The release of spy thriller Mission Majnu’s trailer kickstarted a debate on Pakistan and Muslims viewed through the lens of the Indian cinema. Termed a “propaganda” film, it was heavily criticised by Pakistani netizens. Some 10 days later, the film premiered on Netflix and Pakistani Twitter is bubbling with confusion to see it topping the trending movies list in Pakistan on the streaming site.
Mission Majnu released on Friday and judging by its placement in the top trends, it has made it to a lot of people’s weekend plans. Be it to verify the nature of the film or to troll it some more, Pakistanis are watching it and airing their opinions on Twitter. Whilst some are calling it out for “distortion” of facts and “transliteration”, others are leaving a PSA, saying that it should, at the very least, be streamed on a third party site, to avoid giving the film more views.
Twitter users are attaching screenshots from the film to talk about the “transliteration”.
Even Indians are tagging Netflix India to offer translation corrections.
Pakistani netizens think the film has strayed far from reality and is too focused on a certain rhetoric.
While they don’t understand why Pakistanis are watching the film at all, they want to avoid hiking up the viewership.
No matter what happens, the meme brigade never sleeps.
Silver lining?
Have you watched Mission Majnu?
Pakistanis may be watching Bollywood’s Mission Majnu but it’s not because it’s good