While Delhi became Lahore for Mira Nair’s ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’, a small town in Punjab, Malerkotla, now resembles the neighbouring country for Kabir Khan’s spy thriller, Phantom, starring Katrina Kaif and Saif Ali Khan. About two years back, American filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow used Chandigarh and other places in Punjab to recreate Pakistan for her film Zero Dark Thirty. The director had transformed certain pockets of various cities in Punjab into a mini Pakistan to match with the script. And now, Malerkotla is turning out to be the perfect backdrop for the Pakistani scenes of Phantom. Some action-filled sequences were captured in the area on Tuesday and Wednesday, with one highlighting a chase between cops and a criminal.
The old markets of Malerkotla, Moti Bazaar and Daana Mandi were spruced up, and signboards of some shops were replaced with Urdu ones, creating a bustling Pakistani market. Katrina and Saif slipped into traditional clothes, essaying the role of spies in the film.
The film is about the post 26/11 scenario and global terrorism, and the script demanded scenes showing Pakistan. “We had no option but to do this,” a source said. The line producer of the movie, Darshan Aulakh, said, “Everything is being done keeping in mind the script of the movie.” According to sources, the scenes being shot in Punjab highlight the plight of the secret agents, who rush to the rural belt of Pakistan to avoid getting caught by the Pak police. “Saif and Katrina have taken lessons in Arabic and Persian for the movie,” a source said.
The terrorism drama has also been extensively shot in Beirut and Kashmir. “Some action sequences will be shot on the outskirts of Chandigarh too,” a source said. We hear the ongoing schedule, which will be for 10 more days, is the final one and the shooting will end with this.
