Jalebi" became chartbuster & globally very popular. It had another version titles "Ya Baba" which was also popular. The song "Saware" also became rage among audience & became a chartbuster.

Reception

BizAsia gave a rating of 7 out of 10 stating Pritam does a good job on bringing the flavours of Western

home to Bollywood, fitting perfectly with the theme of the film, particularly praising "Afghan Jalebi". ''

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is an Indian entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides n ...

'' rated the soundtrack 3 out of 5, calling it the surprise of the season. ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' and ''Koimoi'' also gave a rating of 3 out 5 to the soundtrack.

Release

''Phantom'' was released on 28 August 2015 in 2600 screens in India. It was banned in Pakistan following petition by Hafiz Saeed. Lahore High court banned the film.

Critical reception

Meena Iyer of ''

'' gave ''Phantom'' 3.5 stars, calling it an oversimplified but patriotic thriller. ''Bollywood Hungama'' gave the film 3.5 stars calling Khan's performance "focussed, clinical and precise, as the role demands" while stating that Kaif is "able support" while performing action scenes. It also praised the background score. Rajeev Masand of ''IBN Live'' gave it 2 stars calling it slow-paced, boring and a " wish fulfillment fantasy". Shubha Shetty-Saha of ''Mid-day'' gave it 3 stars stating the "powerful story is diluted by the use of too many cinematic liberties and a rather lazy screenplay", "Flaws aside, it talks of a real concern facing all of us, even while taking a flight of fantasy". Shweta Kaushal of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media Limited, an entity controlled by the Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia, the daughter o ...

'' gave it 2.5 stars calling Khan and Kaif's performances "pedestrian" but calling the work of Sohaila Kapur, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Sabyasachi Chakraborty "power-packed".

Box office

''Phantom'' grossed on its first day. On the second day it grew approximately 50% reaching a total of . By the end of the first weekend, the receipts were nett. Phantom had a decent Monday as it grossed . The film grossed on its first Tuesday. Phantom grossed on its 8th day. By the end of second weekend, ''Phantom'' grossed in U.K-Ireland, in Australia, in New Zealand.

References

External links

* * {{2008 Mumbai attacks 2010s Hindi-language films 2015 films Films shot in Lebanon Films set in Syria 2015 action thriller films Films about Islamic terrorism in India Films about jihadism Journalism adapted into films Films set in Pakistan Films set in Jammu and Kashmir Films shot in London Films shot in Mumbai Films shot in Vancouver India–Pakistan relations in popular culture Indian nonlinear narrative films Indian action thriller films Films featuring songs by Pritam Indian Army in films Films based on the 2008 Mumbai attacks Films about organised crime in India Action films based on actual events Films shot in Punjab, India Films set in Chicago Films about the Research and Analysis Wing Military of Pakistan in films Alternate history films Films directed by Kabir Khan Films based on Indian novels Films set in Beirut Films set in Lebanon Hafiz Muhammad Saeed Film censorship in Pakistan Indian avant-garde and experimental films Films about the Syrian civil war Films set in London Censored films