India, Pakistan take Kashmir dispute to Bollywood
Mumbai : India and Pakistan's heightened tensions over Kashmir have spread to movie theatres with Bollywood shunning artists from its neighbour and Islamabad suspending Indian films in a series of tit-for-tat moves.
Bollywood an easy target
Tensions between India and Pakistan have soared since grenade-hurling militants raided India's Uri army base near the de-facto border dividing Kashmiron September 18 in the worst such attack for years.
India pointed the finger of blame at militants in Pakistan and responded by carrying out strikes across the heavily-militarised Line of Control, although Islamabad disputes they ever took place.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the territory in full and have fought two wars over the mountainous region.
Following the September raid, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association, which represents a number of Hindi film industry employees, passed a motion banning Pakistani artists until relations improve.
Pakistan's Film Exhibitors and Distributors group responded by suspending the screening of all Indian films "until normalcy returns", although fans are believed to be accessing their favourite Bollywood flicks online.
On Monday, organisers of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival dropped classic 1959 Pakistani movie "Jago Hua Savera" ("The Day Shall Dawn") from its programme following a complaint from an Indian NGO.
Then on Wednesday Pakistan's state-run media authority fired another salvo, banning all Indian content from television and radio networks. It threatened to suspend the licences of any station caught flouting the ban, which came into force Friday.
"Attacking the entertainment industry is a cheap tactic," Mumbai-based film trade analyst Akshaye Rathi told AFP.
"Political outfits seek bans to gain quick publicity and there's no better sector than the film industry to piggyback on for two minutes of fame."
Related Posts