Fawad Khan’s star power across the border is no secret. Despite having done only two films in Bollywood, Fawad managed to win the hearts of not only the audiences but also of the artists and members of the Indian film fraternity.
However, in an unfortunate turn of events, Pakistani artists were banned from working in Bollywood. Nonetheless, Pakistani singers including Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Atif Aslam continue to lend their vocals to Bollywood films as Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra’s latest release Namaste England featured both the singers.
In a recent interview with Bollywood Hungama, Parineeti and Arjun shared that they saw no reason in banning Pakistani artists.
Talking about the decision of choosing Rahat and Atif for the songs, Arjun said, “They are fantastic artists. They are good at what they do. We are not bringing them here to get anyone else thrown out of the profession. We are going with the most correct people at that moment for that song. Tomorrow, if we find someone better, we’ll go with them.”
He added, “I don’t think the audience is ever going to judge a song based on the nationality of the singer. That is the beauty of India. We are an open-minded country. Certain sections are allowed to have an opinion; there’s nothing wrong with that but that doesn’t make it right. But we cannot pay attention to everyone’s opinion; there are so many other factors to consider.”
Parineeti on the matter remarked, “I don’t find the reason in doing this [banning]. I don’t think there’s anybody else who’s coming here and eating up our work.”
Parineeti praised Ali Zafar and said that she had a pleasant experience working with him in Kill Dill and is glad that she got the opportunity to.
Recalling her time with Ali, Parineeti said, “When you meet us, you will never know Ali is from a different country until he tells you.”
She then added that members of her film crew and the team are from different places across the world and that’s a good thing because they bring in ‘”fresh energy.”
Parineeti continued, “I personally do not agree with this ban on Pakistani artists. I wish I could work with Ali again. I wish I could work with Fawad. He would be such a great hero in our industry. He is so loved.”
“I find it so sad that only Pakistani artists have been banned. It’s unfair and I’m glad I got the chance to work with Ali before and now Atif sir and Rahat sir,” Parineeti remarked, continuing, “Then we shouldn’t have any workers coming in from any other countries as well. We too also go to different places to shoot and work, in that case, should we be banned too?”
Arjun also shared that he has received immense love from Pakistan time and time again, whether it’s on social media or in different places across the world.
“The political circumstances are very unfortunate. We are artists and we can’t look at the bigger picture. I mean we have to understand that there are a lot of complications in terms of diplomacy, in terms of what the government is dealing with. But at a human level, we can only wish and hope and pray that things get better and not worse,” concluded Arjun.
Watch the whole interview here:
