"War is not an option": Shabana Azmi on India-Pakistan relations

[Kroll]

"The relationship between the citizens of Pakistan and India needs to remain interactive. We need to converse and exchange ideas and thoughts.

"War is not an option, discussions and talks are needed to solve the disputes between the countries," the "Masoom" actress said during an interactive session 'Baithak', organised by News18 on Tuesday here.

She also urged people to introduce more student exchange and cultural exchange programmes as they will help in understanding the people and their beliefs more.

The 67-year-old actress added: "During cricket match of Pakistan and India, people start behaving like rivals and discriminate against each other. So, that time film is the medium through which feeling of love can be generated among people of India and Pakistan through artistes' performances.

"More films should be made through which message of love and peace is imparted, and there should be a joint collaboration between the nations."

Actress Taapsee Pannu, whose film "Mulk" got banned in Pakistan, feels sorry for the people who could not see the courtroom drama there.

Taapsee said: "In India, people called me anti-national for my performance in 'Mulk', but after the release of the film, people appreciated me. I am a proud Indian and it is a proud Indian film."

https://www.business-standard.com/a...-india-pakistan-relations-118080700998_1.html

 

[troodon]

Bollywood people need to calm down on their love for Pakistan.

Based on the opinions on PP, it appears most do not even watch rubbish Bollywood movies.

 

[PakLFC]

Shabana Azmi has got to be one of the most boring celebrities ever Of course war is not an option for India because currently there economy is doing much better then ours. In any war they have much more to lose then Pak does. According to many analysts even a conventional war will be greatly detrimental to the entire sub continent. Shabana has many close relatives in Pakistan hence her soft spot for us.

 

[cricketjoshila]

Bollywood people need to calm down on their love for Pakistan.

Based on the opinions on PP, it appears most do not even watch rubbish Bollywood movies.

Apparently the pakistani diaspora is hugely into bollywood. Hence these bollywood people trying to keep them in good humour.

 

[enkidu_]

Shabana Azmi has relatives in Pak, like Saif Ali Khan (Shahryar Khan, who served as PCB chairman), Shah Rukh Khan (ISI chief Lt Gen Zahir-ul-Islam, cousins in Peshawar), Aamir Khan (who's relative, movie director Syed Sibtain Fazli, is one of the very first in Pak to call for the ban of Bollywood, interestingly), etc, etc the days Bollywood will return to the sons of the soil you'll see this pro Pak angle die out. The others pro Pak are the Punjabi-Khatris, who hail from West Punjab, and have kept a nostalgia for their places despite being killed/raped mercilessly by their "nice" neighbors.

On another note : always found Smita Patil more aesthetic/talented than her. You can measure the contrast between the two in Mahesh Bhatt's "Arth". Her whole persona in the Parallel Cinema movement has somehow been overrated IMO.

 

[CricketCartoons]

If she thinks war is not an option so are we stupid to buy defence equipment? These fake celebrities are really far away from reality and think the world is one of their feel good movies. Why doesn't she just move to Pakistan if she loves them so much?

 

[Pakistanian]

she should be deported from india.

 

[El Generico]

Apparently the pakistani diaspora is hugely into bollywood. Hence these bollywood people trying to keep them in good humour.

Bollywood people need to calm down on their love for Pakistan.

Based on the opinions on PP, it appears most do not even watch rubbish Bollywood movies.

So not wanting war equals to loving Pakistan?

 

[slipcatch]

If war isn’t the answer then how do you expect radical extremists Hindus to take back Pakistan and Azad Kashmir?

Do not hurt the sentiment of those radicalized extremists, I’m sure they have been training hard.

 

[TM Riddle]

War is the only solution if Kashmiris remain obdurate in the long term.
Shabana clueless as always. Not surprised though since she has probably relatives in Pak or is Punjabi Khatri or a converted Brahman invader fooling Dalits.

 

[CricketCartoons]

War is the only solution if Kashmiris remain obdurate in the long term.
Shabana clueless as always. Not surprised though since she has probably relatives in Pak or is Punjabi Khatri or a converted Brahman invader fooling Dalits.

