ISLAMABAD: Twitter users in Pakistan have reacted with amusement after Bollywood actor Sidharth Malhotra shared the official trailer of his upcoming film, Mission Majnu, in which he acts as an Indian spy who is tasked by his government to identify Pakistan’s nuclear facility and “neutralize” it.
The teaser shows Indian officials consulting one another over Pakistan’s attempt to “illegally” build a bomb before making their one-man army – Malhotra – infiltrate its border to cure the neighboring state of its nuclear ambition.
What follows in the film, which claims to be “inspired by true events,” reflects limited understanding of Pakistan’s culture as the Indian spy tries to blend in by dressing in a stereotypical attire with an amulet around his neck.
“Such an important story to tell,” Pakistani Twitter user, Behram Qazi, said in a post. “Without the success of Mission Majnu, Pakistan would be a nuclear armed state today.”
Another Twitter user wondered if Pakistan had not tested its nuclear bomb only a few days after India detonated its device in 1998.
Reacting to the promo, Elliot Alderson juxtaposed Malhotra’s image with the picture of Kulbushan Jadhav, an Indian spy caught in an intelligence operation in Pakistan in March 2016 who remains in prison.
“Spy in fiction,” he wrote while labeling the two photographs. “Spy in real.”
Social media users also made fun of the Indian actor’s ostentatious, Lucknow-style Urdu and his attempt to appear as an “authentic” Pakistani Muslim.
Some Twitter users called Mission Majnu a failure while pointing out that Pakistan still managed to develop the bomb and joined the nuclear club.
The Bollywood film is due to be released on Netflix on 20th January.
