Bollywood going beyond borders by Ashri Khandelwal

Needless to say, everyone is well aware about our relations with neighbouring country Pakistan and the usual conflicts that crops up every now and then, because of which we never had an affectionate bond with them. But, what we are unaware about is that in bits and parts we really are connected with them and share common things. We all are children of this mother land, just divided by a transparent wall, which as an obstacle prevent us to grow this seed of bond with our brothers Pakistanis.I am really happy to share some instances when our Bollywood stars nailed it by speaking for the Pakistanis by telling that we do are no different from Pakistanis in fact, we are brothers just living in two other countries and we love them but hesitant to show the same. Therefore we should join hands and break this stereotype in a bollywood style!
Richa Chadda, is an Indian actress who works in hindi films and is well known for her marvellous acting skills as a supporting actress several times. Recently, she was in Australia with Fawad khan and Anurag kashyap for attending Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Naturally, celebrities have to interact with media too and so this journalist questioned Fawad Khan about differences between Pak and India. To this Richa Chadda answered cutting in , on behalf of the Pakistani actor and said “You know we were colonised by the British for a really long time.. I am sorry if i am offending anybody here, but if you look at worldwide history, every time the British left an empire, they divided it. Whether it was North Korea or South Korea, then there was Germany. It is a part of the strategy to keep political unrest to sort of maintain a global kind of, I am sorry but your question to me doesn’t make sense because I WILL HAVE FAR MORE IN COMMON WITH FAWAD KHAN because i am from North of India than I will have with somebody who is a tam brah or may be Malayali or from the North East. I think we should avoid stereotyping in questioning or creating some kind of contradiction here because the whole intent and especially art does not really have any borders”.
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan adds to the list of stars speaking out against intolerance and in support of Pakistani stars working in India. Bajrangi Bhaijaan actor said “ If someone wants a Pakistani actor who can portray a role better, nobody can put a constraint. Bollywood has a huge number of fans in Pakistan and earns a good share of income from the neighbouring country. India love to watch each and every entertainment show, including popular Pakistani shows.”
While, Pakistani Director Saboha Sumar of the critically- acclaimed film ‘Khamosh Pani’ also shared her great thought to build up our relation with them. The 53 year old filmmaker said that “Cinema can bridge the gap between the two nations only when exchange of artistes takes place. There should be a co- production treaty between India and Pakistan. It is cheaper to shoot in Pakistan as compared to India and therefore Iniian filmmakers could really benefit. Our actors are loved by Indians and are popular as well. It can be a win- win situation for both the sides.”
From copying various fashion trends, lifestyle inspired by their life, we do follow our favourite celebs in every walk of our lives. Then why not, share common thought of breaking the bad notion about Pakistanis? It’s all on us. We can make this flop relation a blockbuster one and start loving them as our brothers. This simple step may do miracles , as every drop counts.