These 11 Atif Aslam songs released after the 2016 ban on Pakistani artists are testimony to Bollywood's hypocrisy
After the URI attacks in September 2016, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association banned Pakistani artists and technicians from working in Bollywood
The line between art and politics in India has always been blurry. And, inevitably, politics has always managed to intrude the other way.
After the URI attacks in September 2016, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association banned Pakistani artists and technicians from working in Bollywood "until normalcy returns". The organisation’s president, TP Aggarwal went further ahead and said Pakistanis would be banned “for ever”, and asked the Indian government to boot them from the country.
IMPPA’s statement came ater the threats issued by Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. The party had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Pakistani artistes and actors including Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan and Ali Zafar, to leave India or else they would be “pushed out”.
But actors weren't the only ones who were targeted. The ban also affected the music industry. Several prominent Pakistani singers like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Atif Aslam faced the brunt of the govt's decision as their concerts got cancelled.
In March 2018, IMPPA demaned a ban on work permits to all Pakistani artists. The demands were expressed through a letter from the IMPPA president T P Aggarwal directly to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the letter, Aggarwal requested that the PM take into account the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers and make a decision once and for all.
“It is our request to the government of India to bar the work permits of all Pakistani artists working in different departments of the Indian film and music industry,” it read. “Not only as entertainment professionals but also as Indians, we are immensely hurt by the rude behaviour portrayed by Pakistani artists with regard to Pakistani terrorism.”
IMPPA also demanded for visa restrictions to be amplified and requested a complete ban on the issuance of visas for all Pakistanis.
However, surprisingly enough, despite all these bans, Atif Aslam continued to bag lucrative projects in India. The ace-singer has given more than 11 hit songs in the past two years. While Bollywood celebs 'condemned' terrorist attacks on Twitter, music label companies continued to sign Pakistani artists.
Recently in wake of the dastardly Pulwama terror attacks in Kashmir, T-Series was forced to unlist Atif's music single ‘Baarishein’ on YouTube.