It’s not a political secret, the worsening ties between India and Pakistan. Switch to a news channel, read the papers or surf online, it’s a developing story that is gaining traction worldwide. Urging for normalcy feels like a distant, unreachable dream. But what is disturbing and deeply troubling is this alarmingly meteoric, unstoppable descent into madness, where artists are being attacked on both sides of the border, not just by agents of extremist forces but also by each other, all in the name of nationalistic pride. This division, laced with rhetoric heard all too often, is not only unfortunate but points to a larger picture, where jingoism is the order of the day, week, year and century.
The story begins with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena aka MNS, one of shining India’s worst kept dirty secret who announced an ultimatum against Pakistani artists and asked them to leave within 48 hours or get beaten up. This was followed up by a ban by the Indian Motion Pictures’ Artists Association (IMPPA) on Pakistani artists including actors, technicians and musicians until further notice.
Those who had the courage to speak up for Pakistani artists such as Karan Johar, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Nagesh Kukunoor, Om Puri, Ranbir Kapoor, Salman Khan, Mahesh Bhatt were eviscerated, not just by the press and the public or by Internet trolls but by industry insiders. While hate-mongering singer Abhijeet and Nana Patekar took direct swings at these proponents of peace, others who supported this ban by IMPPA include names like Anupem Kher, Madhur Bhandarkar and Randeep Hooda.
The fate of films like Raees (which will mark Mahira Khan’s Bollywood debut opposite King Khan) and the upcoming all-starrer Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (which features Fawad Khan) is also unknown since MNS has threatened to stall its release until Pakistani actors are omitted or replaced.
Meanwhile Pakistani dramas have been taken off-air by Zee Zindagi. Defending this move, Zee head honcho Subhash Chandra said on the issue: "love can’t be one-sided". The decision was costly since Zindagi "has about 300 hours of programming which they bought for around Rs 60 crore". Its also been said that no Pakistani contestants or artists will be featured in any of Zee’s reality show(s).
The domino effect of these moves can be seen in Pakistan; Bollywood films have been removed from cinemas and PEMRA’s crackdown against excessive foreign content on cable and TV as well as the upcoming ban on all Indian channels from October 15 has been announced.
Given all this, it’s palpable that dispassion and logic has been replaced with aggression and one-sided sentiment. The question staring us all in the face is this: what’s the next move after imposing a ban on cultural exchange? How does it solve anything? Combating terrorism by banning cultural superheroes makes little sense, a fact that is thankfully not lost on the artist community right here at home.
While there are always those, such as Shaan Shahid, who are calling for the heads of their colleagues for not openly condemning India, others have taken a more constructive look at this problem. A case in point is actor and director Jamal Shah who, while speaking to Instep, noted that this whole episode is an unfortunate mess and artists are vulnerable right now.
"I think its unfortunate what’s happening and its been mishandled by Indians," Shah told Instep in a telephonic interview. "When Pakistani artists go to India, it’s for a tangible reason; they are invited, whether it’s musicians or actors. But this belligerent attack on them has left the artist community feeling vulnerable. Had I been in their place, what I would do is donate whatever money I made (and I don’t think it’s a lot) from films or endorsements in India and donate it to a film-based charity there, thank the saner elements for their support and come back home.
This hostility is the livelihood of extremist forces who thrive on intolerance and wouldn’t know what to do without it. That said, when artists like Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah or Gulzar visit Pakistan, they are made to feel welcome by saner elements within civil society.
"As for Indian films playing at cinemas, they leave local filmmakers at a disadvantage because Indian content is sought after but the result is obscure placement for Pakistani films, which needs to change. Pakistani films should be awarded respectable space.
"Cinemas pulling out Bollywood films can also be a result of the fear of hooliganism and destruction. I don’t support the ban but beyond advocacy, what can you do? The Pakistani government, in this context, must be applauded for not reacting hastily and placing any bans whatsoever."
The last point made by Shah has enormous significance. Though the government in Pakistan is uncaring and employs indifference towards the arts and culture community, they have not placed an official ban on anything, which is perhaps the only silver lining.
Actor and producer Humayun Saeed, who is riding the new wave of cinema with great success, also took a less jingoistic look at the matter. In an interview with BBC Urdu, he pointed out the importance of Bollywood in the context of business.
"Pakistan’s film industry is not ready to run cinemas on its own as cinemas need at least one film a week and the local industry produces only a few films each year. Our local film industry needs some support at the moment," he said. "Showing only local content and removing Bollywood films on Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha works better but these films should not be banned all year long."
Representing the plight of the music industry that has been questioned, on and off, for years about why they perform or sing for films in India, music’s unsung superhero, Mekaal Hasan explained the matter with great clarity.
Speaking to Instep over the phone, Hasan noted, "We were attacked twice in India, once in Ahmedabad and once in Mumbai. But as we said then to the foreign and Indian media (and still maintain) we are not interested in painting all of India with the same brush. Negativity and inflammatory news is encouraged and if the media is paying so much attention to the views of right-wing forces who have hijacked a nation’s narrative, where does that leave us?
"One cannot go to India without an invitation nor has anyone broken a law. It’s unfair to demonize an entire country based on the view of extremist forces. It is unfair to take out political frustrations on artists.
"It’s easy to impose bans on everything but people often ask why Pakistani artists go to India; it’s because the government right here at home doesn’t care for the arts and culture. With a 65 per cent tax levied on entertainment, how is one supposed to host a show. With the cost of the hall, the band as well other factors, you do the math. So if you don‘t want artists to travel across the border, you have to make it feasible for the domestic industry to operate here. Until this tax isn’t removed, artists won’t have an incentive to play. This kind of discriminatory policy should be revoked because there are no miracles that will happen overnight.
"In India, the policies are supportive of the arts. In small clubs, in bars, in colleges, there is music happening all over the place. So while it’s convenient to place bans or hold the view that artists shouldn’t cross the border, unless the local industry is not developed, it remains unfeasible. Having said that, I (and my fellow Pakistani members)don’t want to go to any country where oursecurity is at risk either,so we’ve been exploring other territories like North America in order to continue playing music"
In a telling opinion piece published in Deccan Chronicle, Sidharth Bhatia pointed out the silver lining hiding underneath all this mess.
"Officially, the government is not advocating that Pakistani actors should leave," he wrote and added that MNS "is slowly sinking into irrelevance and needs high-profile controversies to keep itself going" and the "IMPPA really doesn’t carry much weight and the big guns, like Karan Johar and Shah Rukh, in whose films the two Pakistanis were acting, will not bother too much about what the body says."
In the end, one cannot deny the loss of life, the unthinkable, unquantifiable pain felt by the people of Kashmir or those who have been displaced consequently by the activity on the borders; they are the ones truly caught up in a no-win situation. But using their plight to thwart forces of positivity in a world already dominated by hate and war-drenched narrative will only isolate the voices of sanity on both sides who do not want war.
Cultural exchange is therefore not just an abstract idea. It is the ‘only’ way forward and must be allowed to continue to combat the delusion ‘that they are the enemy’, the generational bias we grow up with, where hating your neighboring country is passed down like a generation heirloom and is sign of unflinching patriotism. Think about it from a non-binary approach, it really isn’t.
Footnote: This is a devloping story.