On Pakistani Actors featuring in Indian Movies

(Originally published on FaceBook in Oct-16)
In recent weeks much has been spoken, shouted, written and done (in the form of physical action) over banning/boycotting employment of Pakistani actors, and their movies in India. There are compulsions as well as wrongs on both sides – the Pakistani actors and movie making Indians. The issue has been “resolved” after a Constitutional authority had to negotiate it simply to avoid violence in his state. Here are a few thoughts…

Firstly, let’s look at Pakistani’s unwritten policy towards India. Four wars on India by them have made it amply clear to them that they cannot defeat India in conventional warfare, in wars they have declared on us. So, decades ago the Pakistan Army decided to make export of mass murder a state policy. Since my childhood days to now, Indians have been killed – by bullets and bombs – in accordance with the policy of bleeding India with a “thousand cuts”. India being what it is, hasn’t taken a tough stand for decades. It’s another matter than powerful democracies in the western hemisphere issue statements of “condemnation”, which seem empty because those seem to be as far as these “natural allies” of India want to go. The UN is worried about crimes against women in an Indian state, but doesn’t seem to want to act against a terrorism exporting state. But let’s not divert from the main issue here.

Let’s say, if my country’s establishment would make export of terrorism its state policy to a specific country and would successfully execute it for 30 years (or even three years), as a human being I would be revolted, as an Indian I would be ashamed. I would be very uncomfortable even visiting that country. If I got the chance to visit it, I’d do so with a feeling of guilt and shame, even though I’m not directly responsible for what my country’s establishment does.

The situation here is that we have some Hindi movie czars and show organisers falling over each other to invite Pakistani actors/singers to work and earn (presumably big money) in India. When these performers do come to India, a section of Indian society gushes and drools all over them. On their part, the Pakistani performers publicly behave as if all is well between the two countries. Never have I heard any actor or singer utter a word of disapproval of their establishment’s policy. Some of them argue that art strengthens ties between the two countries. Well, the art they are exporting completely overshadows the mass murder their establishment is exporting. There is a just thin section of India that can afford to be in ‘Aman Ki Asha’ mode. For the rest, life can potentially be affected permanently by the main export from Pakistan.

Let’s try to understand the performers’ perspective. It’s reasonable to assume they are bothered by countless deaths caused by their country’s establishment. However, if they were to utter words of protest at Pakistan’s policy, their Pakistan-based families and friends may well face the bloody consequences of their stand. And after all, after they finish their shows or assignments in India, they will head back to Pakistan. The helpless govt will not be able to guarantee them safety for life.

Then we have the IMPPA which decided to “ban” the Pakistani actors. A ban can be imposed only by the govt. At most it can be called a boycott, but did they take their key vote before declaring it? Their house was divided, which became evident within 24 hours of this declaration.

Then we have Bollywood Royalty who declare that their hearts bleed for Uri victims. Are they not aware that the Uri attack was not the first by Pakistan’s army? Since the days when Punjab was burning 35 years ago, there have been countless terror attacks – direct and indirect – by Pakistan. So is it fair to assume that hearts are bleeding for Uri only because crazy amounts are spent in making movies and the movie makers simply want to earn from their investment. If their hearts indeed bleed for the Indian army, what has stopped these very visible and influential people from speaking a few words of appreciation for the Indian army that has protected our borders against a determined enemy for 69 years, faced countless bullets and lost countless heroes? Did it ever occur to them that a very small portion of the obscene amounts of money they earn could be donated for the welfare of families of martyred army men? But hearts seem to bleed only before the release of a big budget movie featuring Pakistani actors.

And that brings me to the peculiar animal in India’s political spectrum – the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Its owner (can I call him anything else?) brazenly defies the law and at every “lucrative” opportunity wants to be on its wrong side. Protests and disagreements are desirable in a democracy. They do not include smashing property and threatening. By pushing such a policy he is sowing more seeds of violence in the society he belongs to. What kind of nirman is this? Just yesterday we had this ridiculous situation of him arm-twisting Bollywood glitterati to contributing money for the Indian Army. Who in the govt or the army authorised him to negotiate on their behalf?! Bollywood Royalty agreed to this. But is this gesture from their hearts? Obviously not.

The Maharashtra CM too seems to have been compelled to play a role in this absurd spectacle of a failed politician (but successful troublemaker) bullying wealthy people into contributing money for the Indian army. One can see two perspective here - he’s been arm-twisted by the Head of a lawbreaking ‘sena’, and that he’s adopted a practical approach to avoid law and order problems in his state.

Lastly, it’s always fashionable to abuse the govt of the day, especially this govt, so we’ve seen silly statements against them. In reality, the Union govt has had no hand in this messy and ridiculous situation. They haven’t stopped issuing visas to the Pakistani performers, they haven’t directed IMPPA or any movie makers to stop employing Pakistani actors.

My father was born in Sindh and made a few trips to Pakistan in the nineties. He had friends from Pakistan – very warm people, talking to whom would make me feel that it should be very easy to have very good relations at an informal and personal level between the two countries. I’m sure the friendships some Hindi movie makers have from across the border are also real. And that’s welcome. In addition, the movie makers – they’re in the business of making big money by selling fantasies – see some of their friends from across the border as improving their chances for making money. So they simply pursue their business interests. There’s no law that prevents them from doing so (contrast this with Pakistani govt talking of banning Indian movies and performers). At the same time, movies in India influence masses in a big way. So, do these influential movie makers ever think along lines that beyond personal friendships and beyond the desire to make money, they could perhaps quietly express their disagreement with Pakistani establishment-sponsored terrorism by not packaging Pakistani actors as exotic gifts for Hindi movie watchers. No Indian law will ever compel Bollywood Royalty from doing so. But they survive and succeed because of us, so perhaps they could show more sensitivity towards Indian society, and a greater sense of responsibility towards their country.