C H a P t E r

Dada Negativity and Pakistani Characters in Bollywood Films

Kamal ud Din and Nukhbah taj Langah

INtroDuCtIoN
Since the independence of India and Pakistan, the Bollywood film industry has journeyed through various phases of political and military conflicts as well as diplomatic wrangling, focusing on the historical and political realities of these two countries, along with commenting and critiquing on their foreign policies. There are three historical phases on which popular Indian cinema has focused. In the first phase, the themes of Partition, migration, relocation, and traumas faced by the victims of Partition became crucially important as indicated through many films recently, for instance, Train to Pakistan (1998), Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), Veer-Zara (2004), and Partition (2007). In the second phase, the focus shifted toward Kashmir with its intricate and paradoxical image of being a bone of contention between India and Pakistan, a river of bloodshed, and yet bearing a magnetic appeal for maturing love, peace,

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beauty, and relationships as depicted in Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), Mission Kashmir (2000), Yahaan (2005), LOC: Kargil (2003), Fanaa (2006), and the latest being, Lamhaa (2010).1 In the third phase, the Bollywood industry started focusing on the political positioning of Muslims in India, the relationship or marriages between Hindus and Indian and Pakistani Muslims; for instance, in Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), Veer-Zara, and Kurbaan (2009).2 The representation of Muslims in the Bollywood film industry became complicated with the representations of Muslims, particularly Pakistani Muslims as being negative characters, such as dons, smugglers, and drug dealers belonging to the Indian underworld. Some examples are Angaar (1992), Ghulam-e-Musthafa (1997), and Sarfarosh (1999). Such negative images of Muslims became redefined in the global context of international politics and the event of 9/11 when Muslims became identified as extremists, jihadis, and through the Western lens, terrorists. In this chapter, we have explored the negative images of Muslim Pakistanis in two Indian films, entitled Hindustan Ki Kasam (1999) and Kurbaan (2009). Bollywood movies usually adopt constructionism to create images of Pakistan and Pakistani, either to cater to the demands of cinema viewers or sometimes also to highlight certain policies that the government wants to promote. However, our use of the concept of constructionism is heuristic as well as historical (Watten 2003: XVII). The focal point of our discussion of constructionism encompasses the general theoretical interest as well as specific historical reference of such moments, incidences, persons, and situations that function as examples as they provide sites for reflection and models for agency (ibid.). It is significant to note that this change in the Bollywood industry began as early as the 1960s. For example, in Chhalia (1960) and Kabuliwala (1961) we find two Pathans, one from Pakistan and the other from Afghanistan. Both of them have a violent temper and are lawless, whereas their Hindu counterparts are portrayed as essentially good, humane, and philanthropic. In this way, Pakistani or non-Indian Muslim characters have been presented as rough, violent, and villainous. No doubt, they are depicted as inferior to Indian Hindus, but their nobility of soul is their
1. For more discussions on the image of Kashmir created in Bollywood, see Kabir (2005: 83100, 2010: 373385). 2. For more on the representation of Muslims, see Rai (2003).

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saving grace. However, after the 1965 war with Pakistan, the themes of most of Indian films relating to Pakistan revolved around an anti-Pakistan stance and Indian heroism constructed against the backdrop of Indian victory and valor of a hero who vindicates Indian national pride. Indian government policies are clearly reflected in the theme of the story, or highlighted in speeches and actions of the protagonist, or brought out by juxtaposing Indian and Pakistani characters. In order to create this impression, Indian moviemakers use the determiner, who is a good liberal humanist and law-abiding Indian (usually a Hindu), fully conscious of his or her civic rights and responsibilities, and also makes others aware of theirs. This determiner is juxtaposed against the bad Pakistani Muslim. This construction of this binary of good and bad by using a determiner enables Indian film producers to construct the image of Pakistanis as essentially bad, cruel, irresponsible, inhuman, and fanatical. On the other hand, Indians, particularly Hindus, are imaged as essentially liberal, tolerant, humanist, and peace loving like the character of Avantika in Kurbaan. This binary of the good versus bad is one of the major devices that Indian filmmakers have used to construct Pakistan as monstrous, ruthless, inhuman, and demonic since 1967, the release date of Upkaar in which Bharat (Manoj Kumar), whose name also reflects his role of an Indian soldier and farmer, defeats the demon design of the enemy nation Pakistan in the 1965 war.3 This demonic design of Pakistan has been the theme of a large number of Bollywood films that followed Upkaar as exemplified in some of the examples of films discussed in our chapter.

