The detention and release of Pakistani singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in India, has put the always contentious cross-border cultural exchange in the spotlight, once again

Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's detention at the Delhi airport for carrying an unreasonable amount of US dollars in his baggage, has thrown up several important questions on the issue of cross-border cultural exchange.


Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

For years, we have welcomed Pakistani artistes into India to sing and act in Hindi films.
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One of the first filmmakers to do so was Manoj Kumar. 'Patriotic' Kumar saw nothing unpatriotic about Pakistan's film couple Mohammad and Zeba Ali playing Kumar's bhaiyya and bhabhi in the 1989 fiasco, Clerk.
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But it did not open the floodgates of cultural give-and-take between the two countries.

The presence of the Bigg Boss contestants, Begum Nawazish and Veena Malik grabbed many eyeballs and aroused a lot of interest here. Begum and Malik represented the hitherto-undisclosed face of Pakistan.
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These two reality show contestants were scandalous, controversial and colourful. We loved the way the burqa was force-lifted from the conservative face of Pakistan.

Sporadic appearances

Actors from Pakistan have appeared sporadically on Indian soil. Pakistan's Moammar Rana, who featured in Shashi Ranjan's Dobara in 2004 and Meera, who was brought into India and Bollywood by Mahesh Bhatt in Nazar in 2008, did nothing remarkable for the cause of cinema or Indo-Pak relations.

Meera did make outrageous statements about being the Aishwarya Rai of Pakistan. The Bachchans were not amused, though the Bhatts did laugh.

The two most successful actresses in India from Pakistan have been Zeba Bhaktiar, who was chosen by Raj Kapoor to play Rishi Kapoor's Pakistani love interest in Henna, and Salma Agha, whose role as the wronged Muslim wife in B R Chopra's Nikaah got her noticed.
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Salma also sang all the songs in Nikaah in her nasal Shamshad Begum voice. Soon the novelty-value of her voice faded. They came, we saw, they threw tantrums. Both Bakhtiar and Agha acquired a reputation for being unprofessional.

They were soon packed off from where they came. Now, Salma is back in Mumbai trying to promote her daughter.

Music mantra

More than actors, it is musicians from across the border, who have made a place for themselves in the Indian entertainment industry. Long before Adnan Sami there were Ghazal maestros Mehndi Hassan and Ghulam Ali, who were regular visitors to India, bringing with them a lot of goodwill from across the border.
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While the inimitable Hassan has fallen ill and is unable to travel, Ali saab continues to visit every corner of our country.

Not too long ago he had said to me, "I really enjoy working with talented musicians. I don't come to India just for concerts and performances. I have lots of friends here. People like you love me immensely in India. So nowadays, I come more often to meet my dear friends than for shows.

"I have done quite a number of charity shows in India recently. Koi bhi ho kissi ki musibat apni hi hoti hai. On a cultural level, we've been trying to bring the two countries together for a long time.
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I think relations between the two countries must improve. Peaceful relations between neighbours come above everything else.


Veena Malik and Ashmit Patel

I'm glad to see we're slowly working towards that goal. Indian artistes are loved in Pakistan as much as Pakistani artistes in this country. Pyar-mohabbat to badhni chahiye."