News Desk |
Indian actress Dia Mirza recently spoke about the ban on Pakistani artists working in Bollywood. The actress is set to make her comeback in a new web series called ‘Kaafir’, after last year’s appearance in ‘Sanju’. Mirza will portray a Pakistani-Kashmiri woman ‘Kainat’ in the series.
Mirza was speaking at the show’s launching ceremony in Mumbai and dissented from the ongoing ban imposed on Pakistani artists working in Bollywood. Currently, Pakistani actors are denied access to working opportunities in the Indian film industry.
She believes that art should not suffer due to political polarities between the two countries instead they must be recognized for their work beyond their respective national identities. Mirza emphasized how such wide distances and halts on any kind of communication are not healthy for the neighbouring countries.
“Art always suffers at the hands of fear… but also art is also reunited and refueled because of fear. I believe that these prejudices that have been imposed on us, not just take us away from our neighbours, it takes us away from ourselves,” Mirza said. “And when we deny ourselves the opportunity to communicate and exchange… we are only expressing to the world how fearful we are”, the actress maturely concluded.
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Bollywood ban on Pakistani artists
Though there had always been objections from various Indian singers like Sonu Nigam and Abhijeet over preferring Pakistani artists in the industry, it took a formal shape when a unanimous decision to ban Pakistani artists working in the industry was imposed by the ‘All India Cine Worker’s Association’, post-Pulwama attack.
Pakistani artists have been under the siege of the imposed ban since 2016. A similar ban was inflicted on Pakistani artists after the Uri attack on Indian armed forces. The Hindu extremist parties created a hostile environment for Pakistani celebrities such as Mahira Khan and Fawad Khan, who were awaiting their Bollywood releases ‘Raees’ and ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ respectively. The actors were barred from entering India for promotion of the movies due to security concerns.
It is quite rare for any Bollywood actor to express such a welcoming gesture for Pakistani celebrities. Actors like Ajay Devgan, Anupam Kher, Kajol, Kangana Ranaut, Akshay Kumar, Varun Dhawan and Raveena Tandon, all have expressed their bigotry towards Pakistani celebrities and stated how sending Pakistani celebrities back to their country can stop terrorism then the government should take that step.
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Other’s justified the ban by stating that Bollywood can express solidarity with their armed forces by protesting and supporting the ban. They also stated that this is not the time for cultural exchange and every kind of contact must be dissolved till Pakistan climbed to their demands.
Pakistani celebrities, including Ahsan Khan, Shafqat Amanat Ali and others, lashed out at the government of India for igniting hate over peace.
Now is there any hope for the restoration of peace between both countries when the artists, who are agents of people-to-people diplomacy, are themselves surrendering to political tensions, bigotry and hate?