Renowned writer and columnist Fatima Bhutto has shed light on Shah Rukh Khan film ‘Pathaan’ and called it an attempt to “provide cover” for BJP gross violations of human rights in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), followed by the abrogation of article 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted the province its autonomous status.
In her latest piece for The Guardian, Bhutto has deconstructed India’s obsession with Pakistan, reflected through its many films, including Razi, Uri, and most recently, Mission Majnu and Pathaan.
Pathaan opens in Lahore to see a Pakistani general reacting to the news of Modi’s withdrawal of article 370, she recalled. The general dedicates the remaining years of his life to “bringing India to its knees,” for which he contacts a deranged terrorist. “Pathaan’s plot is nonsensical, and no one wears many clothes as they dance in bikinis and shorts trying to save India and therefore, the world,” writes Bhutto.
“It is naturally unconcerned with facts – article 370 was the instrument that allowed Kashmir’s ascension into the Indian union; if it is declared null and void, then so too is Kashmir’s ascension to India. But why bother with facts or what any actual Kashmiris think or feel? There aren’t any in this insipid film anyway,” she points out.
The New Kings of the World writer notes that the film masterfully shows those against the revocation as “homicidal maniacs” and those in its favour, such as Khan’s character, as “valiant government agents with pectoral muscles.” Citing the longest internet shutdown to take place in a democracy and the arrest of thousands of Kashmiri protesters, Bhutto adds, “To set up an event such as the degradation of Kashmir as a fun plot point is beyond tragic. The political project of Modi’s quasi-fascist BJP cannot be set to fun music and helicopter stunts, try as Bollywood might.”
Bhutto also calls out Khan, India’s biggest Muslim superstar, for never saying a word against Modi’s government, which is “globally known for its anti-Muslim persecution after robbing Muslims of their citizenship.” Recalling the ominous National Registry of Citizenship Act, which declared 700,000 of India’s Muslims to be illegal immigrants, she reminded readers that “admirers of Modi’s BJP and its politics lynch Muslims, filming their brutal killings on mobile phones to pass around WhatsApp as viral trophies.”