Actually she comes from the farooqi lineage( who formed the mamluk dynasty and trace their ancestry back to a caliph). Her family probably settled in UP around the reign of Tughlaq and moved to south india when capital was shifted to daulatabad. If you read the book "The Indus Saga" by the writer whose name I forgot, you will see the partition was a natural one, where the original inhabitants stayed in the land they were born, and the migrations were negligible (like the kahtris who only form less than 1% of india).

 

[Nostalgic]

The Indus Saga is by Aitzaz Ahsan.

 

[enkidu_]

Actually she comes from the farooqi lineage( who formed the mamluk dynasty and trace their ancestry back to a caliph). Her family probably settled in UP around the reign of Tughlaq and moved to south india when capital was shifted to daulatabad. If you read the book "The Indus Saga" by the writer whose name I forgot, you will see the partition was a natural one, where the original inhabitants stayed in the land they were born, and the migrations were negligible (like the kahtris who only form less than 1% of india).

Very astute analysis.

 

[TM Riddle]

Actually she comes from the farooqi lineage( who formed the mamluk dynasty and trace their ancestry back to a caliph). Her family probably settled in UP around the reign of Tughlaq and moved to south india when capital was shifted to daulatabad. If you read the book "The Indus Saga" by the writer whose name I forgot, you will see the partition was a natural one, where the original inhabitants stayed in the land they were born, and the migrations were negligible (like the kahtris who only form less than 1% of india).

All the more reason to send the likes of her to Pakistan then.
We Hindus have suffered long under the tyranny of these invader turned intellectuals. About time we throw the yoke of pseudo liberalism and embrace the Hindutva values thus cleansing the land of Bharata from the influence of these Mlechhas.

 

[troodon]

All the more reason to send the likes of her to Pakistan then.
We Hindus have suffered long under the tyranny of these invader turned intellectuals. About time we throw the yoke of pseudo liberalism and embrace the Hindutva values thus cleansing the land of Bharata from the influence of these Mlechhas.

Javed Akhtar and his entire family are atheists.

They are safe in India than Pakistan. They know that.

 

[TM Riddle]

Javed Akhtar and his entire family are atheists.

They are safe in India than Pakistan. They know that.

These foreign Muslims keep the facade of atheism so as to keep the suspicion away.
Can't trust the Mlechhas no more.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

If she thinks war is not an option so are we stupid to buy defence equipment? These fake celebrities are really far away from reality and think the world is one of their feel good movies. Why doesn't she just move to Pakistan if she loves them so much?

She'd have a better chance to move to Pakistan than she would some cities in India ironically. She is the actress who was lamenting that she couldn't buy property in Mumbai because the city is divided along religious lines. There are also mini partitions in India it seems which must absolutely delight you with your dreams of Partition 2.0.

 

[CricketCartoons]

She'd have a better chance to move to Pakistan than she would some cities in India ironically. She is the actress who was lamenting that she couldn't buy property in Mumbai because the city is divided along religious lines. There are also mini partitions in India it seems which must absolutely delight you with your dreams of Partition 2.0.

Those who whine against the nation, should just move to some other country. That way we will only be left with patriots, not the ingrates. Problem solved.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Those who whine against the nation, should just move to some other country. That way we will only be left with patriots, not the ingrates. Problem solved.

That creates an even bigger problem, because then the indigenous people will whine about the immigrants like Shabana moving to their country, bringing their foreign ways with them...like maybe wearing trainers with their saris.

 

[saadibaba]

Artists are usually pacifists, what's the big deal here. Majority of artists in both Indian and Pakistan probably hold the same view, like any sane person should.

 

[saadibaba]

On another note : always found Smita Patil more aesthetic/talented than her. You can measure the contrast between the two in Mahesh Bhatt's "Arth". Her whole persona in the Parallel Cinema movement has somehow been overrated IMO.

I agree. Smita Patil is very underrated. Arth is a great showcase of her talents as well as Shyam Benegal's Mandi. Sadly, she passed away too soon.

