The former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is floored by all the appreciation Indian celebrities get from Pakistan.
Aishwarya, visited Wagah border to shoot for her film Sarbjit — says that she is overwhelmed by the magnitude of love she has received from both sides of the border.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Aish was asked if she is aware of her tremendous fan following in Pakistan, to which she replied, “I have experienced it in person when we were shooting at Wagah. It was a surreal experience.”
“We are standing there and the shoot is going on, gates are open, you can see Pakistan and you notice that the people are the same and the love for each other are the same,” she added.
The Jazbaa actor also said that she really wanted witness the Beating Retreat ceremony at the border but had to leave early.
“I had finished meeting all the families of the BSF (Border Security Force) in India an hour before the program was to begin. That day we have to wrap and come back to another shoot so I couldn’t stay on to watch it, which I wanted to at some point.
“I have heard about it and I have seen clips of how amazing it looks. They do it in good spirit, who kicks higher and all. There’s celebration on both sides, music is on, people are dancing away, it’s an amazing patriotism that you experience on both sides,” she said.
“But when I was meeting BSF, I didn’t notice any difference across the border. I look at one side and do namaste, shower love and respond to the fans and when I look across the border, I am receiving the same amount of affection.”
Aishwarya also spoke about the similarities the two countries share. “Everybody is shouting across, acknowledging, screaming, giving their love and I am thinking this is so surreal. These are meant to be ‘enemy states’, these are meant to be countries that don’t get along with each other but we are one. And there is the same love and excitement.
“We look alike and we talk alike. We are the same, we have been the same there’s just one line in between.”
Aish disclosed that even the Indian BSF hold a lot of love for their “brothers” across the border. “When I was meeting the BSF, they said our brothers from across the border want to meet you so would you like to cross it and meet this personnel and take a picture.
“You just smile that they have called each other brothers and yet at unfortunate times, they have to literally wield weapons on each other,” she said.
