If even one soldier's mother believes in it, we should do it: Ranveer Singh on banning Pakistani actors from working in India

By Bollywood Reporter

on March 02, 2019

Amid the escalating tension between India and Pakistan, Ranveer Singh has addressed the issue of banning Pakistani artistes and actors from working in the country and said that even if one soldier’s mother believes that the aforementioned stance should be taken, “we should follow that.”

While speaking at an event in New Delhi on March 1, Ranveer said, "I am very cognisant that there is this school of thought that one should not mix art and sport with it, they are two different realms.”

Ranveer Singh photographed in Mumbai

After the Pulwama terror attack, the All Indian Cine Workers Association issued a statement on February 18, announcing a “total ban” on Pakistani actors and artistes working in the Hindi film industry. The film body also said that action will be taken against organisations that insist upon working with Pakistani actors and artistes despite the ban.

Speaking about it, Ranveer said, "But at the same time, us as artists and sportsmen, we are not sacrificing the same way that some of our compatriots are. Art and sports are different realms. The boundaries should be different. But we are not sacrificing the way some of our compatriots are. If there's even one mother of a soldier who believes that we shouldn't engage, we should follow that."

Several Pakistani artistes including Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Atif Aslam, have worked in the Hindi film industry. While Mahira made her debut in Bollywood with Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees in 2017, Fawad appeared in Khoobsurat, Kapoor & Sons and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Atif frequently provide vocals to Hindi songs in Bollywood. After the Pulwama attack, Atif Aslam’s song from Salman Khan-produced Notebook was dropped as well.

SRK and Mahira Khan in a still from Raees

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber on February 14 rammed his vehicle packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district. The attack, much like the one in Uri in 2016, has impacted cultural ties between the two nations.