HINDuStaN KI KaSaM (1999)

A new phenomenon, that is, the exploration of extremism and terrorism associated with Pakistan, can be observed in the 1999 film Hindustan Ki Kasam. At the beginning of this film, an Indian official, who is voicing the Indian governments foreign policy, declares that Pakistan is involved in terrorism and that India should try to declare it as a terrorist state through the United Nations. Tauheedthe believer of one god (Allah)like his
3. For the term demonic, see Bohn (2002: 199).

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name becomes a representative of young Muslims extremists in general. He is portrayed as a terrorist who wants to assassinate Pakistans prime minister on Indian soil with the intention of starting a war between the two countries. In fact, Tauheed (Raju) is the son of Indian Hindu parents who got separated from his mother during the ceasefire celebration of the 1971 War near the Indo-Pakistani border, when the Pakistani army started shelling in violation of the ceasefire agreement. Raju, who is later named Tauheed by his captor, is arrested by Pakistani soldiers and taken to a training camp, where he is trained and educated against India. Tauheed has a twin brother, Ajay, who is lucky to remain with his mother in India. Their father is also killed in the border skirmish. Ajay is brought up to be a writer, a patriot, and a liberal Hindu. He is determined to wipe out the evil qualities of his brother who is brought up in Pakistan as a Muslim due to circumstances and luck. Although Ajay and Tauheed (Raju) are twins and sons of the same mother, Ajay has all qualities of head and heart that are needed to be a good human being. He has all these attributes apparently because he is brought up in India and by a Hindu mother, whereas Tauheed (Raju) appears to be bad because he is brought up by a Pakistani terrorist, Jabbar, and has grown up among the extremists of Pakistani society. The image that is constructed by the juxtaposition of two brothers of the same parentage is that the son who has grown up in Pakistan (among the extremists) is bad and the one who has grown up in India (among the liberals) is good. The son who becomes a Muslim due to circumstances is a narrow-minded extremist. He is a religious fanatic because of the education imparted to him by the conservative, diehard, and narrow-minded Muslim religious scholars like Haji Jabbar in Pakistan and a terrorist because of the training and brainwashing done by the agencies and jihadis. However, the son brought up in India is a Hindu and is shown as a broad-minded liberal and a paragon of heroism, humanism, and self-sacrifice. They are partitioned not through the border between the two countries but also through their cultural and religious grooming. Jabar, therefore, comments at the films end that, How can an Indian be a brother of a Pakistani? which is also his agenda in India. In this way, Ajay is given a positive image and Tauheed (Raju) a negative one. This creates the differences that make Tauheed a terrorist and Ajay a savior who becomes responsible for stopping Tauheed from carrying out his plan, and for saving the Pakistani prime ministers life, thereby preventing bloodshed and the deaths of thousands of people on both sides of the border.
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Thus, constructionism is one of major devices in Bollywood films to portray Pakistanis as negative characters. However, some writers and critics discern a constructivist necessity in Dada-negativity, which, for common readers and audience is only a textual device, but the audience is the source of social construction in the constitutive negation of destructive and extremist elements (Watton: XVIXVII). A determiner is the main tool in constructionism to present Pakistan, its agencies, and its individuals as terrorists, promoters, and perpetrators of terrorist action not only against other nations but also against their country, leadership, and people. The determiner creates awareness of the presence of extremism and extremist elements that are playing havoc in the life of everybody regardless of his/her caste, creed, or color. In fact, we can take it as an eye-opener for moderate, liberal, and discerning cinema viewers in Pakistan and elsewhere. In Hindustan Ki Kasam (1999), Pakistani army, intelligence agency, and some religious groups have been portrayed as promoters of terrorism and trainers of terrorists and extremist elements, whereas the Indian army and its intelligence agency are presented as messiahs and promoters of peace and harmony in both the countries.4 They are made responsible for the safety and well-being of the Pakistani prime minister, the Pakistani people, and common Indians. A major shift in the attitude of Indian film industry toward Pakistan and Pakistanis can be observed after the 1971 war. This shift has been pursued more actively in Bollywood after 1971 when the Bollywood produced the idea of Pakistans demonic design in the form of warmongering or promotion of terrorism or perpetration of violence based on religious fanaticism. It has tried to present Pakistan as an aggressor, a warmongering and terrorist nation, while India is portrayed as a peace-loving, cooperative, and accommodating nation that is a victim of Pakistani aggression. The valor and spirit of sacrifice of the Indian soldiers are glorified in the 1997 film Border, which is based on the 1971 war to construct the Pakistani army as murderous invaders who were defeated by a handful of Indian soldiers. Indian soldiers are depicted as saviors and preservers of human lives and defenders of national honor and pride, whereas Pakistani soldiers as destroyers who were using their
4. Although this might not be only a one-way effort. It would be interesting to compare Lollywood portrayals of Indian characters and institutions too. However, it is not the subject of this chapter to look into these details.

