NEW DELHI, March 7: A veteran Indian actress and women’s rights activist has said that Indian and Pakistani filmmakers should make movies together. The two countries share a broad South Asian culture and Indian films are hugely popular in Pakistan, although they are banned in cinemas and on state-owned TV. Pakistani poetry songs and television dramas, meanwhile, are widely available in India.

“I think it’s time that the Indian and Pakistan film industries should work together,” actress Shabana Azmi was quoted as saying by the Times of India on Tuesday.

“I’m not just talking about releasing our films in Pakistan,” she said. “For real collaboration, we need to make films together.”

Pakistani authorities have long discouraged such collaborations, despite improving ties between the nuclear-armed rivals. In fact, when Pakistani actress

Islamabad outlawed public screenings of Indian films in 1965, the year the neighbouring countries fought the second of their three wars.

However, Bollywood hits are widely available on DVD and can be broadcast legally on satellite TV, and Indian stars are now allowed to hold concerts in Pakistan.

Ms Azmi, a longtime actress and lawmaker who has fought for women’s rights, recently performed plays in Karachi and Islamabad, helping to raise Rs10 million for victims of the Oct 8 earthquake, the paper said.—AP