Bigg Boss 19: Daily Discussion Thread-16th September, 2025
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai Sept 16, 2025 Episode Discussion Thread
🏏T20 Asia Cup 2025: AFG vs BAN, 9th Match, Group B at Abu Dhabi🏏
BHAJAN & DANCE 16.9
Welcome Baby Boy ❤️🧿
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai Sept 17, 2025 Episode Discussion Thread
YRKKH SM updates, BTS and Spoilers Thread #127
💫 The Heuphorias Discussion Thread 💫
BACK TO MUSSORIE 17.9
BALH Naya Season BC Voting~BY PM INVITE ONLY~Vote for 2 entries
Kajalmaya - sp's new thriller show
Farewell week...In Every Glance, A Lifetime: The Saga of PraShiv💕
War 2 sets record as biggest flop in Indian cinema history
Bipasha Basu and Neha linked to Raj Kundra’s 60 crore fraud case
Is Janhvi Kapoor going to be known as a one-hit wonder?
Abhi-Ash Separation Rumours Is Garbage
Anupamaa 17 Sept 2025 Written Update & Daily Discussions Thread
🏏T20 Asia Cup 2025: UAE vs Pak, 10th Match, Group A at Dubai🏏
Originally posted by: fairy_queen
These are the same critics that trashed TWMR and then had to change their reviews after seeing how popular the movie was 😆 They also trashed New York when it was getting standing applause in international film festivals. These critics are all old hacks that either can't say anything good about any movie (see raja sen, FirstPost) or write bad reviews if they don't get paid.
The last Bollywood outing to Pakistan, crafted by Kabir Khan, involved a nave lover of Hanuman, who was a little thick between the ears but had a lot of heart. Parts of Bajrangi Bhaijaan' were cheerfully subversive, cheeky, and fresh and helped us sail through the film.
The director is back with another fairy-tale of an Indian conquering the world (read the war-torn areas of the Middle East which are basically used as conduits to where the film wants to get; yes, Pakistan again) and this time around there is, disappointingly, no crackle, only fizz.
Not only is the telling of Phantom' tepid, the story itself seems to have been cobbled together from the adventures of Messrs Bond and Bourne and and several other worthies on the same much-trodden beat. We keep waiting for Daniyal Khan, played by Saif Ali Khan, to rev up the proceedings as he and his pretty fellow-traveller Nawaz Mistry (Katrina Kaif) shoot and scoot through gun-and-cordite filled streets of Beirut and Syria via Chicago, London and Mumbai. In vain.
*S-*, let's do this fast', says Ms Kaif at one point. And we find ourselves in whole-hearted agreement. Because what's a thriller for if it gives us time to breath? But the film feels sluggish as it goes about trying to paper over the jerky plot which seems to have been crafted by delusional hawks: those dastardly terrorists (actors playing David Headley and Haafiz err Harris' Saeed make an appearance) had killed hundreds of innocents in Mumbai, so lets just wade into that hostile neighbouring country, where nestle weapons-heavy Laskhar operatives, and blow em into smithereens.
That's what Daniyal, former Indian soldier out to regain lost honour, is set up for. And in the beginning there seems to be a faint hope that the Khans, director and star, will be able to pull off a rollicking let's-see-the- global- hot-spots- while- we- hunt down the bad guys. But that is soon dissipated when our hero is joined by our heroine, who adopts an all-knowing smirk on the spot, and whose air-brushed-ness remains intact whether she is jumping into open jeeps or bobbing in the ocean .
From here on, it is hard to take Phantom' seriously. It is also hard to believe that a director who seemed to have cracked the flight-of-fancy-rooted-in-reality streak that all such films need to have (I enjoyed most of Ek Tha Tiger' in which the beauteous Kaif is used much better and Salman the Man kicks butt), will stuff his latest with characters who spout worn jingoistic dialogue. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub's overtly blood-thirsty Indian intelligence agent being made to pump his fist at Daniyal's killing games is both questionable and troubling.
And that leaves us with Saif, clearly floundering after his past few duds, including Agent Vinod', which had him traverse some of the same territory. Maybe he can still stave off our enemies and save us. But it's not happening in this film. No siree.
Star Cast of Phantom: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sabyasachi Chakraberty
Director : Kabir Khan
One and a half stars.
Originally posted by: pallavi_
i want it go gt hit tag for katty..but now m scared
...reviews are pretty bad and krk predicted 25 crore lifetime
A scene from Phantom set in what is supposedly war-torn Syria tells you everything you need to know about the film.
Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan), a disgraced-Indian-Army officer-turned-covert-agent, has been tied to a chair and is getting his face bloodied by Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives. The latter are in touch with Pakistan's ISI, who need them to send across a video of Khan speaking so that they can verify who he is.
A bearded militant takes said video and attempts to send it via MMS. His phone informs him that it is unable to do so. He looks confused. At this point, a man standing next to him " not the one holding a smartphone, mind you " helpfully informs him that network in the area is down.
Because director Kabir Khan's latest release is set in a world where anything can happen and logic is as unwelcome as a drunken stranger at a funeral. So, no, phones don't tell you that there is no network in the area, just as receptionists at the Pakistan High Commission don't refuse your request to be connected to the High Commissioner himself, even though you're a random stranger calling from god-knows-where blabbering something about a murdered terrorist whose very existence their government has repeatedly denied.
This is Khan's second release in as many months after the phenomenally-receivedBajrangi Bhaijaan, which is currently the second-highest-grossing Indian film of all time. Although both films deal with India-Pakistan tensions, this one does its best to undo all the good work done by Bajrangi... (which I found facile but good-heartedly effective, if we don't attempt to set the bar too high) by being gung-ho about its dangerously idiotic premise: to take revenge for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks by sending one man to kill everyone accused of plotting those attacks. Because that will end well.
Patriotism is always an easy card to play, but it has to be done with care. Globalisation has ensured that the words us' and them' are inevitably meant to lose relevance in the context of nationalities, however painfully slow this process might be. Even so, perhaps there is nothing wrong with showing audiences a what if' scenario, as long as you take care to make to flesh all your characters out and present as many points of view as possible (Steven Spielberg's Munich comes to mind as a film that had achieved this quite competently in the mainstream thriller space).
Phantom, however, isn't interested one bit in any of these niceties, barring a couple of throwaway lines. From the get-go, it blazes through its feather-weight screenplay with dialogue that is only meant to be get us from one scene to the next. Never mind adding layers or dimensions to characters, the film treats most of its characters as props.
The depiction of the RAW team that comes up with the mission is almost hilariously offensive. Roy (Sabyasachi Chakrabarty), the chief of RAW, mysteriously goes against the government to execute a plan formulated by an eager-beaver rookie (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) in a matter of hours. Khan is recruited on somewhat shaky grounds and sent immediately to London (guess he got through Heathrow's immigration line in record time) to make contact with fellow-agent Nawaz Mistry (Katrina Kaif), a Parsi from South Africa who may have never left home without applying foundation.
If there's one thing Khan is good at, though, it's set-pieces and Phantom gives us the opportunity to see them unfold over several places across the world: Chicago, Syria, London, and Pakistan. A stand-out is a sequence involving the infamous David Coleman Headley, where editor Aarif Sheikh (who also employs some nifty cross-cutting in other sequences) keeps the proceedings appropriately taut; the rest of the time, though, he tears through scenes with furiously quick cuts to keep the pace deliberately breakneck " even though most of them don't really warrant it.
To be fair, even though impact is sacrificed for pace, the background score and the melodrama is considerably subtler than most commercial fare. However, this doesn't do anything to hide the film's complete lack of believability, beginning with the lacklustre performance by Khan, who goes through the motions struggling to find some depth in his poorly written character. His character's central struggle, which is said to haunt him to the point of being suicidal, shows only in his actions, not expressions.
Meanwhile, the less said about Kaif the better because she isn't, has never been, and " it's time to say it out loud because she's had over 10 years to prove us wrong " will probably never be a believable actress.
There are minor upsides here and there, such as a believable rally featuring the film's version of 26/11 master-mind Hafiz Sayeed (called Hariz Sayeed) and an engaging gun-battle in Syria. But for every such moment, there are several moments of near-imbecility. For instance, did you know that the guys at RAW get news that pertains directly to them from the Internet, just like you do?
By the time the climax showed up, featuring a not-so-subtle nod to Titanic, the film's lapses in logic, bad performances, and simplistic understanding of world politics had left me in a stupor. I never thought I'd say this, but it almost made me want to re-watch Bajrangi Bhaijaan.
http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2015/08/27/phantom-movie-review_n_8048164.html
No chance. Some are saying as low as 7Originally posted by: ElOqUeNcE
Any idea abt how mch it'll collect on day one...is 20cr possible
Phantom Movie Poster
Rating: 2/5 Stars (Two stars)
Star Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif
Director: Kabir Khan
What's Good: Phantom tries hard to keep you engaged in a tale you truly wish was true. Of course, the premise of the story coming from Mumbai Avengers is strong enough but not perfect.
What's Bad: Unfortunately, Kabir Khan relied on his two lead stars for this film to work. Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif, both seem misfits for their roles.
