The Pakistani authorities rejected to show Indian action thriller film Phantom in their theater, which resulted in the ban of the film in Pakistan. Now the film has got itself into another trouble as International charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has decided to take legal action against the Bollywood film’s producers stating that its misrepresentation of the medical group could put its aid workers deployed in conflict zones at risk.
According to sources, MSF said the film’s director Kabir Khan and producers Sajid Nadiadwala and Siddharth Roy Kapur had not been consulted about the content of the film and was not associated with it in any way.
Phantom is an Action-thriller, it was released on August 28 Which features Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif. The British-Indian actress Kaif played a role of an MSF aid worker who helps a disgraced Indian soldier, which was played by Saif Ali Khan to assassinate Pakistani militants accused of being behind the 2008 Mumbai assaults.
In promotional interviews for the film this week, Kaif was quoted as saying, “NGO workers have ties with local fanatical groups” in war-torn regions, without mentioning that many aid groups maintain strict neutrality in order to do their work safely.
Phantom Ban In Pakisthan
Kaif, who played the role of an MSF worker uses guns and other weapons in various scenes of the film. MSF authorities responded to the misrepresentation of the MSF aid worker in the film and says that the humanitarian agency had “a strict no guns policy” in all its clinics and did not employ armed guards.
“None of our staff would ever carry a gun. Any portrayal that suggests otherwise is dangerous, misleading and wrong,” MSF said in a statement late on Thursday. “We have contacted the film’s production team and are taking legal action in order to correct this dangerous misrepresentation of our organisation and its work.”
Phantom To Face Legal Actions From MSF
MSF has thousands of health workers in more than 70 countries, which includes doctors, nurses, surgeons, anaesthetists and psychiatrists. It was essential that the group was not misrepresented given the dangerous nature of their work, says MSF.
“The only way we can safely work in places such as Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen, where there is active fighting, is by explaining to every group on the ground that we are independent, neutral and impartial and interested only in providing medical care to people who need it,” told MSF.
“Any portrayal that suggests MSF does anything other than provide medical care could endanger our patients, staff, our ability to work in places where people might not otherwise have access to healthcare and undermine our reputation,” MSF added.