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military might ruthlessly to occupy a part of foreign land. Thus, the film successfully creates the image of Pakistan as an aggressor and warmonger by juxtaposing the objectives and values of the Pakistani army with that of the Indian army.

KurBaaN (SaCrIFICE): NEgatIvIty vErSuS PoSItIvIty

This section of this chapter presents the examples of a new Bollywood film titled, Kurbaan (2009). We critique the negative images of Pakistani protagonists constructed specifically for noncritical Indian viewers and discuss it in the theoretical framework of the theories of constructionism. The role of America in this film is observed as the directors effort to create a neutral space for assessing the negativity or positivity of these characters, while he remains influenced by the US stand on the war against terror. After the 9/11 incident Pakistani Muslims in Bollywood films are depicted as terrorists and fanatics who can destroy everything, including their near and dear ones for what they believe is a righteous cause. The film ironically comments on Americas policies and treatment of the Muslims after 9/11 because they have to pay a heavy price for having Muslim names. The film also conveys the clichd impression that Taliban was also created by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to fight Russia, and for this reason America should not be complaining now about the Muslim presence in their country. This is indicated in the meeting discussions amongst the group members of Muslim terrorists in this film. Personal problems become public issues as, for instance, the people whose families were killed in the US bombings in Afghanistan have formed terrorist groups. Similarly, to avenge the death of his beloved in the plane that is bombed in the States, Riaz joins a terrorist group to end their terrorist activities. These personal problems instigate an ideology and a reason to fight and eventually to represent their wider religious or nonreligious communities for these countries. Set against the backdrop of post-9/11 US and post-26/11 Mumbai, Kurbaan5 is the story of a Pakistani named Ehsaan (originally, Khalid) who
5. Kurbaan is a term associated with the concept of Kurbaani in Islam, which bears deeper connotations of sacrificing animals in the 12th lunar month of the Islamic calendar, also symbolizing Abrahams sacrifice of an animal instead of his son.

