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India, Pakistan movie-ing towards
peace
By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - There are
various prisms through which relations between India
and Pakistan are weighed, one of which is
the enormous outpouring of creativity that results from the
deep sense of emotional burning that people feel
for each other. Given the fickle nature of the way
matters in India and Pakistan swing for the better
or worse, it is important to get the timing right
as far as the commercial success of any creative
venture goes, especially movies.
A few
months back, noted Bollywood director Farhan
Akhtar, known for his funky hit Dil Chahta
Hai, released a movie called Lakshya
that was a take on the Kargil
war that was fought in the northern reaches
of Kashmir between India and Pakistan in 1999.
When Farhan started filming he likely never imagined that former
Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf would
be shaking hands in Islamabad in January 2004 and
that the two countries would be playing cricket
matches on each other's grounds for the first time
in more than a decade. Lakshya
encapsulated all that was evil about the
Kargil war, beyond some breathtaking cinematography
of the region, and contained some of the
dialogue that made another movie, Gadar , which
had earlier caught the angst of dipping
Indo-Pak relations, a super-hit. Lakshya , however,
did not go down well with audiences.
The
purpose of the above treatise is to link two
independent happenings of the recent past and
leave further judgment to the reader. It is no
secret now that the peace process between India
and Pakistan has reached a cul-de-sac, with a
consequent hardening of stance between the two
countries. Though the year-end review by the
Indian Foreign Ministry talks about an end to a
"reactive policy" that oscillates between
euphoria and despair, observers do say that things
are getting difficult and testy.
The bone of contention is of
course Kashmir, with Pakistan linking any substantial
progress to a breakthrough that suits
its interests and long-standing demands. Thus the purported
road link between the Pakistan and Indian
portions of Kashmir remains embroiled in endless
talks, while India's demand for concessions from Pakistan
on a gas pipeline from Iran as well
as reciprocal most-favored-nation status to boost trade has shown
no progress. The huge military-aid package that the
US has announced for Pakistan to take on terrorism
has also not gone down well with India, with the
Indian defense minister saying that such weapons
can only be used against India and not to catch
al-Qaeda terrorists. To make matters worse,
Musharraf has gone back to his old ways of
communicating his feelings, criticisms and
brainwaves of the moment about solutions to
Indo-Pak problems through the media. Then there
has been Pakistan's stand against any leeway to
India in the United Nations Security Council.
There are several reports in the media
now, quoting insider sources in the Indian
government, that suggest New Delhi is increasingly going
to toughen its stand against Pakistan.
Though there have been some positive steps in
moving confidence-building measures forward, with
India unilaterally announcing further easing of
visa norms, the core issues of the state-promoted
terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Kashmir
remain intractable. Thus it is likely that India
will seek to drag the situation in the Pakistan
portion of Kashmir into further talks and refuse
to hold back any punches as far as interactions
with the media are concerned.
The Indian petroleum minister has said he is now
looking for alternatives to the gas-supply pipeline
through Pakistan, though Pakistan has reluctantly
agreed to look at the issue in isolation instead
of linking it to solving Kashmir first. Though it
is quite unlikely that there will be any reversal
in the progress made so far in easing travel,
communication, visa links and confidence measures
between the two countries, there is an air of
resignation to slow and protracted progress.
It is in this context that a recent
Bollywood release, Veer-Zaara ,
featuring superstars Shahrukh Khan and Priety Zinta,
becomes important. The movie is a super-hit in India and
preaches, or rather romanticizes, the love between
the two protagonists who live on two sides of the
border, with the good feeling between the main
stars by default extending to good words of peace
between the two countries. It has also been a long
time since viewers in India were able to get a
glimpse of cities in Pakistan in a movie, a
reflection of the eased visa norms between the two
countries. Though screening of Bollywood movies is
banned in Pakistan, the stars, music and films are
very popular in the country, where a flourishing
illegal trade in Indian movies exists.
Veer-Zaara has been particularly
successful, with reports that it is illegally and
successfully running in movie halls in Pakistan.
But the more important message is that
people of the two countries are lapping up the
theme of peace, though matters between India and
Pakistan have taken a slight tumble. Yash Chopra,
the doyen of romantic movies in India, has managed
to deliver a riveting script and extracted
powerful performances. Commentators say that
officials of two countries, Musharraf as well as
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, could do
well to watch the movie so that some of the
colorful effects rub off. Actress Priety Zinta has
said that she would not mind going over to
Pakistan for a special screening of the movie for
Musharraf, while Shahrukh Khan also thinks that
the film could act as a bridge.
Indeed, if
the two leaders do end up watching the movie,
which would definitely be one more high profile
moment attracting a lot of media attention, it
could be dismissed as another symbolic gesture
without much substance or change in the ground
situation. But symbolic gestures do have a place
in the vexed negotiations when officials of the
two countries talk. If nothing more, they bring
about a feeling of bonhomie and light-heartedness.
After all, it was one well-publicized handshake
between Vajpayee and Musharraf during a
multilateral summit that broke the initial ice
between the two leaders. It was during cricket
matches between India and Pakistan early last year
that people got a real opportunity to express
themselves through any means - banners,
hospitality and good wishes.
One of the
criticisms of Manmohan's style is that he is too
understated in his approach, hemmed in by the
presence of other senior Congress Party leaders,
virulent left parties that provide the crucial
support to his coalition government, as well as
the omnipotent Sonia Gandhi, leader of the
Congress. It is time perhaps to get back to a
little bit of drama and theatrics to unjam the
wheels of the India-Pakistan peace talks. Veer
Zaara could be one answer.
Siddharth Srivastava is a New
Delhi-based journalist.
(Copyright
2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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