After Kabir Khan’s Humiliation In Karachi, Ban Pakistani Artistes In India

No offence meant to any particular nationality and some of my best friends are Pakistani. But it’s time now for Bollywood to stop employing Pakistani actors.

The hatred from the other side of the border has now reached unmanageable proportions. The unmitigatedly ugly incident in Karachi on Wednesday morning only confirms the long-held belief  in many rational section of the Indian intelligentsia.

You can’t argue,let alone reason, with violence .

What transpired with Kabir In Karachi(sounds like a movie script) is far more alarming than is being made out by Kabir. That he wants to play it down and brush it aside is all very well. Kabir is a gentleman filmmaker. Pakistan is not the first politically violent territory he has visited. Before Phantom and Bajrangi Bhaijaan Kabir had journeyed to Afghanistan inKabul Express.

Risky assignments to rogue nations come naturally to Kabir. But this tryst with the ugliest face of cultural and nationalistic bigotry in the neighbouring nation is not about Kabir anymore. It is about how much of this trashy diplomacy we will indulge in before being branded a nation of fools.

When 6-7 men threaten Kabir Bedi for filming Pakistan in an unflattering light, and extend their acrimony into anti-India slogans it is no longer a matter of one filmmaker’s encounter with hostile fans.This incident goes much beyond a handful of Pakistani gentlemen not caring for Kabir Khan’s cinema.Or for that matter, not caring for Indian cinema that questions Pakistan’s reputation as a terror domain.

This was a well-orchestrated  politically motivated pre-planned attack. The attackers were aware of Kabir’s departure plans.They had come prepared to hurl insults and a shoe and to do a video-recording of the incident.

I have two questions for Kabir: what if the aggravated gentleman who accosted Kabir while the airport security watched, had fished out a gun instead of a shoe? And what if it was Kabir Bedi instead of Kabir Khan?

Let’s not pretend all will be well between the two countries if cultural exchanges continue. Let’s stop this Bollywood biryani diplomacy. Let these amazing Pakistani artistes who are given so much time attention and money in India make their living in their own country until Pakistan becomes safe for India celebrities to visit.

Until then , forget Lata Mangeshkar.We won’t even send Abhijeet Bhattacharya across the barbed wires.

No fence meant.