#DNAReaderEdit: Should Pak actors be allowed in Indian films? No.

Should films already shot with Pakistani actors be disrupted? No.  

After years of terrorism against India, it’s time to take a principled stand. India no longer plays cricket with Pakistan. The dialogue process has been suspended till terrorism from Pakistan ends. So should the participation of Pakistani actors in Indian films.   

In a recent interview, when Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani was asked about the issue, he said India comes first. The answer was oblique, the meaning clear. Just as terror and talks don’t go together, terror and films don’t either.  

Beyond the current fracas lies a larger Bollywood story. Director Anurag Kashyap’s mildly deranged tweet to Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscores how disconnected Bollywood is from reality. Last year, Aamir Khan waxed eloquent about the dangers posed to Indian democracy by “rising intolerance”. On a public platform he shared wife Kiran Rao’s fears: she was even toying with the idea of leaving the country, he declared. This occurred in the middle of the award wapsi campaign, orchestrated with great finesse. Kiran’s hyperbolic fears and Aamir’s own doubts over rising intolerance obviously bore no relation to reality.  
Terrorism is a serious issue that concerns all citizens. It doesn’t take much effort to take a position on such issues.   

Actors like Aamir Khan and directors like Karan Johar should speak up more often against Pakistani-sponsored terrorism — and not only, as Karan Johar did, when their commercial interests are threatened.  

The author is a media group chairman