Dear Fawad Khan,
At the outset, let me clarify that I am not singling you out. I am merely addressing this letter to you because you are the most famous Pakistani import to Bollywood.
By addressing you, I want to talk to every Pakistani import to Bollywood. This letter could have well been addressed to Adnan Sami, Raahat Fateh Ali Khan, Mahira Khan… the list is endless and keeps increasing every year.
Fawad, I don’t think you can deny how much love we have showered on you over the past few years. We have given you more money in two years than what you could have possibly earned in Pakistan in 10 years. We have given you recognition that you would have never been able to earn sitting in Karachi. We made you act in great movies, we helped you endorse brands. And hey, we also made you a bigger star in Pakistan.
Though you are a supporting male lead in Bollywood movies, you are now a mega superstar in Pakistan.
We are proud of what we have done for you. We know that you have acknowledged it numerous times. You have spoken with gratefulness about the love and hospitality that we have shown to you. Though you keep mum about the money, you have earned here, we know that you are grateful to India for showering you with wealth too. Thank you for acknowledging that.
You are welcome.
I don’t know about others, I used to be very vocal about the fact that culture knows no boundaries and that there should be free exchange of artistes between India and Pakistan. Me and few of my friends supported and patronised the fact that India and Pakistan should collaborate for projects, specially when it comes to cinema. We recognise that cinema is one of the strongest forms of dialogue that can go a long way in forming public opinion across borders which will facilitate the peace process between the neighbours.
Not anymore.
Dear Fawad, whatever we have mentioned earlier is being done by us. India. Your country is doing just the opposite. We talk about dialogues but this is just becoming a monologue of peace from India.
We give you so much love and money, but your country continues to ban our cinema and our artistes.
We drool over you and give you some of our best projects. Your country dreams of creating a Bollywood on their own. We are thinking of collaboration while your country talks of division and isolation.
Our country knows that your country’s television serials are far better than us (in quality that is, we always had more money though) but your country’s government have prevented us from working with you there too.
Your country is mad about Bollywood movies but end up supporting piracy because most of the Bollywood movies are illegally downloaded in Pakistan. Bollywood movie piracy has only grown in Pakistan over the years.
All this never really mattered to us in the past. As I said earlier, we were only concerned about a free and fair cultural exchange no matter what is happening at our borders or how violence is being incited in Kashmir by your government backed Jihadi groups.
The water is flowing over our heads now, Fawad.
We have watched in pain how you have chosen to look away when your country is inflicting pain on us. We are letting you laugh all the way to your bank account in Karachi while our soldiers are bleeding in Uri, Kashmir.
You have chosen to keep quiet about us, our suffering and our death in the hands of your Mujahideen army. While we have given you only love, you have given us silence and that cute, dimpled smile of yours.
Sorry Fawad, cultural exchanges cannot happen over dead bodies of our soldiers. We cannot shake hands with your country when their hands are covered in blood of our own countrymen.
We know that you have a lot of support from Indians who would pamper you in isolation. We don’t blame them as they have invested money on you and wouldn’t want to lose it.
Photo Credit: Faisal Farooqui
Fawad, you lack courage. You lack conviction. You lack the guts to stand up against the Jihadists of your country who think they are serving God by killing us.
Finish what you are doing Fawad and then do us a favour by going back to Pakistan. You see, what you have earned here is enough to last a lifetime. Go when the time is good and don’t wait for people to boycott you. Don’t wait for movies to crash at the box office because you are there in it.
Let’s part as friends, Fawad. It doesn’t matter if you have failed to respond to the favours we have done to you and your colleagues from Pakistan.
We wish you all the best and pray that someday you will have the courage to rise above boundaries and speak for what is right. We wish that someday you will stand with us because you earned your bread on our soil.
Take care and let us know when you are getting your air tickets to Karachi done. We plan to give you a grand farewell.
With deep regards,
Your ardent Indian fan.
The author tweets at @soumyadiptabanerjee
Categories: Featured, View-point
Bollywood Journalist 
So you’re complaining about Pakistan and the solution is to be like them?
