Pakistani actors Fawad, Mahira removed from Bollywood posters, albums

Pakistani actors Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan and Mawra Hocane have been removed from the posters of their Hindi films on music streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube Music. This comes amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan.

 

On Monday, users noticed that Mawra Hocane's image had been removed from the Sanam Teri Kasam album cover. Only Harshvardhan Rane remains visible on the poster.

 

A similar change was made to the album cover of Shah Rukh Khan’s film Raees. The original poster featured both Shah Rukh and Mahira Khan. It now shows only Shah Rukh Khan, with Mahira's image removed.

 

 

In addition, the song Buddhu Sa Mann from Kapoor & Sons, which features Fawad Khan alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt, is no longer available on YouTube in India. A message appears stating: “Video unavailable. The uploader has not made this video available in your country.” The song was posted by Sony Music India. The poster for the song has also been edited to remove Fawad Khan.

 

However, the poster of Khoobsurat, which stars Sonam Kapoor and Fawad Khan, has not been changed so far. 

 

Mawra Hocane has also been removed from the album covers of Sanam Teri Kasam on both Spotify and YouTube Music. The film’s producer Deepak Mukut said he was not informed about the change. “They didn’t ask me, it’s their decision. Whatever our government says, everyone has to follow,” he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

 

Harshvardhan Rane also reacted to the change. He said, “Now they will say that my PR team got this done! No, it’s again common sense I assume, weeding is being exercised.”

 

These removals are being seen as part of a wider move to reduce the presence of Pakistani artists in Indian content. This comes after the recent terror attacks in Pahalgam, which led to India launching Operation Sindoor. The operation targeted nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

 

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there has been a shift in India’s approach to Pakistan. In his first public statement after the airstrikes, he said India would no longer tolerate nuclear blackmail.

 

“Operation Sindoor is now India’s policy against terror,” he said, adding that the early morning strikes on “universities of terror” marked a new normal.