After Salman Khan, now Om Puri backs Pakistan artistes

Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association had earlier carried out a temporary ban on all Pakistani actors working in Indian cinema

The temporary ban on Pakistani actors in Bollywood seems to be creating more than just a hiatus as several A-listers including veteran actor Om Puri have openly opposed the move.

65-year-old Puri attended a debate on a national news channel during which he firmly backed the artistes from the other side of the border and said that he would continue to work with them.

The Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association, popularly known as IMPPA, had earlier carried out a temporary ban on all Pakistani actors working in Indian cinema. This came in the wake of the killing of 19 Indian soldiers in Uri, Jammu and Kashmir.

As the anchor quizzed the veteran actor on his thoughts on continuous proxy war on the part of Pakistan, he retorted and said, "Ask the government to cancel their visas."

When asked as to why he is supporting Salman Khan's statement on Pakistani actors being "artistes not terrorists," Puri replied, "You want India-Pakistan to be turned into Israel and Palestine and indulge in a fight for centuries."

"It is not merely a division of the country; it is the partition of families. Our country houses 22 crore Muslims and they have their relatives on the other side and vice versa. India has the second largest population of Muslims in the world," he said.