 

[CricketCartoons]

I often wonder, why are right wing values and morals not represented in arts. I think these art and drama schools and even humanities departments are dominated by leftists, who catch the students young and brainwash them with leftist thought, which is usually anti national and against the majority religion. One of the top mba colleges in india, doesn't give good marks to students if they criticise communism in their answers, and the students in a film institute in india (living off our mostly rightwinger taxpayer money) were protesting because someone with right wing affiliation was appointed as the dean. Can you imagine! These people should sign dance and entertain us, but please don't try to preach and thought control. Let it be the job of rationalists, not dreamers who live in a make believe world.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

I agree.War is not,or rather,shouldn't be an option,no matter how many foreign based Pakistanis/Indians call for it.

 

[enkidu_]

Javed Akhtar and his entire family are atheists.

They are safe in India than Pakistan. They know that.

You see that's the problem with living in a "secular" society. Javed Akhtar comes from a great religious family. His ancestor, Allama Khairabadi, not only died in the Andaman Islands because of his role in the 1857 rebellion, but was also an intellectual of his own, being rediscovered nowadays by young scholars like Asad Q. Ahmed for his works in philosophy/logic, outside his input in Islamic scholarship which is already acknowledged. Many other relatives of Akhtar were of the same profile.

Now if Akhtar was born in Pak, the Islamic republic would have naturally enforced orthodoxy into him and he wouldn't have played the pseudo intellectual "atheist" card. Just imagine how many of Pak's "liberals" who have done their coming out as atheists had they been born in Hindustan.

That's a shame for his Arabic/Persian-writing ancestors.

I often wonder, why are right wing values and morals not represented in arts. I think these art and drama schools and even humanities departments are dominated by leftists, who catch the students young and brainwash them with leftist thought, which is usually anti national and against the majority religion. One of the top mba colleges in india, doesn't give good marks to students if they criticise communism in their answers, and the students in a film institute in india (living off our mostly rightwinger taxpayer money) were protesting because someone with right wing affiliation was appointed as the dean. Can you imagine! These people should sign dance and entertain us, but please don't try to preach and thought control. Let it be the job of rationalists, not dreamers who live in a make believe world.

The Marxian analysis goes like that : the bourgeois is the one who produces what you call the cultural norms, or "art" ; the bourgeois is societally liberal because he's fundamentally economically liberal ; and he's economically liberal because, being of the merchant/vaishya spirit, he sees everything in economic terms : there's no concept of nation, religion, race, family, ... as long as there are economic benefits.

That's why artists (literally all bourgeois, or being co opted as de facto bourgeois after integrating into their social network) are always lefties and "progressive".

Bolly has a huge market in Pak, the largest out of all NRIs, so peace for them means more money.

 

[princeuk]

So not wanting war equals to loving Pakistan?

Lol, Exactly.

Anyone in India who has an opinion other than wanting to hate on Pakistan is basically an anti-national and they should be escorted out of the country..........mashallah, kya baat hain.

 

[Vegitto1]

War with Pakistan will destroy India. Pakistan's economy is nowhere near India's however, a war with Pakistan would ensure that India goes back 100 years - investors would leave, businesses would collapse and lots of cows will die.

 

[princeuk]

I dont know why people are hating on her, she has valid points. Sports and Film can bring better understanding between the two nations, Im not necessarily a fan of the trash thats turned out these days but growing up I LOVED watching indian movies as do millions of pakistanis, so yes having some sort of cultural exchange does make sense.

And as far as people saying oh she is saying it because they make more money, they may very well make more money but between her and Javed they dont need to make more money and can retire, besides not all indian artists support having pakistani artists working in Bollywood. There have been surprisingly some artists who have come out saying ban pakistanis. Then on the other side some pakistani artists have rejected working in India, Shaan was offered a role in Aamire Khan's Ghajini but he declined and is not interested in working htere, Urwa Hocane was offered a roel in a Ekta Kapoor film but rejected despite im sure being offered more money as its India.

Money may very well be some people's motivation but do not mistake it to be everybody's motivation, cos Shabana Azmi also said there should be student exchanges between both countries and that doesnt financially benefit her.

 

[CricketCartoons]

I dont know why people are hating on her, she has valid points. Sports and Film can bring better understanding between the two nations, Im not necessarily a fan of the trash thats turned out these days but growing up I LOVED watching indian movies as do millions of pakistanis, so yes having some sort of cultural exchange does make sense.