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transforms into a terrorist after his family is bombed by the Americans (Rieder 2010). To fulfill his ambition of avenging America, he creates a fake identity, marries an Indian-American Hindu girl named Avantika who is a psychologist by profession. The director Rensil DSilvas view of religious tolerance as pervasive and benevolent in India is reflected in Avantikas fathers insignificant resistance against his Hindu daughters marriage with a Muslim stranger. However, there are discrepancies in what is shown in the Bollywoods movies about Indias preaching tolerance, liberalism, and brotherhood, and her practicing them. There are many examples of Hindu extremism and religious intolerance, but the best example is the HinduMuslim Riots of Gujarat in 2002, when the Hindu extremists butchered Muslims not only in Gujarat but also in other parts of India. It is true that a work of art presents what ought to be, not what actually is. Avantikas father is what ought to be, but in reality there may be very few people like him in India. A strain between Ehsaan and Avantika is created by his disclosing later in the film that Ehsaan is a Pakistani by origin and a terrorist by profession. In the initial scenes, however, the viewers are given the impression that Ehsaan, despite being a Muslim, might belong to Delhi, where he meets Avantika. Americas bombings in Afghanistan and Pakistan are defined as the root cause behind his transformation from a simple Pakistani villager (Khalid) to an ambitious terrorist (Ehsaan), also now an American citizen. Ehsaans motives are also as negative as his transformation; pretending to be a learned academic, he finds a legal way of reuniting with his Pakistani gang based in the US in order to boost their destructive plans. His IndianHindu wife not only becomes Ehsaans passport to the States but also finds him a job in her university where he, ironically, becomes an expert on The Impact of Islam in the West. His purpose again is negatively portrayed as aiming to brainwash young American students who are perturbed after 9/11 and recruiting youngsters for his terrorist gang. As the plot matures, the negativity of Ehsaans character generates further negativities related to Pakistani Muslims. His role of a romantic lover in Delhi portrayed earlier in the film shifts to his villainous role as soon as he relocates to New York with Avantika. Despite being highly trained and educated, Ehsaan represents the Pakistani Muslim community turned into terrorists, as exemplified through his association with a Pakistani terrorist organization. The wickedness of his character is indicated when he maneuvers his wifes plans of living around the
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Indian neighborhood and makes her stay next to his Pakistani gang, constituting three males and three females. Little does his wife know that it is all part of his plan to settle closer to his headquarters equipped with modern weaponry. Like the twin brothers in Hindustan Ki Kasam, the protagonists of the film Avantika and Ehsaan symbolize the two opposite groups of characters in the film, one representing good and the other representing criminals. While Avantika, being an Indian, is a paragon of sacrifice and humanism, Ehsaan is an exploiter, a selfish and crooked Pakistani terrorist. On the one hand, we see Avantika as an Indian woman; her father who later becomes a hostage of Ehsaans gang back in Delhi; and Riaz Masud, an American-born Indian Muslim representing the American media and his girlfriend who dies in the plane bombed by Ehsaans gang. This creates an interesting difference between the representations of Indian and Pakistani Muslims as well as US-born Muslims. The USborn Muslims like Riaz Masud seem to be more sincere toward America and its policies. The extremism is not associated with America-born or Indian Muslim characters with Indian parentage, such as Riaz Masud who strongly represents the American media and American nationalism. This is evident in his debate with his father; while his father reminds him of all the atrocities that America has been perpetrating in Muslim countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, Masud argues that he is an American and wants to remain committed to the his role as an American media person. Thus, the second group constitutes Riaz Masuds Muslim father, who migrated to India presumably during Partition, and then to the US, as reflected in his support for Pakistani terrorism in the US. The other people included in this group are Bhai Jan, the head of Ehsaans gang; his Afghan wife (Apa); and two young Pakistani couples who represent the negativity of Pakistani Muslims in general and back up the protagonists (Ehsaan) negativity in particular. Bhai Jans character physically and psychologically fits the stereotypical image of a Pakistani terrorist ill-treating Indians. Such a character is analyzed by an Indian critic, Syed Ali Mujtaba, as follows:
The villain in these recent films caricatures bin Laden and looks like a typical Muslim priest holding a rosary in hand, counting beads, and spitting fire against India. Audiences feel pained when the heroine somehow lands in the clutches of the Talibs and gets thrilled when she escapes from their dragnet. The painting of the Taliban, Pakistanis and Kashmiris are all done with the

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same brush. Anti-Pakistan movies have been a recent favorite of Bollywood directors who lack the skills and creativity not to follow the crowd. In order to sell patriotism, Pakistan is depicted as the monster in whose defeat rests Indian national pride. These anti-Pakistan movies end up conveying that all Muslims living in India are either black sheep or Pakistani agents.6

