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Producer Afzal Khan
A love story for peace
Shelina Begum21/11/2003
A controversial film about a Muslim-Sikh love story is about to
break a 50-year "movie war" between India and Pakistan.
The troubled relationship between the two countries has meant that
movies made in India were banned in Pakistan and vice versa.
But now the spirit of developing friendship between the nations has
led to a joint film venture spearheded by British production
company Paragon Limited based in Huddersfield and two leading
directors Shashilal Nair from India and Syed Noor from Pakistan who
have worked together on 'Larki Punjaban.'
The film is a love story between an Indian girl and a boy from
Pakistan.
This is the first collaboration of its kind between two directors
from both countries and has meant that 'Larki Punjaban' will be
released in India and Pakistan this month.
Said producer Afzal Khan of Paragon Ltd: "Our aim was not to make
money for this film but to ease the tension between the movie
industry in Pakistan and India. Bollywood and Lollywood are major
industries in both countries and it's a shame that they had a ban
on each other's films.
"We really wanted to break this cycle by using directors from both
countries on a crossover film.
"When we showed 'Larki Punjaban' the film censors in both countries
didn't take long to allow the film to be released in both India and
Pakistan.
"One of the symbolic gestures in the film which is shown through
the love story is that both countries can become good
neighbours.
"Instead of spending 70 per cent of their money on weapons they
should use it to bring about peace. We hope this message comes
across in 'Larki Punjaban'."
Although the aim of the film has been to ease the relationships
between the movie industries, 'Larki Punjaban' did not go down well
with some religious groups.
Some Sikh activists in the UK have criticised the film on the
internet for featuring a Sikh woman with a Muslim man and have even
claimed that the movie was an attempt to brainwash the youth into
inter-religious relationships. They have called for a boycott the
film.
However Afzal said the controversy was shortlived as they screened
the film to community leaders who gave 'Larki Punjaban' the thumbs
up.
He said: "People jumped to their own conclusion based on the
publicity of the film.
"I was getting so much hate mail and one day I received 400 e-mails
about the film.
"It was a lot of nonsense, but to make people feel better we
screened the film to the Sikh community in Southall and the Muslim
community in Bradford and everybody enjoyed it.
"In fact some Sikhs really liked the portrayal of the Sikh
community in the film. It got a really good response."
The film took two years in the making. The original plan was to
base it in the UK but after 11 September the artists and production
team from Pakistan could not get visas.
So they decided to film in Pakistan, India and Malaysia.
Said Afzal: "Even then we had problems because some people from
Pakistan could not get visas to India and vice versa. So Syed Noor
shot his part of the film in Pakistan, Shashilal Nair did his part
in India and then both directors got together in Malaysia where we
shot the dance sequences.
"But overall its been an exciting project and everybody had a great
time working together, we hope this relationship with India and
Pakistan will continue to grow."
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