SHAAN Shahid is a pride of our film industry. His undiminishing respect and exemplary contributions to Lollywood are comparable to none. He has persistently refused to act in Bollywood films and turned down important roles such as playing the villain in Amir Khan’s Ghajini and remained vocal about it as well.

However, of late Shaan’s public statements have left us baffled. His allegiance to the industry was first questioned when he openly criticised Pakistani artists that pursued their career in Bollywood calling them ‘cheap sellouts’.

Shaan’s stature and persona is above such petty and impulsive comments. Why would Shahrukh Khan with fame and wealth beyond biblical proportions put his life at risk to make a movie in Pakistan! He could do that while sitting in the safety and comfort of his own homeland.

Shaan is making headlines again for comparing Shahrukh Khan’s Happy New Year to Hollywood’s Ocean’s 12 and blamed the Indian cinema for running out of good scripts. He then made another surprising statement by inviting Shahrukh Khan to make a film in Pakistan and become a global ambassador for art without boundaries.

Thousands of miles away Hollywood’s Salma Hayek is making a movie on the struggles of Karachiite Humaira Bachal to build a school in a slum. Similarly how could Indian cinema be running out of ideas, especially in the wake of Shaan’s directorial Arth 2, which is a remake of Indian movie Arth, directed by Mahesh Bhatt?

Barrister Mobeen Shah

United Kingdom

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2014