The ‘Phantom’ effect

Phantom bared the blatant misogyny that is prevalent in Pakistani society

As an Indian, I will go on record to state that Pakistan was as right in banning Phantom as the Arab countries were in banning Borat and Iran was in suing the makers of Argo. Phantom, which makes Hafiz Saeed look (and feel) bad, was rejected by the Pakistani censors. After all, no nation wants to be reminded of its bitter and uncomfortable truths by another; especially not by a neighbour. That is a blow to the ego. What was disturbing though was a Pakistani television presenter’s reaction to Saif Ali Khan’s statement that he doesn’t have faith in Pakistan. By all means, express your disappointment but do so in a manner that doesn’t smack of gutter. Faisal Qureshi broke into an obnoxious and delusional rant in an online video, as tacky as his comments. I wish he had kept his diatribe terse and to the point — the way Saif had done. Instead, in a not-so-sparkling display of his peculiar English accent and effete mannerisms, he moved way beyond the film to squander 12 precious minutes of his life and devote them to India (or “anda” as he called it) — bashing, which entailed gibberish about Pakistanis consuming Bollywood movies in pirated form to deliberately destroy the Indian economy!

He stooped lower as he hit below the belt by calling Saif “sahiba”, “bachi” and “beti”, including a remark that “little girls don’t stay awake after 8pm, and if they do, they don’t watch films like James Bond and Mission Impossible”. Someone remind Qureshi “sahib” that in the past, his own countrymen have hugely patronised “sahiba” and turned some of his “naalayak” and “naajayaz” films into money-spinners that earned infinitely more than most Pakistan-grown products. Qureshi’s video is as disturbing for its obvious sexism and misogynistic overtones as it is for trying hard to be witty and sardonic, but falling flat as a piece of lame jingoism. His garbled hate speech is an example of the hollow pugnacity and chest-thumping that is fuelled less by a real argument and more by a misguided notion of patriotism that is only exacerbating matters between the warring neighbours.

Joining the ranks of Qureshi sahib, Hamza Ali Abbasi and Shaan Shahid, while sticking to the moot issue, forgot that watching a movie that’s against one’s country doesn’t make one any less patriotic. Abbasi said that he was losing faith in India (considering that more than half the industry he belongs to would briskly discard such national pride to catch the first flight to Mumbai if an acting opportunity came their way), while Shaan heaped anathemas on a certain Mawra Hocane who had dared to suggest that the viewing public were mature enough to decide for themselves if they wanted to consume Phantom or not. How dare a woman air her independent thoughts and not subscribe to his narrow-minded notion of nationalism! Interestingly, Shaan, who proclaims to be against anti-Pakistan films, has no issues about having featured in an anti-India film like Waar. In this circus of clowns, my heart goes out to Mawra, who seems incredibly measured, and has come out sounding and looking more mature than the 22-year-old she is. She stood her own despite inviting the unfounded wrath of two men — a fading superstar and a self-proclaimed public figure, Ashraf Chaudhary, who called her a “slut” on social media.

Even as Phantom bares the blatant misogyny that is prevalent in Pakistani society, a video released by Pakistani director Sohail Javed comes as a breath of fresh air. He is intrepid to slam hate-mongers for falling to appalling levels and adds rightly that it would only widen the existing divides. Sadly, stars like Javed and his ilk are in a minority.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd,  2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.