The Most Ineffective Ban Ever

``Partition occurred on the basic premise that we are two (!!) nations merely on the basis of religion.``

Ha ha, to make a convincing argument, you can`t simply get away by using the word `merely`. Said difference is a BIG difference.

``The cultural roots of the subcontinent Muslims were largely ignored by this theory. The theory is perpetuated by the establishment in Pakistan, which tries to Arab-ise the country.``

This is crazy talk. I don`t know what it is about some people, but every time any Muslim mentions Islam, there`s automatically talk of some Arab imperalism (last attempt ended several hundred years ago, and no, Saudi`s don`t count since they always acted as American proxy).

What is it about Indo-pak Islam that seems so arabized? Our dress, language (Urdu), food? We can`t even say ``ramadan`` properly! Ha ha...we are un-hinduized, but that doesn`t make us arabized. And we like it that way. So get over it.

Anyhow, Indian movies were banned because of recent political tensions...I personally thnk they should stay banned because they`re formulaic nonsense. However, one would hope that Pakistanis would fill the void with something better.

What is it with Indian cinema and their non-diversity? For once I would like to see a good Indian Sci-fi...no doubt all those high tech types could help out with the special effects. But space or the matrix is no place to support some dumb song-and-dance number, so I guess that`s out of the question.

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This article seems based more on Indian propoganda, and a lack of knowledge about Pakistan (common amongst nearly all Indians) rather than on the actual situation on the ground in Pakistan.

Indian movies in Pakistan sell about as openly as tomatoes, potatoes and gunnas.

Go to any corner, in any remote area of Pakistan, and you will find a mosque and an Indian video store. Maulvis will complain about a lot of things, but rarely about two things: Indian videos and cricket.

Mohallas in Karachi, Lahore, Pindi etc. have not tens but hundreds of Indian video shops. VCRs to watch Indian videos used to be the big jihaiz item in marriages in all area. The number of $300 million may be a bit low, since Indian movies are probably the biggest source of entertainment in Pakistan.

Sadaf is just one distributor. There are many more. They used to intiially come from Dubai. Now they are local. Everyone and their grandmother has a video shop. And the quality has gone up significantly. It is a full fledged industry now.

Just to give you and idea, Zia-ul-Haq`s favorite actor was Shatru Sinha, whom he invited as a guest. Zia-ul-Haq for (some strange reason) gave the highest Pakistanis civilian honor to Dilip Kumar. As I have mentioned before, every military station I stayed at had an Indian video store in the station, or right outside. In one major combat base in Karachi, the video store was right next to the mess hall. When my friends used to sit on alert duty at night, for flying, there entertainment in their underground rooms, used to be Indian movies. When we graduated from PAF college Sargodha as cadets, we had an official farwell picnic. VCRs were new at that time. The entertainment was two Indian movies. If I remember correcly it was Sunny Deola and Amrita Singh`s first movie, with the, ``Jub hum jawant hoongay`` song. I had predicted that Sunny Deol would be a flop, and Armita Sing would be a hit. Turned out to be the other way around.

Indian videos are officially pirated in Pakistan, not because of mullahs or anyone else (ever hear a mullah attack an Indian video shop in Pakistan), but because they do not officially pass through the Pakistani censors. However, practically they are at every street corner in the open.

As for showing Indian movies on the big screen in Pakistan, the biggest problem is that they will put the Pakistani movie industry completely out of business. It won`t be competition, it will be complete bankruptcy. Hence they will not be allowed.

Unfortunately what does seem to be happening now, is that Indian movies are fully in anti-Pakistan propoganda mode. I saw an Indian filmfare awards show, in which prominent Indian actors and actresses openly abused Pakistan, while accepting awards. There seems to be a whole field of Indian movies with open abuse of Pakistan: Ghadar, Pukar, Mission Kashmir, etc. etc. However even those movies do booming business in Pakistan.

Pakistanis are very open about all things Indian, that are good. And I think we do a good job of separating the good and bad that comes from India. However, I rarely see any of my Indian colleagues who have ever seen anything Pakistani, or know about anything Pakistani, while they lived in India. All their knowledge (like this article) seems to be the official Indian govt. line). Perhaps it is Indians who need to start opening up to things Pakistani; not vice-versa.

Gaurav:

welcome to chowk:)

put the six figure advance on your novel on hold...first see if you can reduce this to under 900 words or less from the present 1709...most times less is more...the point you want(ed) to make is somewhat lost...

rgds,

t