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If a mother is a killer. Is it justified to put the blame on her son aswell? I understand the fact that the family of our soldiers wont be able to take pakistani in India. But it makes no sense if u punish the kid because of someone being wrong in their family. And one more thing. You have been talking about this money money money throughout the post. Would u take a moment to realize the fact that whatever attention respect money he has got its because of his own work ! I am not a die hard fan of Fawad or something like that.. but truth hurts. He has done nothing wrong . His country did! Just like we(non muslims) hate islam coz they think every muslim is a terrorist. This is the same issue buddy !
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Very poor example of “If a mother is a killer….”. This doesn’t work here.
And about your argument that we hate Islam, do you even have any idea what you are saying? If we hated Islam, this country would have such demographics. Don’t compare Pakistan with India, look at their demographics and ours.
Now, let’s talk about Fawad, you said “Would u take a moment to realize the fact that whatever attention respect money he has got its because of his own work”, if you still think like that, you would need some more knowledge on the topic. The reason he is hired is not because of his Work, he is hired because our directors want to appease Pakistani public, release their movies there and make enough money from there.
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How lazily was this article written? Or were you just high on emotions, when you wrote this? because i don’t see any sense of semblance whatsoever here. I agree that cultures cannot be intertwined in the plethora of bloodshed and mass murder. However resting the blame squarely on the shoulders of an artist/artists is nothing short of petulant behaviour. Before holding the artists responsible for not raising their voice, have you considered the fact that their families and close ones still reside in our neighbouring country. Who will be held responsible if something were to happen to them,if in the wake of some fanatics who, like you, believe that mindless bashing is the solution of a deep political problem. And also before you point fingers at artists from neighbouring countries, can you ask what the people, who hold esteemed political positions on either sides of the border, are doing to curb the issue.
Your’s sincerely,
An Art Lover.
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You are insincere and insane person who does not know that these Pakistanis are siphoning our money and may be it can be used to finance terror strike on you
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And that is the reason why he has been sent back to Pakistan Pramod, to take care of his family back there and be there forever and to never get back to india. We as Indians have been too good to the Pakistani artists which they do not DESERVE AT ALL. Why are these bhikaari artists of Pakistan coming and making money on our soil, there is no dearth of artist in our country.
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Sir (Jerk) Dont think you get the point here in the letter. Its about these Pakis (Pakis are Artist later first they are hard core Pakis, unlike some stupids of us, who are artist first and Indian later) who keep their mouth shut despite knowing their country supports extreme terrorism in India. (Who knows these guys earn here and donate Hafiz Saeed half the wealth to survive there, Can you are Jerk Salman confirm that he is not involved with these groups, engineers, doctors, businessman, all over the world poru money and join all these extremist group , how could we believe that this guy is not involved?)
Second, when our country is making a strategic move of isolating Pakistan for teaching them a lesson, so they get the pain , get hit hard on economic side and even when your dear Pakis artist will suffer the financial losses and then they would realize and think why the heck my country attacks and kills people from where we can bring prosperity to our undeveloped ruined country. Why they suffer losses they would realize what is right and wrong.
Country stand first then Art & business & bla Bla comes.. Just respect the policy of country. Sir (J)
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But why bollywood needs PakistanIi actors?
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Hats off to you ,I cried when I read your article …… I cried when I saw FAWAD KHAN ,RAHAT FATEH ,ATIF ASLAM eating dinner in taj mahal hotel knowing very well THAT HOW IT WAS DESTROYED BY PAKISTANIS….. THEY ATE AND DRANK KNOWING HOW SOME OF OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WARE KILLED BY PAKISTANIS
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Dear Indians, Please if u have some time, Read the Article Below.
http://qz.com/795513/dear-india-pakistani-actors-like-fawad-khan-dont-need-bollywood-to-become-stars/
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People who keep preaching how art & politics should not be mixed & how it was not the artists’ fault- the people of Pakistan are blatantly denying that it was Pakistan that was behind the Uri attacks, some of them(I’m talking not about the commoners BTW, but influential people over there) even supporting the act. And you idiots & utter morons keep defending those bastards.
If only you felt this strongly about your martyred soldiers.
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The name of country ‘PAKISTAN’ should be changed to ‘TERRORISTAN’
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Seriously, what were you thinking while writing this? utter nonsense. Celebrities do not owe any apology regarding something they are not even involved in. You should be thankful to Fawad Khan instead, he being the reason of giving you this useless limelight.
