When Beirut 'Army' Mistaken 'Phantom' Shoot Was 'Real'

By Ritiuka Chauhan | Mumbai

"The first day of shooting turned out to be exciting for Saif and Katrina. The set looked so real, that the army thought a real rebellious movement was going on. Soon their planes started circulating above the set", narrated Director Kabir Khan for his upcoming film 'Phantom'.

When he based a part of his film, Phantom, in Beirut and Syria, director Kabir Khan was aware that shooting in these strife-torn locations would be a sensitive matter. And on the first day of shoot itself, his hunch came true as it turned out to be extremely dramatic for the entire unit of the film.
Getting permission to shoot at these places is not that difficult as one may think. It doesn't take more than a few weeks to get them, but to be on the safe side, the director had started the procedure six months before the shoot. "Interestingly, the infrastructure for film shoots here is surprisingly good as a lot of television commercials for the middle East are shot in Beirut, so the required equipment is easily available," said Khan.

The shooting was on a huge refugee camp created on the Syria- Lebanon border which was about about half-an-hour's drive from Lebanon. "There were about 400 locals dressed as rebel soldiers and a movement of about 25 trucks and jeeps for the sequence. Being a massive set-up it attracted a lot of attention," said the director.

The first day of shooting for Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif turned out to be the most exciting. The set looked so real, that the army thinking a real rebellious movement was going on started circulating in their planes above the set. "When I asked the locals, they told us that this was a practice if the Syrians thought something suspicious was happening. But thankfully there was no firing as we clarified that it was a shoot and we had the required permissions to shoot. However, both Saif and Katrina thought the first day was rather exciting," he said.

A drama-thriller based on facts and extended into fiction, the film will be shot in two more international locations; the US and the UK followed by one schedule in Kashmir in January. Before that, however, some indoor scenes will be canned shot in Mumbai this month. Phantom is produced by Sajid Nadiadwala.