Blaming the wrong people
The author is under the impression that promotion of Pakistani artists is an act of charity. This is certainly not the case. Artists only get projects if they can generate revenue through their presence in a given project
On 20 September, 2016, a letter was published in the Bollywood Journalist by a Soumyadita Banerjee asking Mr Fawad Khan to refrain from acting in Bollywood productions. The author of the letter stated at the very outset that the letter is not directed to Mr Fawad Khan in particular but is addressing all artists with Pakistani roots, as the government of Pakistan is allegedly indulging in mass insurgencies in Indian Held Kashmir and the Pakistani artist should protest by refraining from working in India.
This letter may have been offensive provided it was based on fact and logic, unfortunately for the author it seems to be lacking in both.
First of all the so called atrocities committed by Pakistan should be seen from the eyes of an independent media as opposed to Indian state rhetoric which is at best failing to show the complete picture. The thousands of Kashmiris in Occupied Kashmir were blinded by pellet guns fired by the Indian soldiers and not by Pakistani soldiers. Perhaps the suggestion that Pakistani artists should refrain from working in India as solidarity for the Kashmiris against the atrocities suffered by them at the hands of the Indian army may have been better founded.
Secondly the author is under the impression that promotion of Pakistani artists is an act of charity. This is certainly not the case. Artists only get projects if they can generate revenue through their presence in a given project. Actors get paid large sums of money for a film because their presence in the same generates ticket sales, in a similar way an artist is paid a hefty amount for endorsing a product because their endorsement helps increase sales of the product. The amount paid to any artist including a Pakistani one is not generosity, it is simply business.
However, India has promoted a certain category of artists and they have soon grown tired of them and that too has been done to create a negative image of Pakistan. The artists that I am referring to here are the ones that have done item numbers in trashy Indian productions or have appeared in the ever popular Big Boss of India which is always ready to hire a Pakistani socialites inclined to making fools of themselves. This too does not fall in the category of charity.
The letter should have been addressed to the Indian government, perhaps their interior minister, requesting a ban on Pakistani artists in India
The author of the letter should consider certain facts about Pakistan and India. For starters the population of India is eight times that of Pakistan. The population of India currently is 1.25 billion compared to that the population of Pakistan that is 182.1 million. Secondly India is by far the largest producer of movies in the world with the release of over a thousand movies any given year. Compared to that Pakistan has of lately produced a dozen movies a year and this has been labeled the revival of cinema. Lastly, Indians hate Pakistan, it’s a part of Indian nationalistic ideology to blame Pakistan for everything wrong with India and it’s perfectly understandable, after all smart propaganda requires that a nation should always have an “Enemy State”, so that the public at large refrains from introspection.
Considering these facts if any artist from Pakistan that has one eighth of the population of India, has a tiny movie industry and belongs to a country widely disliked by the Indian public makes a dent in the Indian Film Industry and for that matter even has a note worthy presence in Bollywood speaks volumes for the lack of talent in India. Perhaps the author of this letter should consider that the Pakistani artists are filling in for what the Indian artists are lacking.
Lastly the letter to the Pakistani artist is directed to the wrong individual. The letter should have been addressed to the Indian government, perhaps their interior minister, requesting a ban on Pakistani artists in India.
As very validly noted by the author the Pakistani artists are minting money in India and they are not going to go back because of some offensive letter. The only entity who would be inclined to send them away is the Indian government and with the present state of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and India it is not unlikely.
Such a ban would of course benefit the Pakistani media industry, as Pakistani artists would concentrate on developing their own local industry as opposed to promoting other countries.