Why Are Pakistani Artists Barred from Bollywood?

Mukesh Devrari

India has traditionally shown magnanimity towards Pakistanis, but that did not deter the Pakistani military from launching terror attacks in India. Just a decade ago, lots of Pakistani actors were working in the Hindi film industry. Some of them succeeded in entering the good books of large film production houses. Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan are notable examples. The former starred in three films and later worked opposite Shah Rukh Khan, arguably the biggest star in contemporary Indian cinema.

Some even believed Fawad Khan might replace Shah Rukh Khan. He was young, and someone like Karan Johar decided to promote him through his films, despite his tantrums, such as refusing to play the role of an Indian police officer in one project, because he had problems with wearing the clothes of an Indian police officer. Now comes the second question: why was he allowed to work in India until a specific date, and then banned afterward? The same applies to a singer, Atif Aslam, who was at the top at that time. 

The careers of these Pakistani artists were bombed by Islamic terrorists in the Kashmir valley. Pakistani actors, podcasters, journalists, and cinema enthusiasts still hope that they will get that opportunity. Still, none of them compromise their position that Indian Kashmir belongs to Pakistan, and all actions by the Pakistani state, including arming the Islamic terrorists to launch attacks on India, are justified. Without exception, they remain united in their hatred for India, though they want to benefit by working in the Indian film industry. Every failure of India in any field, be it the economy or geopolitics, fills them with joy. 

Pakistan cannot selectively choose areas of cooperation and conflict according to its interests. Either the entire gamut of bilateral relations would be normal, or it would remain abnormal—from trade to cinema to water-sharing agreements. It applies to everything. Bollywood holds significant power. There is no reason for Indians to allow artists from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to work in India. Due to the popularity of two Pakistani artists in India, some production houses want to cash in on it, as Pakistani artists are available at a very low price point. 

The reason is that Pakistan has no viable film industry. And they can never have a film industry either. Not because they are incapable, but because Pakistan is a highly radicalized Islamic society. It has only a hundred cinema screens left. Just imagine, 250 million people have only 100 screens. A couple of years ago, they had 200; now half of them have been closed, as there are not enough films available in the country that people want to watch.

Recently, despite the ban, an Indian film producer tried to release a film with Pakistani actor Fawad Khan. The film was about to be released, but the killing of 26 Hindus by Islamic terrorists dashed the hopes for any such possibility. Fawad Khan is still 44 years old. Soon, he will be in his 50s, and no other Pakistani male actor is widely recognized in India. It is next to impossible for anyone else to achieve what he did, primarily due to Karan Johar’s backing—arguably one of the most prestigious, if not the most influential, producers. The hold of traditional film production houses is also changing with the entry of major corporate houses in the filmmaking business.

Pakistanis never recognize this fundamental problem. They dismiss all attacks in places like Pahalgam as false-flag operations. The Pakistanis claim the Indians attack themselves, kill their own citizens, to defame Pakistan. They ignore the presence of camps of terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, which run training centres and prepare thousands of jihadis. The Pakistan army openly talks about giving training and weapons to Islamic terrorists operating in Kashmir. It describes attacks by terrorists as acts by freedom fighters, while India helplessly watches, their policy of bleeding India by a thousand cuts.  

They must understand they cannot hope to benefit from the affection and love of Indians while simultaneously attacking them. Because India is a soft state, it has failed to crush separatism the way China has done ruthlessly in Xinjiang. In short, until Pakistan stops supporting terrorism in Kashmir, no Pakistani film can be released in India, nor would any artist be allowed to work here.

This decision of normalization Pakistan has to make, not India. And abusing Modi would not help their case. Modi allowed Pakistanis to work in Indian cinema in his first tenure, went to Pakistan uninvited, and allowed Pakistani investigators to come to India to see the attacks on the Indian airbase in Pathankot. What did Modi get in return? He changed gears and rightfully retaliated against terror attacks. His policy of military retaliation would continue on a much bigger scale. India generally welcomes talent from around the world. Anyone who works in the Indian film industry enriches our cinema. 

Just abusing Indians on television channels and podcasts might please the radicalized Muslim population in Pakistan. Still, the change in this very mindset of justifying Islamic terrorism and the madness of seizing Indian Kashmir must end in Pakistan, for the normalization of things. However, Pakistanis have no genuine interest in it. They just want to benefit by releasing their dramas and films in India, while continuing to support jihadi activities in Kashmir and justifying Islamic terrorism.

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