70 mm curiosities

Khuda Kay Liye, an already acclaimed film by Pakistani director Shoaib Mansoor, was released in cinemas across India on Friday. What makes this remarkable is the fact that it is the first Pakistani film to be commercially released in India. In Pakistan too, it is only the odd Indian film that hits theatres despite the incredible popularity of Hindi cinema there. For two countries whose peoples are so curious about each other, and who have spent practically all the six decades of their independent existence using surreptitious ways to enjoy each other8217;s art and music, this is a moment to reconsider the absurdity of the curbs.

These curbs on commercial 8212; and lawful 8212; viewing of each other8217;s cinema are already incongruous. In the last few years, particularly since India8217;s 2004 cricket tour of Pakistan, people-to-people contact has been largely disentangled from bilateral ties at the official level. Restrictions on cross-border travel have been eased, and a familiarity with the other country has been enhanced by extensive media focus. Happily, many of the propaganda narratives and stereotypes of the last century have not held up in this openness. A film like Khuda Kay Liye, for instance, with its sensitive consideration of how close the tipping points to both extremism and moderation are, is at its heart a universal story. It is also revealing of the ways in which ordinary lives intersect with the great disturbances of geopolitics, in this instance the 9/11 attacks on the United States. To watch it is to understand Pakistan a little bit better. And to celebrate the power of good music.

But this argument for freer access is not based on the quality of the films on offer or their transformative power. Such curbs are inconsistent with democratic freedoms and amount to nothing more than censorship. But the India-Pakistan context is important. So much of our telling of history, for instance, is unspokenly addressed to each other. That is the other side of curiosity. To have the power to watch each other8217;s films, and consequently to be able to reject them just as casually as we would do movies from any other part of the world, would be a valuable sign of normalisation.