In less than a fortnight, it will be clear if Hindi cinema's hit machine, talented director Karan Johar, will have a seamless opening for his forthcoming blockbuster
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM), or if movie halls will be vandalized and the film taken off screens under pressure from radical groups. In a belated attempt to appease them, Johar has just made a jingoistic assertion that for him, it is always "India First".
Further, he has vowed not to engage Pakistani actors in his subsequent productions. It is not yet clear if his groveling stance will assuage the feelings of the naysayers. It is also a fact that on many occasions, such controversy is deliberately raked up by commercial rivals or even political groups with the aim of extortion. Ironically, pre-release controversy helps to generate heightened expectation about a film and thereby attracts more viewers at least in the initial weeks of a film's release.
But the issue involved in
ADHM is somewhat different. On the face of it, the "dispute" is a fall-out of tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Uri outrage and the subsequent surgical strikes by India across the Line of Control. The casting of a Pakistani star, apparently in a cameo role, gave a handle to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to launch its agitation demanding the film not be screened. This has since become a highly emotive issue with the film fraternity. Noted director Anurag Kashyap's trenchant tweet demanding to know if Prime Minister Narendra Modi had apologized to the people for his impromptu visit to Pakistan on Nawaz Sharif's birthday last year predictably invited a barrage of hostile criticism. Kashyap did a huge disservice to his compatriots by pitting himself and his supporters directly against the Prime Minister. The film-maker was rightly asked what gave him the right to question Narendra Modi in this manner as his comment smacked of politics and would have been more appropriate had it been made by an opposition leader.
With several other big-budget films, for instance Shah Rukh Khan's
Raees, featuring a Pakistani actress, ready for release, Mumbai's film industry is jittery as its equation with the government appears gravely unsettled. Although this is not the first time that the issue of Pakistani artists performing in India has caused controversy, the present one is the sharpest yet due to the background in which it has erupted. Strident demands have lately been made that India should henceforth deny visas to Pakistani performers and not allow them to work in this country. The case of Anupam Kher, a celebrated Indian actor who happens to be a Kashmiri Pandit and vocally champions their cause, is often cited in this context. He was denied a visa to visit Pakistan and although this was never formally stated, it was apparent that the reason for the denial was that Kher's views on Kashmir were unpalatable to the Pakistani Establishment. In any case, Indian actors are rarely invited to perform at Pakistani venues, leave alone work for their films.
There is an undercurrent of resentment in India that the much hyped people-to-people contact between the two countries works uniformly in Pakistan's favour. While Indian audiences swoon over Pakistani singers, especially ghazal exponents, and their TV serials are widely acclaimed here, Pakistan shows no reciprocity. Some years ago, singer Abhijeet said his Pakistani counterparts were freely working in India and thereby grabbing business that should rightfully come to Indian vocalists. Incidentally, in the aftermath of that controversy, Pakistani singer Adnan Sami decided to stay back here and recently obtained Indian citizenship. The upshot of these trends has resulted in mounting resentment against Pakistani artists and it was a matter of time before the dam burst.
Clearly there are two sides to the dispute. There is a fairly compelling argument that the hostilities between India and Pakistan are between the two governments and not the two peoples. Arguably therefore, greater cultural exchanges can only lead to better understanding and eventually reduce tensions. But there is also the more compelling argument that sporting encounters and cultural exchanges with a country that engages in relentless conflict and routinely kills our soldiers, is unacceptable to the Indian people. Despite the hysterical following cricket enjoys in both countries, we have not played against each other in a long time except occasionally on neutral venues. Similarly, Pakistani players are debarred from participating in the highly popular IPL matches and that boycott happened long before Uri.
That being the case, why should Pakistani film and TV artists have a free run in India? Karan Johar has said that when he engaged a Pakistani actor for
ADHM, relations between the two countries had not reached the depths they have in recent months. Perhaps he should have realized that ties between the two countries are so tenuous even at the best of times that it takes very little to snap. In other words, as long as cross-border terrorism continues from the Pakistani side, and the guilty of the 26/11 Mumbai massacre are not brought to book, India cannot pretend that normality can be restored on the playing field or in film studios.
Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and others such as the perennial Pakistan-
premi Mahesh Bhatt who have spoken eloquently in favour of Pakistani artists clearly underestimate India's collective angst. They must understand that till such time as Pakistan acts like a civilized country, follows recognized norms of international conduct, and ceases to foment insurgency in Kashmir, India cannot be magnanimous towards them. There is something frightfully odd about Pakistani artists trooping into India to amass personal wealth while their government and ISI are engaged in a proxy war against us. Arguably, however, we should not expect such artists to be unpatriotic and condemn their own government's policies, as demanded by some Indian leaders.
But what is most baffling is that Pakistani artists seem to have no qualms about working in India for the money they make here. It would be most appropriate for them to voluntarily withdraw from Indian films and TV serials, recognizing public sentiment in this country. Meanwhile, Indian film producers and music directors must refrain from engaging Pakistani nationals till such time as Pakistan accepts our preconditions for resumption of normalcy. There is more than enough talent in this country of 125 crore people; we don't need to hire more from a land teeming with jihadis and terrorists to entertain ourselves.
(Dr. Chandan Mitra is a journalist, currently Editor of The Pioneer Group of Publications. He is also former BJP MP, Rajya Sabha.)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.