Yashaswani Chauhan, Pune
The release of Pakistani film The Legend of Maula Jatt has always been a problem in India and the issue has now headed to RTI as Indian theatre actor Imran Zahid filed a petition. Zahid wants to know why Pakistani talent is barred from performing in India, with protests and legal challenges to this film’s release in Indian Punjab rendering it impossible for the film to be so.
The Legend of Maula Jatt with Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan was planned for release in India on October 2, 2024. It is the first Pakistani movie to be released in India after the last 10 years. However, due to different especially political actions and a court order indicating that the movie should not be produced, the production team and many enthusiasts were disappointed when the production was called off.
Two questions are at the heart of Imran Zahid’s RTI. First, he wants to know whether there is a legally enforced, black-and-white, no-Pakistanis-allowed policy on acting in Indian movies and plays. Second, troubling of Zahid’s buz, an Indian adaptation of the Pakistani drama serial Humsafar with Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan, produced by PTPC and directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The actor frets that this might also suffer the same fate as The Legend of Maula Jatt.
Zahid, when questioned by the media, said, “I filed the RTI because we need to get some clarity about the situation. Although the release of the film The Legend of Maula Jatt was canceled, I am unsure if the same is going to happen to my version of Humsafar. Indian artists must know what barriers are present when collaborating with Pakistani actors since a lot is at risk for these productions.”
Earlier, the film’s Pakistani distributor Nadeem Mandviwala said about the Indian release that it will be a landmark in the cultural exchange between two neighboring countries. But the legal issues have once more underlined that the two entertainment industries are still entangled in numerous limitations after the event in Pulwama in 2019.
As the situation unfolds Zahid and also other artists are looking forward to getting a clear answer as to whether the cultural exchanges between the two countries are now possible apart from the political directions that hinder such processes.