Redefining patriotism

The thawing of ties between the Indian government and its Pakistan counterpart might take a while but the people of both countries must continue to have opportunities for cultural exchange. It would be foolish to have global aspirations and not engage with our own neighbour. While the Internet enables Indians and Pakistanis to connect easily, bypassing the demands of the visa regime, nothing compares with the joy of meeting someone in person.

A few weeks ago, a Division Bench of Justice Sunil B Shukre and Justice Firdosh P Pooniwalla at the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition that sought a ban on Indian citizens, companies, firms, and associations keen to work with Pakistani artists, including cine workers, singers, musicians, lyricists, and technicians. This petition was filed by Faaiz Anwar Qureshi, who describes himself as cine worker, artist, lyricist, and film producer, and owner of a music studio. In addition to the ban, he had appealed for a prohibition on granting visas for Pakistani artists as they might deprive Indians of jobs.

The judges not only quashed this plea, but also used the verdict to make a statement in support of people-to-people contact between Indians and Pakistanis. They said: “One must understand that in order to be a patriot, one need not be inimical to those from abroad, especially, from the neighbouring country.” According to them, initiatives that have to do with art, music, sport, culture, and dance “rise above nationalities, cultures and nations and truly bring about peace, (tranquillity), unity and harmony in nation and between nations”.

After hosting the Pakistani cricketers at the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, it is time for India to warmly welcome Pakistani talent in our films once again. The judges have clarified that bans, resolutions, and warnings issued by the All Indian Cine Workers Association, the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association, the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees, and the Cinema Wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena do not hold any statutory force.

Indian filmmakers who want to cast Pakistani actors or record music with Pakistani singers are free to do so but non-state actors can create trouble and hence the court’s verdict needs to be backed by political will, law-enforcement agencies, and people from the film industry. The fear of being trolled online, called anti-national, and physically attacked is a big deterrent.

In an environment wherein people have to be over-cautious about what they say, filmmaker Onir has been speaking consistently in favour of cross-border collaboration between Indians and Pakistanis who work in films. In his memoir I Am Onir, And I Am Gay (2022), published by Penguin Random House India, Onir writes about his multiple visits to Pakistan to show his films, talk about his work, and be part of events meant to foster goodwill and friendship.

On one such trip, when he was in Karachi along with actor Shabana Azmi for the Sindh Festival, politician Bilawal Bhutto sent nihari and naan to their hotel as a gesture of hospitality. Onir recalls: “It was truly delicious, but the quantity could have fed ten people.”

In both countries, there are people who want to keep hostilities alive and people who want to let bygones be bygones so that we can have a brighter future to look forward to.

In the book Radio for the Millions: Hindi-Urdu Broadcasting Across Borders (2023), published by Columbia University Press, historian Isabel Huacuja Alonso reminds us that Radio Pakistan had “curbed its broadcasts of Hindi film songs” after the war with India in 1965. A radio listener was so upset with this decision that he wrote an elaborate piece in a Pakistani newspaper to argue that Radio Pakistan “should at the very least broadcast pre-Partition Hindi film songs” because India and Pakistan were not separate countries back then.

Qureshi, who is anxious about the possibility of Pakistanis stealing jobs from Indians, might want to remember that Indian cinema has been greatly enriched by the contributions of Pakistanis such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Zeba Bakhtiar, Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Ali Zafar, Salman Ahmad, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, and Shafqat Amanat Ali.

In his book The Other Side of the Divide: A Journey into the Heart of Pakistan (2020), published by Ebury Press, Indian journalist Sameer Arshad Khatlani recalls attending the premiere of Vijay Krishna Acharya’s Bollywood film Dhoom 3 (2013), starring Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Jackie Shroff, Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra, at a multiplex in Lahore.

He argues: “Conflict resolution by tapping into shared culture and art is the lowest-hanging fruit. Art has been among the few common grounds between the two; a glue that has bound them together even in the worst of times.” The Bombay High Court has sent out a strong and timely message sharing this very sentiment, and Indian filmmakers must follow suit.