"So, I don't understand this."
Rajeev Khandelwal reacted angrily to the ban on Pakistani actors in India, declaring that the restriction was wrong and should not exist.
He said: “Who are these politicians to ban artists? Our politics dictates a certain narrative.
“Where there is love blossoming between two nations, you don’t even allow that for whatever reasons.
“So, I don’t understand this.
“I also feel that it’s wrong on my part to comment on this as I don’t understand it.
“We often speak about harmony and peace.
“So, where there is genuine peace and harmony, there too political parties give it a Hindu-Muslim angle.
“That is not right. It’s not that the Pakistani government is sending the artists as agents.
“I don’t know. I have only seen a lot of love coming always.”
Following the 2016 Uri attack, the relations between India and Pakistan soured.
This prompted the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) and the Film Producers Guild of India to ban Pakistani actors from India.
In 2021, Mahira Khan, who has worked extensively in India, addressed the ban.
She expressed: “I feel like a great opportunity for the entire subcontinent to come together and collaborate was lost.
“I think it might happen again. Who knows?
“A lot of the other series were offered to me and at that time, I don’t know if anybody will understand when I say this, I was scared.
“I was genuinely just scared. It wasn’t about what people say.
“I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I want to go there’.
“And there was some content which was amazing, and I didn’t want to miss out on it.”
In 2023, the High Court refused the ban, stating:
“A true patriot is a person who is selfless and devoted to the cause of his country.
“Which he cannot be unless he is a person who is good at heart.”
“A person who is good at heart would welcome in his country any activity which promotes peace, harmony and tranquillity within the country and across the border.
“Arts, music, sports, culture, dance and so on are the activities which rise above nationalities, cultures and nations, and truly bring about peace, unity and harmony between nations.
“One must understand that in order to be a patriot, one need not be inimical to those from abroad especially, from the neighbouring country.”
On the work front, Rajeev Khandelwal was last seen in Bloody Daddy (2023).
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