The negativity of Ehsaans character also represents the ill-treatment of Pakistani women by their husbands, fathers, or brothers. Unlike broad-minded, independent, and confident Delhi women such as Avantika, the women in Ehsaans gang are therefore represented as being submissive, domestic, and repressed. They are told to behave modestly, cover their bodies and heads, and are expected and trained to serve and obey their men. They are strictly forbidden from working or going out and interacting socially without their husbands permission. One of them, Salma, is a victim of domestic violence due to her opposition to her gangs plan of killing innocent Americans. Consequently, in her abortive effort to seek help from Avantika, she is regarded as a traitor to Islam and brutally murdered by her husband. In fact, after Allah, it is men who decide the destinies of these women as indicated in the final scenes of the film when Bhai Jan, the head of Ehsaans gang sends off these women, including Avantika, with time bombs in their handbags. The stubbornness and rigidity of Pakistani Muslim characters is further symbolized through the fact that Bhai Jan has not forgiven Ehsaan for marrying a Hindu Indian womana non-Muslim or a kafirand for cheating his Pakistani Muslim friends by falling in love with her and getting her pregnant. Bhai Jan believes that that she will achieve salvation and become a shaheed (martyr) if she performs jihad in the name of Allah. Such negative images of Pakistan and Pakistanis must have deeply affected the mind of Bollywood cinema fans. Here, the question arises what is the significance of presenting Pakistan and Pakistanis as evil, fanatics, and fundamentalists?7 Why is the nature of Pakistanis presented as essentially evil? Do Bollywood filmmakers only want to meet the demands of their audience and make their films box office hits or do they have some ulterior motives? Are Pakistani characters given an
6. Mujtaba (2007). 7. According to Bhabha, the stereotype is a complex, ambivalent, contradictory mode of representation, as anxious as it is assertive, and this is also somewhat our understanding of this term. For more details, see Bhabha (1994).

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image with the idea of Dada-negativity at the back of their minds?8 Andr Breton and his colleagues define Dadas negativity as a critique capable of opening the way to more constructive enterprises.9 Mark Hutchinson in his article Thinking Dada, remarks, negativity of Dada was not simply contingent, destructive or provocativeneither a reaction to external events (Hutchinson 2009). He further elaborates the negativity of Dada characterized by violence and destruction as necessary (ibid.). The violence and destruction perpetrated by Pakistani characters negative attributes can thus be interpreted as an expression of anger and resentment against the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of international organizations and democratic governments. We have not observed the negativity of Dada in early Bollywoods films. However, the characters of Tauheed in Hindustan Ki Kassam (1999) and Ehsaan in Kurbaan definitely give us an impression of Dada-negativity.10 This negativity has a paradoxical nature, both, [. . .] negativity as a reaction and [. . .] negativity as fundamental to a revolutionary process.11 In this context, negativity also perpetuates positivity in these characters. For instance, Tauheed might be a diehard fanatic but he is redeemed at the end by the love of his mother, brother, and his beloved, Roshin Ara. The negativity in his character is transformed into a positive act when he and his brother frustrate the conspiracy to assassinate the Pakistani prime minister, thus stopping large-scale bloodshed, death, and destruction. Thus, the film Kurbaan (2009) makes its audience realize why Ehsaan Khan becomes the most wanted terrorist in the US. Not a mercenary terrorist, but the circumstances created by policies of the US governments turn him into a terrorist. He is a human being of human values. He has
8. Dadaism was a cultural movement emerging from Switzerland after World War I (peak years 19161922). It involved visual arts, literature, art theory, theater, and graphic design. The movement concentrated on antiwar, antibourgeois, and anarchistic politics by rejecting prevailing standards in art. Its purpose was to ridicule what its participants considered to be the meaninglessness of the modern world. In addition to being antiwar, Tristan Tzara or Samuel (Samy) Rosenstock, French, poet and essayist, is one of the founders of this movement. For more information on Dada, see http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/collection. html (accessed on July 27, 2010). 9. Andr Breton and the Death of DADA, http://www.the-art-world.com/articles/bretondada.htm (accessed on July 20, 2010). 10. A similar observation can be made in the character of Sam in New York (2009), which is not discussed here in detail. 11. A similar observation can be made in the character of Sam in New York (2009), which is not discussed here in detail.

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the love of a lover and husband, the affection of a father, the sincerity of a friend, and the responsibility of a citizen.12 The negativity in these characters are revelations that if their negative elements are not recognized, there could be bloody revolutions; and if their negativity could be converted into something constructive, a positive element could come out of them. The message is loud and clear that if we want peace and harmony in the subcontinent we have to develop tolerance and understanding among the people and must rise above caste, creed, and narrow patriotism.13