And as far as people saying oh she is saying it because they make more money, they may very well make more money but between her and Javed they dont need to make more money and can retire, besides not all indian artists support having pakistani artists working in Bollywood. There have been surprisingly some artists who have come out saying ban pakistanis. Then on the other side some pakistani artists have rejected working in India, Shaan was offered a role in Aamire Khan's Ghajini but he declined and is not interested in working htere, Urwa Hocane was offered a roel in a Ekta Kapoor film but rejected despite im sure being offered more money as its India.

Money may very well be some people's motivation but do not mistake it to be everybody's motivation, cos Shabana Azmi also said there should be student exchanges between both countries and that doesnt financially benefit her.

sports, film and cultural exchange may bring understanding between people elsewhere, but not between indians and pakistanis. for us these become another arena to fight for cultural domination, racial and religious superiority. war is the only option to bring understanding between these people.

 

[Slog]

Honestly as soon as I read thread title I thought 'Who the heck is this Shabana?'' (In slightly cruder terms)

Is she supposed to be really big in Bollywood to have her own thread? I do not watch Bollywood except a couple every years but I do think I know all the bigwigs and I've never heard of her

 

[PakLFC]

I have seen many so called spiritual predictions that there will be a massive war in the subcontinent next year or 2020.

 

[JaDed]

Honestly as soon as I read thread title I thought 'Who the heck is this Shabana?'' (In slightly cruder terms)

Is she supposed to be really big in Bollywood to have her own thread? I do not watch Bollywood except a couple every years but I do think I know all the bigwigs and I've never heard of her

I thought the same, I do know her though but defn not worth having a thread lol.

 

[MenInG]

LAHORE: Veteran Indian actor Shabana Azmi and her husband, noted poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, arrived in Lahore on Friday to take part in the two-day Faiz International Festival.

The two-day festival is being held from November 16 to Nov 18 at the Alhamra Halls on Lahore's Mall Road.

The couple arrived in Pakistan from the neighouring country via the Wagah border.

Azmi is expected to attend a session on Saturday while Akhtar is will attend the festival on Sunday, according to the organisers of the festival.

Akhtar said they were bringing the message of peace and love from across the border.


The visiting couple in a meeting with Governor Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar.

Azmi also expressed her desire for peace between Pakistan and India, and thanked the citizens of Lahore for inviting them. She said the neighbouring countries should increase people-to-people contact.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz's daughters Muneeza Hashmi and Salma Hashmi welcomed the couple at the border.

The couple also met Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar and Punjab Information Minister Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan, who presented the visitors with a bouquet of roses.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/218730-sh...-lahore-to-attend-faiz-international-festival

 

[proud_pakistani]

Apparently the pakistani diaspora is hugely into bollywood. Hence these bollywood people trying to keep them in good humour.

So basically you would rather her say that we should have a war with Pakistan?

If it were up to people like you we would probably actually have a war. Why are u even on a Pakistani forum if you have so much hatred for us?

 

[humzy]

I often wonder, why are right wing values and morals not represented in arts. I think these art and drama schools and even humanities departments are dominated by leftists, who catch the students young and brainwash them with leftist thought, which is usually anti national and against the majority religion. One of the top mba colleges in india, doesn't give good marks to students if they criticise communism in their answers, and the students in a film institute in india (living off our mostly rightwinger taxpayer money) were protesting because someone with right wing affiliation was appointed as the dean. Can you imagine! These people should sign dance and entertain us, but please don't try to preach and thought control. Let it be the job of rationalists, not dreamers who live in a make believe world.

Incorrect, it has a lot more to do with brain chemistry.

Creative people rank high in openness, therefore willing to speculate and be open to new ideas. This in turn gives them the ability to create great art in the first place.

People low in openness are more leaning towards conservative politics due to them being high in orderliness, attention to detail and follow through. This makes them more prone to focus on tradition and order.

 

[CricketCartoons]

Incorrect, it has a lot more to do with brain chemistry.

