Decrying the decision of entertaining a wanted terrorist’s petition, ‘Phantom’s lead actor, Saif Ali Khan said: “I find it funny. That a wanted terrorist can go to court is ridiculous.”
Mumbai terror attack mastermind, Hafiz Saeed’s decision to petition a High Court in Pakistan demanding a blanket ban of Kabir Khan’s upcoming Bollywood thriller Phantom in Pakistan and the court’s subsequent decision to hear and issue notices to the Pakistani government and their Censor board has not gone down well with the makers of the movie.
Decrying the decision of entertaining a wanted terrorist’s petition, lead actor of the movie, Saif Ali Khan said: “I find it funny that a wanted terrorist can go to court is ridiculous.”
The ‘Phantom’ team organised a press conference here on Tuesday to address the issue. “Nobody is against Pakistan or their religion, but this is a different subject and Kabir has treated it in a nice way. I feel that the people should see the film before passing judgement,” Saif Ali Khan stated.
Saif said that it didn’t come as a surprise to him at all. “I expected it to be banned. It’s based on a real case of 26/11. Whenever films with such political background are made, things happen. So, I was not surprised at all.”
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The actor, who has relatives in Pakistan, along with director Kabir Khan made it clear that Saeed doesn’t represent Pakistan or its people’s voice. “A lot of us who have families dating back to pre-Independence and pre-Partition would have families in Pakistan, especially Muslims. My family would also not like to do any film that bashes any community… nobody is interested in bashing Pakistan,” he said.
Saif Ali Khan also said the film is based on facts and everybody knows who is responsible for 26/11 terror attacks. “The film is based on facts and everybody knows what happened during 26/11 and everybody knows who is responsible for the same. We all know that terrorists are hiding in Pakistan, so why shouldn’t we accept it? Why should we just make films on fictitious events?
“We know what the reality is. Is this a secret? Why can’t we say this in open? Aren’t there people who are dead for Indians but residing in Pakistan. You all know that right?” Saif said.
In the past, Saif did films like “Agent Vinod” and “Kurbaan” which had terrorism as a subject. “I am attracted to such scripts (“Agent Vinod”, Phantom”). I was happy that Sajid offered me the film. A great producer and a great director team has really made me realise my dream,”Saif added.
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