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i agree. I am not an indian but i understan you very well.
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Adnan Sami – Too Indian for his own good
Adnan SamiVerified account@AdnanSamiLive
Big Congratulations to @PMOIndia & our brave Armed forces for a brilliant, successful & mature strategic strike against #terrorism ! #Salute
We get it Adnan Sami you have to prove to your new “motherland” – India – that you are patriotic but one can see this fake jingostism so don’t overdo it. No one likes cheaters – whether you cheat your spouse or your country.
And it is very hard to trust anyone who keeps changing their mother – FYI Adnan Sami people consider their countries to be their mothers.
And even though you may have become an Indian by getting a passport, you will always remain the outsider. This has been made clear to you many times by India’s extremist elements – you may think you Indian, they don’t.
But we see a pattern here. Poor Adnan Sami has always seemed to be confused about his nationality. He started off as a Pakistani, midway he became half British-half Pakistani. And then after a mid-life crisis and shedding thousands of pounds, Sami realized he wanted to be Indian. We get it that he wanted a piece of the wonderful pie of stardom of Bollywood – the world’s largest film industry – but it didn’t seem to work for you.
Sami began his career in music in Pakistan, and made some great music but he then decided to try his hand in India. He probably thought he would become No.1 in Bollywood – but that didn’t happen. Heck Atif Aslam made better and more popular music than he did in India. At the most Sami made a ripple in the ocean of talent in India. He became a pygmy – maybe a little taller than others – but a pygmy never the less.
Adnan SamiVerified account@AdnanSamiLive
Pakistanis r outraged by my earlier tweet. Their outburst clearly means they see Terrorist & Pakistan as the same! #selfgoal #stopterrorism
Of course Pakistanis are outraged by your Tweets, and they had every right to be angry. At this time when Indian forces are constantly engaging with Pakistani forces – as if trying to create a diversion from the cruelty in Held Kashmir – it is obvious to any intelligent person that Sami is referring to Pakistan as the terrorist. Pakistanis may criticize their country, but they will not tolerate anyone else’s unfounded criticism.
And Sami has gone a tad bit over with “our brave Armed forces for a brilliant, successful & mature strategic strike agains t#terrorism !” Wonder how the real Indians will react to the Tweets of an ‘Indianized’ wannabe ‘superstar’ from another country.
Advice for Adnan Sami NASA is planning to send people to the moon and colonize Mars soon – I suggest you apply for a lunar nationality or Martian.
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At least spare the innocent Adnan, don’t spill your venom on him.
A “wanna be superstar”? He is a superstar. A true Indian superstar that your poor Pakistani actors can only dream of.
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Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association hits back at Fawad Khan
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Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association hits back at Fawad Khan
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Fawad has nothing to do with all these happenings. ….anyways nice time killing letter.
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The article is a poor piece of writing that even a peanut vendor would hesitate to use. Your country has been killing Kashmiris and faced an expected backlash. PERIOD
On lighter note, you should be thankful to Pakistan for giving you a face to earn money through. If Fawad has earned money for himself, he has also undoubtedly earned more for the Producer and Directors who happen to be Indians.
You may have more money, but your country clearly lacks talent. No wonder you people had to “Import” talent.
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What a poor comment, shows your education level. PERIOD? Why? Who will answer genocide on Baloch and sindhi people?
And now a country which has a terrorist background and a proven history of genocide (Bangladesh, Ethnic cleansing of Kashimiri Pandits) is going to preach us about it?
As for the talent, again you showed your education level, you probably have no business sense and this is why you people have no good business company in Pakistan, you don’t even have the idea that they were imported for marketing purpose so that they can sell their movies in Pakistan. Talent. Hahaha. Johars and Chopras never import talents.
Stop making yourself a fool and live in reality.
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The following is a Pakistani’s response to calls from sections of the Indian population that artistes from the neighbouring country be barred from the Indian entertainment industry, particularly Bollywood. While such demands are made time and again, the killing of 18 Indian soldiers on Sept. 18 by alleged Pakistan-backed terrorists is what sparked the latest bout of aggression against Pakistani performers.
Dear India, Pakistani actors don’t need Bollywood to become stars
https://qz.com/795513/dear-india-pakistani-actors-like-fawad-khan-dont-need-bollywood-to-become-stars/
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