Miffed with neighbours

Filmmakers Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta are upset about Pakistan's blanket ban on Indian shooting

The two 'NRI' filmmakers Deepa Mehta and Mira Nair have never seen eye-to-eye through the camera lens. Or otherwise.

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Mira Nair and (right) Deepa Mehta

Considered fierce rivals, both the directors have now joined hands for an unexpected cause. They are united in their fight against Pakistan's blanket-ban of Indian films and filmmakers shooting in their country.

Says a source close to both of them, "Deepa and Mira were very sure that portions of Midnight's Children and

The Reluctant Fundamentalist had to be shot in Pakistan because the novels (by Salman Rushdie and Mohsin Hamid respectively) are located in the country.
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To their shock, they were both denied permission to shoot in the country. Deepa had to recreate Karachi in Sri Lanka and Mira had to fudge parts of New Delhi to make it look like Lahore."

Says the source, "Both Mira and Deepa are deeply frustrated and rightly indignant about the menace of political sanctions being imposed on cinematic art. They are waiting for their respective films to be released before they take a collective stand against it."

Recently Naseeruddin Shah couldn't shoot for globally acclaimed Pakistani director Shoaib Mansoor's Bol in Pakistan.

Defending Mira's decision to shoot in Delhi instead of Lahore, Om Puri who has a small part in the film says, "How could we shoot in Pakistan? Every day there are bombings and attacks."

However, the source close to Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta maintains the two filmmakers' inability to shoot on location in Pakistan has considerably dampened their spirits.