Pakistan Lifts Ban on Indian Films

Bollywood movies, the subcontinent’s most visible cultural export, are to be allowed to be screened in Pakistan, which has decided to lift the decades-old ban on Indian films as part of the peace process between the two neighbors.

Pakistan has outlawed public screenings of Indian films since a 1965 war, but has now removed from censorship guidelines the all-important words "Indian artiste" and "Indian director", according to the Times of India.

The paper quoted Saeed Rizvi, president of the Pakistan Film Producers Association, as saying prohibitions on these two had "had earlier prevented release of films of Indian actors and directors in Pakistan".

The first Indian film to be shown in Pakistan with formal permission will be the 1984 romance Sohni Mahiwal, a Russian-Indian venture. Mr Rizvi said the decision could lead to joint Pakistan-India projects. "We have wanted this to happen for a long time. With this notification things definitely look bright for our industry," he was quoted as saying.

India’s Hindi-language film industry, centred in Mumbai and known as Bollywood, is the world’s largest in terms of viewers and number of films it produces. Pakistanis, whose language Urdu is closely related to Hindi, lap up Indian films - usually by watching them on illegally recorded videos and DVDs. Illicit copies are easy to find in every Pakistani city.

Mutual admiration has toned down the jingoism in Bollywood, letting in storylines that reflect the current mood of reconciliation between the countries.

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf is a Bollywood fan. Last year, invited to a state dinner with the Pakistani leader was Mukherjee, an actress whose role as a Pakistani woman who falls in love with an Indian jet fighter ace in Veer Zaara won hearts across the border. Despite 50 years of antagonism, cinema-goers in both countries have made Bollywood actors superstars.