Creative people rank high in openness, therefore willing to speculate and be open to new ideas. This in turn gives them the ability to create great art in the first place.

People low in openness are more leaning towards conservative politics due to them being high in orderliness, attention to detail and follow through. This makes them more prone to focus on tradition and order.

Give me some examples of liberal people who created great art (poetry, music and literature doesn't count)

 

[humzy]

Give me some examples of liberal people who created great art (poetry, music and literature doesn't count)

poetry, music and literature is art *face palm*

 

[PakLFC]

What Shabana really mans is that "we realise India is no America and Pakistan is no Palestine so ignore the nonsense you hear from our talk shows and government".

 

[CricketCartoons]

poetry, music and literature is art *face palm*

Exclude acting and singing too.

Why don't you back up your claim and show the relation between liberals and creativity?

 

[humzy]

Exclude acting and singing too.

Why don't you back up your claim and show the relation between liberals and creativity?

This not my claim, it is established in psychology.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/...01507/resolving-the-conscientiousness-paradox

 

[MenInG]

LONDON: Veteran Indian film, theater and television actor Shabana Azmi is a staunch advocate of co-productions between India and Pakistan.

“For a long time now, my husband and I have been saying that we really need more co-productions between India and Pakistan. If you look at cricket, it divides you — it doesn’t put you together! It is art that unites [when] politics divides. Art is an instrument that can bring about social change, and we can do it through cinema.”

As tensions between both countries remain high and engagement low, Ms Azmi spoke to Dawn about the importance of projects that bring together talent from both countries, much like the British Asiam rom-com What’s Love Got To Do With It. Produced by Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and written by British filmmaker Jemima Khan, the production features talent from the UK, India and Pakistan. Ms Azmi and other members of the cast are in the UK to do media engagements and promotions ahead of the film’s UK release on February 24. The cast was seen together earlier in the week at the red carpet for the movie premier at the Odeon Luxe and Leicester Square. The film is scheduled for release in Pakistan on March 3.

“When you have so much talent in Pakistan, particularly in writing, India and Pakistan can come together and make really, really good cinema,” she said.

Ms Azmi was all praise for her co-star, beloved Pakistani actor Sajal Aly who stars in the cross-cultural film. “Sajal Aly is so good in the film. Sajal and I have struck such a deep bond and relationship despite our age difference. Ji karta hai usse pakar ke rakhoon, jaane nahin doo,” Ms Azmi said, as she raised her arms in an imaginary hug.

Veteran Indian actor talks about love and politics amidst promotions for UK release of the film What’s Love Got To Do With It?

The film shows the worlds of documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe and her childhood friend and neighbour Kaz (Shazad Latif), who hopes to follow his parents’ example and opt for an arran*ged marriage to a Pakistani girl Maymouna (Sajal Aly).

“On the surface, it is a romcom but it has many layers and much more emotion — which is Shekar Kapur’s forte. He infuses a lot of emotion in his films so it’s a film where you have a laugh and enjoy it but also have moist eyes. It’s wholesome.”

Ms Azmi plays Aisha Khan, the family-focused matriarch of the Pakistani family based in the UK. “She thinks her work begins and ends with the happiness of her children. Aisha is a woman on the threshold of modernity and tradition, a warm, generous and good person,” she says.

Ms Azmi describes the relationship of Aisha with another cha*racter Cath, Aisha’s next-door neighbour played by British actor Emma Thompson. “That story has a lot of affection, and it comes from Jemi*ma’s experience when she went [to Pakistan] as a 19-year-old.”

The film, she says, “busts the notion that arranged marriages are archaic and from a barbaric world”. “But it does this with warmth and hum*our… observing two cultures different from each other, but in a non-judgmental way.”

When asked to comment on her experience of “finding lasting love” — one of the main themes of the film — Ms Azmi laughs. “[One finds lasting love] through friendship. My husband Javed says ‘Shabana and I are such good friends that even marriage couldn’t ruin it’.”

“We are people from very similar backgrounds. His father was a member of the communist party, both fathers were from the progressive writers’ movement, both from Uttar Pradesh — in fact, we have such similar backgrounds that many people say we should have an arranged marriage!”

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2023