Destiny's children: India and Pak united in divide

LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR: Panelists on State of the Nation debate and discuss India and Pak's shared past and future.

                    

Featured Blog

Rajdeep Sardesai

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

Featured Slideshows

Cricket, music, cinema: The new glues

The SOTN survey also posed key questions and observed trends pertaining to culture and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Films, music and sports were the predominant themes of the survey, the results of which indicated interesting trends.

Music

While 13 per cent Indians surveyed admitted to watching Pak TV channels , 22 per cent said they listened to music from across the border.

In Pakistan, the numbers were more even more clinching with 52 per cent of those surveyed admitting to watch Hindi films, while 48 per cent said they listened to Indian music.

The results made it seem that Indian satellite TV, music and songs are the biggest exports to Pakistan. Yadav pointed out that it was not limited to music or showbiz. “Pakistani media covers more about India than Indian media does about Pakistan. An average Pakistani intellectual knows much more about India than an average Indian knows about Pakistan,” he said.

Sherry Rahman didn’t seem to agree with the statement that Indian culture was sweeping Pakistan and said it was, in fact, a global phenomenon. “Why Bollywood films do well in Pak has got t o do with the quality of films. They will do better if we have m ore icons like the gentlemen here (Naseer and Aamir),” she pointed out.

Rahman also said Pakistan should try and ease Indian films’ entry into that country provided they do not propagate violence and hatred. “We do not want to revisit Partition in any form,” she point out.

So has the era where a Veer Zaara would be more acceptable that say, a Gadar? Naseer said while those bent on making movies like Gadar would continue to do so. “And really, I don’t see any terrible damage done by the movie. After World War II, many Italian movies depicting Germans as horrible people were made. That didn’t make much difference in the relation between the two countries,” he said.

Naseer’s emotions found an echo of approval in Aamir who said he would be willing to act in a film like Veer Zaara. Naseer, who recently acted in a Pakistani film, said it was a great experience, worth a repeat. “Though it was the first time I visited Pakistan, it was great. It’s a brave film too,” he said.

However, amid the bonhomie, there’s also a feeling that this sense of celebration is largely one-sided. While India goes out of its way to make Pakistani artistes feel welcome, similar emotion does not quite prevail across the border.

Shekhar Gupta said it would not be appropriate to look at everything in a bilateral sense. “In case of Hollywood, must America and Mexico demand and expect bilateralism of each other? One urban centre becomes the magnet of creative community. We have to see it like that. When everything is being done in one language, one idiom and by similar people, there’s no need for two centres,” he said.

Cricket

Who are Pakistan’s favourite Indian cricketers? In the third position was skipper Rahul Dravid with 11 per cent votes, Sourav Ganguly was at no. 2 with 12 per cent votes and Sachin Tendulkar swept the poll with a 49 per cent vote share.

Who are India’s favourite Pakistani cricketers? Shahid Afridi occupied the third slot with 16 per cent votes, Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram were joint firsts with 18 per cent votes each.

So does cricket really break down boundaries or is it a romantic notion? Imran Khan said cricket has created a better understanding between the two countries. “It’s a game loved across sub-continent and it’s because of the game that you start looking at each other as normal human beings,” he said. Interestingly, it’s the same Imran who had once famously remarked that cricket was war without weapons. Today, he said it was all tension on the field.

Lalu, also the president of Bihar Cricket Association, had strong opinions on the issue. Considering that cricket it the first casualty whenever there’s a frigidity between India and Pakistan, Lalu said it should not happen. “Whoever lets cricket suffer because of political ties is an enemy of the country. It’s a great start to cricketing ties and should continue,” he said.