Films of Pakistan and India wage war by celluloid

Sajjad Gul, owner of Pakistan's largest film studio, Evernew, in Lahore, says that no film could make money if it were simply political.

"Ever since the inception of the film industry in Lahore, there have been only three subjects: women, money, and land," says Mr. Gul, whose company released the political thriller, "Tere Pyar Main."

"I think the reason 'Gadar' is doing so well is because it was a good movie," says Gul. "Even 'Tere Pyar Main,' it's an excellent movie by our standards. And it is essentially a love story."

Indeed, the most striking difference between "Gadar" and "Tere Pyar Main" is not just their respective budgets and song-and-dance sequences, but their tone. In the Indian film "Gadar," the only positive Muslim character is a longtime friend of the hero; all others, including the heroine's Muslim family in Pakistan, are stridently anti-Indian. The Pakistani film "Tere Pyar Main," is tame by comparison. Most of the Indian characters are sympathetic. The lone exception is Narayan, a jealous childhood friend of the heroine who is now an Indian soldier based in - surprise! - Kashmir.

On a dusty backlot at Bahri Studios in Lahore, director Syed Noor admits that Pakistani audiences are demanding more films that paint India in a negative light. But he explains that Pakistani censorship rules specifically forbid Pakistan-based filmmakers from making anti-Indian films.

"I'm going to make movies about India and Pakistan, and also love stories, but I try to give a solution. Why this hesitation and bad reaction about each other?" says Mr. Noor, taking a break from filming "Behram Daku" (Behram the Thug), a low-budget action movie about a criminal gang in the wilds of Pakistan.

Babar Ali, a handsome young superstar with a sinister role in Noor's film, says he has seen a change in the kinds of movies being made in Pakistan. Whereas he once used to get many romantic leading roles, lately it's been thugs, ne'er-do-wells, and scoundrels.

"I'd say 98 percent of the movies are based on action these days," he sighs, while pasting on a Pancho-Villa-style mustache before his next scene.

But most Pakistani film critics note that the Pakistani film industry will always exist under the shadow of the larger Indian film industry, where the average cost of a single song-and-dance scene can be twice the budget of an entire Pakistani film. Indeed, even though Indian films are banned from being shown in Pakistan - as a way to protect the struggling Pakistani film industry - most Pakistanis end up seeing the latest Indian hits on pirated videotapes, which are often available the same week of their release in India.

"There once was a time when the Indian film industry stood for nonviolence, for secularism, peace and love; they stood for song and dance," says Pakistani film critic Sarwat Ali. But ever since the situation in Kashmir deteriorated, he says, the tone has changed.

India has made a string of blockbuster war films, from 'Border' to 'Refugee' to 'Mission Kashmir,' and now 'Gadar.' And Pakistan has responded with movies like 'International Guerrilla' and 'Tere Pyar Main.' "Some of them were rank propaganda, and very badly made. But I don't think any of these films did badly."

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