‘Pathaan provides cover for BJP’s violations of human rights in Kashmir’, says Fatima Bhutto. Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan, which broke box office records in India and other countries, was reportedly illegally screened in Karachi’s DHA at the request of SRK fans while Mission Majnu received harsh criticism in Pakistan for its ridiculous portrayal of Pakistanis and audacious attempt to rewrite history. Pathaan has been hailed as a masterpiece and possibly SRK’s best performance.
Fatima Bhutto, a well-known author and blogger, has revealed the attempt to “give cover” for the BJP’s egregious human rights abuses in India unlawfully occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), as well as the repeal of article 370 of the Indian constitution, which gave the region its autonomy. Bhutto has analysed India’s obsession with Pakistan in her most recent article for The Guardian, reflected through its many films, including Razi, Uri, and most recently, Mission Majnu and Pathaan.
Pathaan opens in Lahore to see a Pakistani general reacting to the news of Modi’s withdrawal of article 370, she recalled. The general dedicates the remaining years of his life to “bringing India to its knees,” for which he contacts a deranged terrorist. “Pathaan’s plot is nonsensical, and no one wears many clothes as they dance in bikinis and shorts trying to save India and therefore, the world,” writes Bhutto.
“It is naturally unconcerned with facts – article 370 was the instrument that allowed Kashmir’s ascension into the Indian union; if it is declared null and void, then so too is Kashmir’s ascension to India. But why bother with facts or what any actual Kashmiris think or feel? There aren’t any in this insipid film anyway,” she points out.
The New Kings of the World writer notes that the film masterfully shows those against the revocation as “homicidal maniacs” and those in its favour, such as Khan’s character, as “valiant government agents with pectoral muscles.” Citing the longest internet shutdown to take place in a democracy and the arrest of thousands of Kashmiri protesters, Bhutto adds, “To set up an event such as the degradation of Kashmir as a fun plot point is beyond tragic. The political project of Modi’s quasi-fascist BJP cannot be set to fun music and helicopter stunts, try as Bollywood might.”
Pathaan provides cover for BJP’s violations of human rights in Kashmir as Bhutto also calls out Khan, India’s biggest Muslim superstar, for never saying a word against Modi’s government, which is “globally known for its anti-Muslim persecution after robbing Muslims of their citizenship.”
She reminded readers that “admirers of Modi’s BJP and its politics lynch Muslims, filming their brutal killings on mobile phones to pass around WhatsApp as viral trophies.”
The writer even shared a tweet Khan made on the Indian prime minister’s birthday to wish him. “Your dedication for the welfare of our country and its people is highly appreciated. May you have the strength and health to achieve all your goals,” SRK had written. “Quite a thing to wish a man who as chief minister allegedly oversaw the murder of 2,000 Muslims and systematic rape of hundreds of women in Gujarat during the 2002 riots,” added Bhutto.
Calling out Bollywood for its “nasty” portrayal of Pakistanis, she cited various others films that represent not only Pakistanis, but Muslims in particular, in a negative light. “January also saw Netflix release Mission Majnu, a lazy drama about Indian spies finding out about Pakistan’s nuclear program,” she continues.
In the piece, Bhutto lauds Pakistan for producing films about “trans love stories, female desire and the toxic societal power of patriarchal fundamentalists,” and music that puts to question the divisions based on borders. Meanwhile, she laments what is happening in India as “doubly strange, where culture is no longer a medium used to extend conversation but rather a means to snuff it out.”
Pakistan, she says, despite being burdened by a faltering economy, decades of terrorism, and the humiliations of the war on terror, is experiencing a cultural renaissance. The Indian government has asked YouTube and Twitter to take down links to a two-part BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question, at the same time that these absurd films are created and marketed [in India], Bhutto reiterates in order to emphasise the double standards of Modi’s administration.
