article on larki punjaban, abit old

Love across the borders

While the Indo-Pak relations has seen a kind of thawing not
witnessed for a long time, a film centering around a love story
of a Sikh girl and a Pakistani boy has created ripples in England,
reports TWF correspondent Jonathan P Dyson

While Larki Punjaban, the controversial Pakistani film in which a Muslim boy falls for a Sikh girl, struggles to find a release date in Pakistan or India, English cinemas are still counting their profits from a massive box office hit.

The movie, which ran in England since November, was the first Pakistani film to be released in the international circuit before being shown in Pakistan. In all it was released in 22 UK cinemas, including those with high Asian populations, such as Leeds The movie, dubbed the Romeo and Juliet of Kashmir, proved popular with British Pakistanis and Indians alike. However, it first had to fight a bitter reaction from the British Sikh community.

In the film, Preetam, a Sikh girl, falls in love with Shamyl Khan, a Muslim boy, when their families meet in Lahore. Their relationship is threatened, however, by their parents, whose hatred of the relationship stems from the tragic events of the partition of 1947.

The film is the first production of Paragon Pictures International, based in Huddersfield, near Leeds, Yorkshire. The company was formed by the film's producer Afzal Khan and director, Syed Noor. They plan to release the movie in India and Pakistan early this year, and then in the US and Dubai.

In the build-up to the film's UK release, thousands of British Sikhs called for a boycott of the film, as they viewed it as anti-Sikh. Some Sikh activists criticised the film for featuring a Sikh woman with a Muslim man, and even claimed that the movie was an attempt to brainwash the youth into inter-religious relationships. Some Sikhs also wrote letters to newspapers claiming such a film would damage community relations.

Much of the campaign involved threatening hate mail sent via e-mail to Afzal Khan, who claimed to receive 5,000 such e-mails, including 400 in one day. The Sikh community was soon pacified, though, after Khan invited the Sikh community leaders in London to a preview. When they were told it was a love story and there was no question of using the film to belittle either India or Pakistan, they announced they had no objections.

Khan explained to the press: "People jumped to their own conclusion based on the publicity of the film. I replied to those who talked sensibly, and assured them there was no religious or political agenda behind the movie. I have no strong political beliefs; the idea was simply to make a commercial love story. But it was not easy to relieve people’s fears.”

"To make people feel better we screened the film to the Sikh community in Southall and the Muslim community in Bradford. The response was exceptional. In fact, some Sikhs really liked the portrayal of the Sikh community in the film.”

Khan went on to describe the dramatic turnaround among British Sikhs: “The Sikh's response to the film once they saw it was so positive that posters of the movie are now displayed in Southall in Sikh-owned businesses. One Sikh community leader called Kesar Singh Mand said that Larki Punjaban was the best portrayal of Sikh characters he has ever watched in a film. This was a great compliment for the director Syed Noor who took a lot of trouble to find out about the Sikh religion and culture before starting the movie.”

The film took two years to make. It was originally planned to shoot it in the UK but after 9/11 the artists and production team from Pakistan could not get visas. So they decided to film in Pakistan, The film's world premiere was in Bradford, near Leeds. Its extensive popularity was indicated when one of England's leading national newspapers, The Guardian, invited readers to review the film on its website. The average reader rating from 46 votes was 9.1 out of 10.

Readers' comments indicated a particular appreciation of the peaceful notions behind the film. "It has no vulgarity, with soft music and attractive locations giving the message of peace to all Hindus and Muslims," one wrote. Another reader commented: "Overall good family entertainment with a strong message of peace."

The impact of the film on the Pakistani community was especially clear. Shazia enthused: "Brilliant Pakistani movie. It will be a shame if the community does not support it," while Naheem said: "Best Pakistani film I've seen! 11/10. A must see!" Others said it made them proud to be Pakistani, and that they would recommend all Paklistanis go and see it.

The aim of the film has been to ease the relationships between the Indian and Pakistani movie industries, something that has produced plenty of passionate debate. One viewer commented: "This film is typical of the Bollywood style, but this is not a Bollywood film. This is a major attempt by the Pakistani film industry to compete with mainstream Indian films."

In many ways the timing of the film couldn’t be better, with political relations between India and Pakistan thawing by the day. And just as the news from Delhi and Islamabad is greeted with smiles among British Asians, so too are Larki Punjaban’s messages of peace and love.

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