Pak actress Mahira Khan opens up on Pak artists ban in Industry
Pak actress Mahira Khan opens up on Pak artists ban in Industry
While tensions persists amid India and Pakistan following a military escalation earlier this month, Pakistani artists remain at the heart of a complex cultural standoff. While the political climate has led to a renewed clampdown on Pakistani artists in India.
Meanwhile, the actress calls for calm, and to invest in local entertainment.
As of now in the US to promote her upcoming film “Love Guru” alongside co-star Humayun Saeed, Mahira addressed the issue of Pakistani artists being banned in India amidst a meet-and-greet session with fans.
The Raees star, who shared the screen with Shah Rukh Khan in her Bollywood debut before the 2016 ban on Pakistani actors, offered a layered take on the issue.
She thinks we need to focus inwards, and also need to focus on our own industries. She went on to add thatb
She isn’t a person who believes in cancel culture and she talks broadly as she does’t believe in bans and stuff like that, Mahira ended. Her comments come in the wake of renewed nationalistic fervour on both sides of the border, with the cultural boycott drawing fresh lines amid the two entertainment industry.
But for Mahira the answer isn’t tit-for-tat isolation. Instead, she emphasised the importance of emotional restraint and long-term investment in local talent.
Of course, the situation is such that you are emotional, and you are very attached to your country. Your country is your country. But beyond that I think, instead of taking such a strong stance — that’s your prerogative — for them us, she thinks it’s important that they invest in themselves. Let’s start investing.
Her remarks appear to reflect a growing sentiment within Pakistan’s creative circles, many of whom feel that while bans and restrictions may serve political optics, they do little to nurture the industries they claim to protect.
This isn’t the first time Mahira has championed cross-cultural artistic freedom. Following the 2017 cultural fallout between India and Pakistan, the very year Raees came out and she couldn’t be in India for its promotions, Khan expressed sadness over how politics had overshadowed her project.
In an interview she voiced that she also needs to promote the film and to be in an interview with Shah Rukh Khan talking about it.
As for film 2025, her message remains consistent but grounded in a call for cultural self-reliance. As Love Guru continues its international tour, Khan’s words serve not only as a reflection of her own journey navigating two industries but also as a reminder of the larger responsibility artists bear in times of division: to build, not boycott.
News Edit KV Raman
