Fawad Khan was selectively targeted: Shobha De

HOW TO BE A CHICK

I watched two commercial films back-to-back last week. Both featured Pakistani actors in prominent roles. The first one was The Big Sick, which received rave reviews in The New York Times and Time magazine when it released on June 23 in the US. It's the heartbreaking, romantic true story of American-Pakistani actor, stand-up comic Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, writer Emily V Gordon (competently played by Zoe Kazan in the movie). The film also features Anupam Kher, playing Kumail's father and the head of a traditio The Big Sicknal Pakistani family living the life of typical immigrants in their adopted country. Next, I watched Mom, which features two competent actors from across the border Adnan Siddiqui playing Sridevi's husband, and Sajal Ali as her teenage step-daughter. I had also watched and thoroughly enjoyed Hindi Medium, which starred the gorgeous Saba Qamar from Pakistan as Irfan Khan's wife. After enjoying all three films and noting with relief that zero fuss had been made around the presence of these talented stars from our neighbouring country, I wondered why there was such outrage over the casting of super dishy Pakistani superstar Fawad Khan in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. And, why was the beauteous Mahira Khan, playing SRK's love interest in Raees, not allowed to come to India

to promote her film? What sort of discrimination is this?

Could it be that there has been a concerted effort to actively thwart the advent of actors in the league of Fawad and Mahira into protectionist Bollywood as they pose a serious threat to the supremacy of reigning desi stars? Why was Fawad singled out for vicious attacks? Why were his scenes deleted (according to trade rumours)? Fawad had stolen countless hearts after his wonderful performance with Sonam Kapoor in Khoobsurat. He was on innumerable magazine covers in India, and the recipient of several prestigious awards. It was obvious by his growing popularity that he was poised to become the Next Big Khan in Bollywood. And then, boom! All of a sudden, he was declared persona non grata, and cinema-goers were urged to boycott his films. Unable or unwilling to face the heat, the threats and fight it out, Fawad sensibly withdrew from Bollywood and went back to being the bona fide superstar he is back home in Pakistan. Perhaps, Fawad does not miss his fame and popularity in India. But, his fans here sure as hell miss him.

What is hard to understand is the acceptance of a few select Pakistani performers and the hostile rejection of others. If there is a strict policy in place, it should apply uniformly to all. It cannot be ad hoc and arbitrary. What is the official position? Does anybody know? Can someone clarify? It certainly smacks of double standards, given all the lofty patriotic' pronouncements made by film industry personalities from public platforms, in the hope of receiving handouts and awards from this government. They brazenly appear across TV channels and talk of banning actors from the other side', but forget their principles when a role is offered to them by a foreign production house. This is known as the politics of convenience and profit. It's time to call out such hypocrites.

Taking it beyond Pakistan, and given what is going on right now in Sikkim, with the Chinese conducting an armoured brigade drill on the border, and Prime Minister Xi Jinping refusing to meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the G20 in Hamburg, how come there wasn't a squeak when Dangal debuted in China? Its success will be followed up with Baahubali, again without protests or calls for boycotts. China has been a lethal, untrustworthy, dangerous enemy for decades and forget all that Hindi-Chini bhai bhai nonsense. Another instance of our selective outrage. An outrage that's obsessed with Pakistan, as if China poses zero threat!

I am so glad Ratna Pathak Shah has spoken up soberly when she was quoted in this very paper as saying, "Working with Pakistani actors is not an insurmountable problem. It most certainly isn't. She has played Fawad Khan's mother in both Khoobsurat and Kapoor & Sons. In the same interview, she has also subtly condemned the people who went after Fawad and saw to it that he'd "never get to work here again. Isn't that a shame? Especially since it seems to be motivated by reasons beyond empty patriotism'!

It's good to know Sridevi's Mom will be releasing in Pakistan. The arts are an entity quite divorced from politics. If we want peace and harmony in our lives, isn't it obligatory to make this distinction? Nobody objected to the presence of Chinese star Zhu Zhu in the recent Salman Khan debacle, Tubelight. If we could put tensions aside and watch Zhu Zhu minus prejudice, the same logic should apply when it comes to Pakistani actors signing up for Bollywood films. Audiences love them. Audiences are citizens. And like Ratna concluded, "We need to look at the world through fresh eyes.