Photo: Disney-UTV
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
By Neeraj Nanda from Mumbai.
UTV’s new thriller ‘Phantom’ directed by Kabir Khan based on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks starring Saif Ali Khan & Katrina Kaif will hit the silver screen in Australia on the 28th of August by Mind Blowing Films. On the 27th of August, a day before the official release, the movie will be screened as the closing event of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2015 at the Hoyts cinema, Melbourne Central. I flew to Mumbai earlier and caught up with Katrina Kaif at the iconic Mehboob Studios, Bandra (West). A relaxed but alert Katrina answered my questions with ease.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Why is the movie called ‘Phantom’?
A: Phantom is a ghost which comes, gives and vanishes. No one knows where it goes. Similarly, no one is meant to know when and what happened to the covert mission in the movie.
Q: What’s your role in the movie?
A: I play a RAW (Research & Analysis Wing) agent who has abandoned her life behind and moved on. This instigates her to a dangerous mission.
Q: Why do you call it a dangerous mission?
A: Because it goes to a conflict zone, involved in violence and there is lots of action.
Q: The movie was also shot in Lebanon?
A: That’s a beautiful country with rugged landscape. I work there in a refugee camp.
Q: It’s being said that the movie has a ‘sensitive’ subject. What’s sensitive about it?
A: The backdrop is 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Director Kabir Khan does not hurt anyone’s sentiments. Facts are facts. One individual does not represent the country. All care has been taken about the subject.
Q: Tell me more about the shooting?
A: Everything was interesting during the shoots. In fact, it was a mission to shoot the movie.
Q: What’s the movie’s message?
A: The movie sympathises with people paying the price of a country’s bad impression. It cannot be blamed for an individual’s act. These elements are in many countries.
Q: Is the film a tribute to the victims of terrorism?
A: Maybe, yes.
Q: How was it working with Saif Ali Khan?
A: Very nice. He is intelligent and does things intensely. He talks about everything including cinema and politics.
Q: How would you describe ‘Phantom”?
A: It’s a thriller and very intense. We wanted it to be like that.
– SAT News Service.
