Indo Pak Relations in Bollywood

Indo Pak relations portrayed by Bollywood movies

Background:

India and Pakistan are neighboring countries in the Indian Subcontinent. Pakistan became a separate country on 14th August 1947. Before that it was a part of British ruled India. Due to this reason it has a lot of commonalities with India. Both the countries share a common history, language, culinary habits, etc. At the time of separation, there was a major issue regarding the ownership of Kashmir. The issue was put on hold during the partition, but even after 65 years, this issue is fresh.

As a result of the Kashmir issue, there have been wars between both the countries. Apart from wars , both the countries have had a lot of tensions and differences. People have had their opinions about the issue. While some feel that terrorist strikes in India are a result of this issue, the others feel that India has not done the right thing and hence led Pakistan to this condition. The two countries share some good times and have seen the worst times. The below paper evaluates the role of Bollywood movies in the portrayal of this relationship. Pakistan has a large audience, which consumes Bollywood movies as the common cultures connect them to the sentiments and culture present in the Bollywood movies.

Sources:

For the purpose of this paper, a few Bollywood movies were studied:

Border: A movie made on Indo-Pak war of 1971. This film showed the nuances of a war and the sentiments of the army men in general. This movie presented Pakistan as “Dushman” translating into enemy.

Gadar- Ek Prem Katha: This is the love story of an Indian guy and Pakistani girl. After partition the husband goes in search of his wife to Pakistan. The movie portrays the struggle and the atrocities the actor had to go through. Pakistan is referred to as Pakistan as the period of the movie is just after partition.

LOC Kargil: A movie made on Kargil war. The movie released sometime after the actual war. The feelings and sentiments were fresh in people’s minds. Pakistan is therefore called ‘Dushman Desh’ or enemy country.

Main Hoon Na: Not a direct India-Pakistan movie per se but had some undertones of it. A character was shown to be Pakistan hater and on the other hand there was a India-Pakistan peace project. Except one character that called Pakistan an enemy rest all the characters referred to Pakistan in a neutral manner.

Refugee: The movie is about two people who fall in love across the border. In the end the actress gives birth to a baby in the No Man’s Land. The movie had a few signs of negativity towards Pakistan.

Veer Zara: It's a love story of a Pakistani girl and an Indian Air force pilot. He goes to Pakistan in search of her