When Javed Akhtar wrote about the panchhi, nadiyan and pawan ke jhonke that no sarhad could stop, he should have added a line on Bollywood films too. Those words hold as true today as they did 20 years ago when we saw the story of the Refugee who ferried people across the India-Pakistan border. , his held high, face not betraying a shred of emotion, people all over the country did not blink for even a moment. Every pair of eyes in India was glued to television screens as we said abhinandan to Wing Commander Varthaman. So overwhelmed were all of us that even the video playing on loop on Pakistani news channels could not put a scratch on the joy.
Abhinandan says in the video released by Pakistan, "[JUMP CUT] unka josh kaafi uuncha tha [JUMP CUT] Usi samay Pakistani Army ke do jawan aaye, and unhon ne mujhe bachaya wahan se..."
"Unka josh kaafi uncha tha..."
How's the josh? High, Sir.
In the one-minute video, there are 17 jump cuts. So when Abhinandan talks about uncha josh, there's only one thing that comes to every Indian (and Pakistani) mind. The in the months since the release of the superhit Vicky Kaushal film. When Modi addressed a rally right after the IAF airstrikes in Balakot in Pakistan, he used the word "josh". Was making Abhinandan use the same phrase for the local Pakistanis who roughed him up an attempt at rubbing it in our face? You know the answer to that.
But in putting out that heavily-edited video, Pakistan ended up shooting itself in the leg. It hasn't even been a week the country announced a complete ban on Indian films in Pakistan. Using a line from a Bollywood movie, on the Uri surgical strike, on Pakistan... where do we even start with the ironies?
In our language and theirs, josh is never uuncha. But zyaada. Since the film used the word high, the propaganda warriors clearly made Abhinandan say uuncha. It's clear the filmy line from Uri has cut deep into Pakistani psyche.
Pakistan has always been more scared of soft power than probably even the threat of being nuked by India. Rewind to 2015. Director Kabir Khan was all set to release his film Phantom. The film was cleared by the censor board in India but got stuck in Pakistan. Jama'at-ud-Da'wah founder, earlier Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed knocked on the doors of the courts in Pakistan and kept Phantom from releasing in the country. He had to. Saif Ali Khan kills a thinly-veiled Saeed and the three other 26/11 attack masterminds in the film. Hafeez Saeed was aware of the power Bollywood holds over the minds of a normal Pakistani citizen. Seeing himself being shot, letting the people of Pakistan see him as a mere mortal - a terrorist at that, something that he is - was probably a little too much to digest for even Hafeez.
A year before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf attended the India Today Conclave. He told Aishwarya Rai, who was in the audience, "Madam, no matter who says what, you please don't act in a film that shows Pakistan in a negative light."
Because the threat of Pakistan being shown in a 'negative light' is far more real than the threat of Pakistan being bombed by India. The country was created out of a propaganda successfully executed by its founding members. The two-nation theory is a theory, after all. Pakistan has no basis pre-1947 and that India exists is a falsification of that theory. But for Pakistan to exist, that perception has to be kept alive. A country based on a perception fears perception more than it fears reality.
For quite a few years, before the 2016 surgical strike, the relation between India and Pakistan was that of two neighbours who tolerated each other. They did business, they played against each other in cricket matches and artistes from Pakistan worked in Indian films.
The scenario changed - almost overnight - after Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists attacked an Indian Army outpost near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri. The attack, till then deadliest in decades, resulted in the death of 17 Indian Army soldiers.
Abhinandan says in the video released by Pakistan, "[JUMP CUT] unka josh kaafi uuncha tha [JUMP CUT] Usi samay Pakistani Army ke do jawan aaye, and unhon ne mujhe bachaya wahan se..."
"Unka josh kaafi uncha tha..."
How's the josh? High, Sir.
In the one-minute video, there are 17 jump cuts. So when Abhinandan talks about uncha josh, there's only one thing that comes to every Indian (and Pakistani) mind. The in the months since the release of the superhit Vicky Kaushal film. When Modi addressed a rally right after the IAF airstrikes in Balakot in Pakistan, he used the word "josh". Was making Abhinandan use the same phrase for the local Pakistanis who roughed him up an attempt at rubbing it in our face? You know the answer to that.
But in putting out that heavily-edited video, Pakistan ended up shooting itself in the leg. It hasn't even been a week the country announced a complete ban on Indian films in Pakistan. Using a line from a Bollywood movie, on the Uri surgical strike, on Pakistan... where do we even start with the ironies?
In our language and theirs, josh is never uuncha. But zyaada. Since the film used the word high, the propaganda warriors clearly made Abhinandan say uuncha. It's clear the filmy line from Uri has cut deep into Pakistani psyche.
Pakistan has always been more scared of soft power than probably even the threat of being nuked by India. Rewind to 2015. Director Kabir Khan was all set to release his film Phantom. The film was cleared by the censor board in India but got stuck in Pakistan. Jama'at-ud-Da'wah founder, earlier Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed knocked on the doors of the courts in Pakistan and kept Phantom from releasing in the country. He had to. Saif Ali Khan kills a thinly-veiled Saeed and the three other 26/11 attack masterminds in the film. Hafeez Saeed was aware of the power Bollywood holds over the minds of a normal Pakistani citizen. Seeing himself being shot, letting the people of Pakistan see him as a mere mortal - a terrorist at that, something that he is - was probably a little too much to digest for even Hafeez.
A year before the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf attended the India Today Conclave. He told Aishwarya Rai, who was in the audience, "Madam, no matter who says what, you please don't act in a film that shows Pakistan in a negative light."
Because the threat of Pakistan being shown in a 'negative light' is far more real than the threat of Pakistan being bombed by India. The country was created out of a propaganda successfully executed by its founding members. The two-nation theory is a theory, after all. Pakistan has no basis pre-1947 and that India exists is a falsification of that theory. But for Pakistan to exist, that perception has to be kept alive. A country based on a perception fears perception more than it fears reality.
For quite a few years, before the 2016 surgical strike, the relation between India and Pakistan was that of two neighbours who tolerated each other. They did business, they played against each other in cricket matches and artistes from Pakistan worked in Indian films.
The scenario changed - almost overnight - after Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists attacked an Indian Army outpost near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Uri. The attack, till then deadliest in decades, resulted in the death of 17 Indian Army soldiers.