Loo Break: First half is a good time
Watch or Not?: Not a must watch! The film does not live up to its hype. This is like watching a different version of Baby just that the agenda is different now.
User Rating:
Fed up and humiliated by Pakistan's attacks on Indian soil and particularly the one that rocked Mumbai on 26/11, RAW decides to undertake a deadly unofficial mission. While the chief of RAW - Roy (Sabyasachi) is still not convinced, it is his sub-ordinate, Zeeshan Ayub's character that shows conviction towards the plan. They soon zero in on Daniyal Khan (Saif Ali Khan) a court-martialled army man to carry out their mission. Thus he takes off to London, Beirut, Syria and Pakistan hunting down each of the terrorists involved in the 26/11 mission. His only co-conspirer on this secret mission is Nawaz Mistry (Katrina Kaif) who is a witness to all the accused.
Katrina Kaif and Saif Ali Khan in a still from movie Phantom'
This fictitious tale with a mixture of realism makes an effort to come across as an edge-of-the-seat thriller but fails at keeping us glued to it. The sad part is that the coveted mission in the first place is not crafted brilliantly for us to marvel it. The whole concept of making the killings look like accidents doesn't work well. Not to mention, Kabir Khan keeps adding emotional tear-jerkers in between that completely kill the main plot theme. There are certain scenes where the suspense is maintained well. What does not really go well with the storyline is the fact that the mission is hardly kept a secret. At first, Daniyal himself exposes the mission to Nawaz who is actually not a part of it but only a reference for it. Later, Sumit (Zeeshan Ayyub) confesses the entire unofficial mission to a Naval officer again a wrong representation. The Indian Navy enters international waters without permission to save Daniyal and Nawaz in Pakistani waters which is a major error that is not justified at all. Also, Nawaz's reason for helping out Daniyal in the killings is so foolish that I almost laughed at it. She recounts a memory of her with her dad when they used to have tea at the Taj and hence she wants a revenge. Really? I have no words for that. Not to mention, in the second half the mission gets so predictable that the least you expect is a power packed end but what you get is an ultra emotional one. Not what I signed up for!
Saif Ali Khan really needs to get a grip of his career. He was not only a misfit as the romantic hero in Happy Ending but also in an action packed avatar, that does not impress either. Literally, the only expression Saif manages to give is raise an eyebrow. His dialogues are mono toned. He sadly is a complete misfit for this role.
Katrina Kaif as Nawaz Mistry is a mystery to me. What does her character do, take revenge for a childhood tea at Taj? Her dialogue delivery is weak and the only scene she impresses is where she fakes a pregnancy and it is completely funny. I don't see why she is Kabir's choice for this film.
Zeeshan Ayub turns out to be impressive amongst the supporting cast. However, his entry scene in the film is as though he is a ghost. He appears out of no where in his introductory scene.
Kabir Khan had managed to make a decent watch out of Ek Tha Tiger but with Phantom, I do not feel the same. What could have been a much wittier and slick action flick turns out to be a poorly plotted secret mission with an even unimpressive agent. Saif possess neither the charm of Bond nor the agility of Ethan Hunt (MI) both of whom are hailed to be the best under cover agents. But India gets an awkward Saif Ali Khan who can't even crack a patriotic dialogue with enough conviction. At first, Khan particularly messes up by showing a scene where Nawaz and Daniyal follow a suspect to his home. Their glances at each other are so obvious that even a toddler can tell something is cooking. That just shows the lack of wit and smartness required to pull off such a mission in the first place. The only thing Khan does full justice to in the film is its pace. It is gripping but the story and acting kills the excitement of its pace. The art direction is amazing for the Syria region that has been re-created. Music is also decently put but the only song that appeals is Afghan Jalebi. The climax is highly disappointing and cliched for a film that goes by the name Phantom.
Phantom has nothing extraordinary and satisfying about its revenge tale of 26/11. It is a pity that not one scene gives you a sadistic pleasure in seeing the suspects get killed. Those lazy to read Mumbai Avengers could watch it but mind you it is not half as intelligent. I am going with a 2/5 for this film.
https://youtu.be/zC3UbTf4qrM?si=iysnSJbJ0a1n4-R1
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG0hVNJz9R8/?igsh=MWgwd3lvNzJua2YxYg== 4 5 6 words
https://x.com/vivekagnihotri/status/1946940660067803443...
https://www.indiaforums.com/article/vash-level-2-review-a-rare-sequel-that-unsettles-in-the-best-way-and-lingers-long-after_226452...
https://x.com/UmairSandu/status/1954571916745794046
Current Affairs
10