Phantom of the Jihadis: Pakistan’s Bollywood Anxieties

A Pakistani court banned the screening of Phantom even through petitioner Hafiz Saeed did not even watch the film

In Pakistan, state and non-state actors alike appear to be more worried about Bollywood’s latest offerings than NSA Ajit Doval’s latest dossiers.

Or else why would LeT chief Hafiz Saeed move court seeking a ban on Kabir Khan directed ‘Phantom’ even before watching it? And why would the court accept his plea and ban the screening when the judges have no idea what the film contains?

Bollywood offerings like ‘Zameen’ and ‘Baby’ and now ‘Phantom’ supplement India’s campaign to project Pakistan as a terror-sponsoring nation. It substantiates that image rather effectively at the level of mass perception, and since Bollywood is popular in Pakistan, that would really hurt.

‘Zameen’, starring Ajay Devgan and Abhishek Bachchan, was based on the 1999 Kandahar hijack. In some ways, it is India’s answer to ‘Rambo’. Devgan and Bachchan do for India what Stallone did for the US – turn real defeat on ground into celluloid victory.

Dreading Bollywood’s Hard Power

• Row over ‘Phantom’ in Pakistan substantiates the argument that Bollywood might have far-reaching impact
• Hard power of Bollywood to influence people dreaded by generals in Rawalpindi
• Indian films seen as part of a strategy deployed to defame Pakistan as terror-sponsors

Culture of Bravado

That may encourage a culture of bravado and lead to claims on what has not been achieved – something one got to see during the Indian para-commando raids inside Myanmar.

But these films, with all their make-belief exploits, do help a nation, reeling from blows like 1999 Kandahar or 2008 Mumbai, recover a sense of lost pride, seeking solace in heroes like Constable Tukaram Omble who died, but did not let Ajmal Kasab get away.

They help divert the attention from the real defeats – failure to stop flight IC-814 at Amritsar or do an Entebbe at Kandahar or the failure to prevent the terror attack on Mumbai despite timely warnings by RAW.

If ‘Zameen’ was about a commando raid that never happened and ‘Baby’ was about the abduction of a Hafiz Saeed which is almost impossible, ‘Phantom’ is about Mumbai 26/11 and I have not watched the film as yet to figure out the make belief element in it.

What Worries Pakistan?

But why are the brave people of Pakistan, who twirl their moustache and threaten a nuclear attack during TV duels, so worried over ‘Phantom’?

Why is Saeed, the ultimate in jihad, seeking a ban on ‘Phantom’ in a desperate bid to prevent Pakistanis from watching the film? If kafirs are supposed to die by the dozens in jihad, why should Saeed worry about Mumbai on screen? Mumbai was a jihadi success of the kind propounded by Saeed and his accomplices from the safety of their ISI safehouses – so why worry if Pakistanis get to watch it?

There hangs a tale, the huge contradiction of Pakistan, a state born of hate and bigoted religiosity that broke up as linguistic fissures spun out of control, a state which sponsored terror as an instrument of state policy and is now the worst victim of it.

Pakistanis who suffer the loss of near and dear ones in terror strikes are fast losing patience with the likes of Saeed who put on a benevolent face with their social work through Jamaat-ud-Dawa or Falah Insaniyat Foundation, both not-so-well concealed LeT fronts.

‘Phantom’ would be a hit with the Pakistani masses as much as ‘Bajrangi Bhaijan’ was or ‘PK’ was in China. When Bollywood builds India’s benign image elsewhere in the world, it is seen as soft power.

Hard Power for Rawalpindi

But when Bollywood threatens to make friends and influence people in Pakistan, it is seen by the generals in Rawalpindi as hard power.

So ISI spymasters who run the likes of Saeed and Lakhvi have good reasons to worry over ‘Phantom’ which would have entered the Pakistani market just after ‘Bajrangi Bhaijan’.

They see the Bollywood offerings as part of a massive PsyOps (psychological operations), as part of India’s campaign to defame them as terror-sponsors in the world and in the eyes of their own people.

Operation Jackpot

We need a Bollywood film that would showcase in dramatic celluloid terms the victory of 1971 as a victory for both India and Bangladesh – not only because it would hit the Pakistan military where it would hurt most but also because it would help India gain a diplomatic victory in the East denied to it in the West.

Bangladesh can always be the alternative to Pakistan for India in more ways than one for its many successes against Pakistan’s many failures and for its friendly attitude when Sheikh Hasina is in power.

If anyone is looking for a script, there’s one to offer – ‘Operation Jackpot’ – on the night of August 14, 1971, when four groups of Bengali naval commandos trained by Indian instructors stuck limpet mines and destroyed 57 vessels of various kinds in four ports of East Pakistan.

This will be Bollywood’s ‘Guns of Navaronne’ and a stern reminder to Pakistan that local assets to do a ‘Jackpot’ in Karachi and Gwadar would not be so difficult to find.

(The writer, a veteran BBC correspondent, is author of two highly acclaimed books on Northeast India – “Insurgent Crossfire” and “Troubled Periphery”.)