KARACHI, June 26: A Bollywood delegation, citing security and visa concerns, has cancelled a visit to Pakistan for a screening of one of the few movies to beat a 40-year-old ban on Indian films, a Pakistani organiser said on Monday.
The decision by about 50 members of the Indian film industry to ditch a showing in Karachi of the 1960 classic “Mughal-e-Azam”, or “The Great Moghul”, is in keeping with the faltering peace process the South Asian rivals began over two years ago.
“We have been told by our Indian managers there were some visa issues with the security to travel with the Indians,” Hafeez, media manager for the organisers, told Reuters.
“They had concerns and have put off their visit,” he said, adding the screening of the romantic epic has been cancelled.
Earlier, a top Bollywood lyricist, Javed Akhtar, had said Pakistan had refused him a visa to attend the event.
While competitive sporting links have improved and small steps forward have been made to promote trade, there has been little progress towards resolving key territorial disputes, notably on Kashmir.
For all the excitement over developing greater contact between their nations, both sides have failed to capitalise on their peoples’ mutual love for Bollywood movies.
Pakistanis watch Indian films on satellite television, and buy pirated DVDs, but cinemas can’t show them.
Earlier this year, the historical drama Mughal-e-Azam was screened in April in Lahore to become the first Indian film to show in Pakistan in decades.—Reuters
