Pakistan actress, Hina Dilpazeer on cross-border tension

Actress Hina Dilpazeer, who will be seen with Naseeruddin Shah in Indo-Pak collaboration "Jeewan Hathi", says artistes can be peace messengers at a time when tension is high between India and Pakistan, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

The 47-year-old Pakistani actress believes artistes may not be able to change the current political scenario, but they can spread love, reported Dawn.

"All us artistes, who are related to creative works, our job is not to change anybody, our job is to ignite light in the darkness, in hopes that it may create light... We are just doing that.

"We ignite the light of our names, of our films and hope that it is enough to pave a path. We're not here to change anything. We're just here to spread love," she said.

The film is the part of a Pak-India collaboration initiated by Zee Zindagi called Zeal for Unity. The effort brought 12 filmmakers from both the countries.

Hina says the war is only between politicians, not the common people.

"I've lived a long time in Dubai and we had a lot of neighbours who were Indians, but they used to welcome us with a lot of love, and we'd call them over with a lot of love.

"This (Pak-India friction) is not the common man's war, this hatred is not the work of the common man, this is the politicians' work and nothing else. Why would one God-fearing human hate another God-fearing human? There's no reason," she said.

"Jeewan Hathi," written by Fasih Bari Khan and directed by Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi, is set to release in Pakistan on Nov 4. However, the project will not be screened in Indian cinemas as of now.

Pakistani artistes have faced a lot of backlash in India following the Uri attack. The Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) has banned artistes like Fawad and Mahira Khan till Indo-Pak relations are normalised.

Cinema owners in Pakistan have retaliated by vowing not to screen Indian movies. - BERNAMA