NEgatIvE LaNguagE
So far our discussion indicates that Pakistani fundamentalism and extremism is depicted as a way of thinking, culture, and practice, mainly practiced in order to secure and safeguard religion. There is a specific mentality associated with terrorist groups originating from Pakistan, who are labeled as extremists by the West. For instance, Masuds father seems to be concerned about his son prioritizing his American identity over the Muslim one. The ideology shared by Bhai Jan and Masuds father indicates that the latter has some association with Pakistan in the past and has perhaps migrated to India and then to the US after the Partition in 1947. Such narrow thinking thus becomes a mentality shared by Riazs father and Ehsaans terrorist group and Muslim Pakistanis living in the West in general. They believe that fundamentalism means loyalty to the religion Islam and Allah, as opposed to the negative definition of Pakistani Muslims portrayed as extremists by the West. This negativity associated with these Muslim characters becomes an important part of the language used in this film. The Pakistani ideology of the two-nation theory, which emphasizes Muslims as being a qaum (nation), seems to be the core ideology of Ehsaans group. Along these lines, the antiterrorist ideology shared by the USIndian alliance is juxtaposed against the ideology of the Pakistani terrorist group. For
12. Same is the case with Sam in New York (2009), a good citizen pushed into a terrorist network by government agencies. Again, Sam is a warning to the agencies that are turning innocent and peace-loving citizens into terrorists and religious fanatics by their irresponsible and hasty conclusions. 13. As, for instance, also in the film New York.

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instance, the film represents Shahadat (martyrdom) as a term used by terrorist groups to find an excuse to kill non-Muslims or to safeguard Islam. The child of a Muslim that Avantika carries is in fact also expected to become a shaheed when she is to play the role of a suicide bomber by Bhai Jan at the end of the film. Junoon (obsession) is a word that symbolizes Muslim fundamentalism for the Americans and commitment to religion for the Muslims. The concept of obsession is therefore important in this film as Muslims obsessively kill Americans to become martyrs. On the basis of such arguments, Ehsaans gang bombs a plane carrying the UN delegation to Iraq for peace talks with the US. While America is launching a war on terror, these characters are redefining and challenging the concepts of terrorism and the terrorist imposed upon them by the US, which, in their view has become a terrorist country, too, after bombing so many innocent lives in the Muslim countries. For Ehsaans group and Pakistanis supporting their cause, the US government has no reason to complain against the terrorist activities of Pakistanis based in the US. Kurbaan, the title of the film, therefore, symbolizes sacrifice for both the fundamentalist groups and the Americans. According to a critic, The most fundamental statement the movie wants to make is about ones identity. It underscores the point that the debate on religion verses nationalism is still not settled. Opinions are divided on the issue and both sides are equally true in telling the truth (Mujtaba 2009). While the Pakistani terrorist group sacrifices their lives for protecting their religion, for Americans Kurbaani means removing such Pakistanis from their country and saving it from destruction. Thus, this groups violence in the US becomes a symbolic protest against the US policies in Muslim countries, as Hutchinson has also explained in terms of Dada ideology as follows:
We should also remember that the violence and destruction of Dada was entirely symbolic violence and destruction. It is perhaps too easy to forget that what Dada attacked were not literally people and things but habits, conventions and ideas. And it is further worth remarking that these targets were very specific. Dada might have been chaotic but it was chaos aimed very carefully at undermining expectations of order, rationality and sense. (Hutchinson 2009)

Despite some characters comments on Americas unjust treatment and violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, paradoxically there is a sense of positivity associated with America too. For the Indian director DSilva,
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this country becomes the place of commenting on religious fanaticism and a way of acknowledging the ways in which the US government is efficiently tracking down Pakistani terrorists. This country also becomes a neutral space where terrorists like Ehsaan get a chance to develop their intellectual skills as, for instance, through academia and teaching.14 It is, therefore, also a place where transformations can take place, perhaps, the transformations which could never have been possible in India or Pakistan. The transformation in Ehsaans character is symbolized through his positive gesture of releasing Avantika from the bond of marriage and from his intricate fundamentalist network at the end of the film. America also seems to positively embrace foreigners and provides them opportunities, but also destroys them if they challenge the security of the state. Surprisingly enough, there are no Indians among the foreigners despised by the Americans in this film but only Pakistanis.

SuFI LovE aND SyMBoLS

Earlier in the film, when Avantika and Ehsaan are seen courting each other, Islamic symbols are used to serve dual and paradoxical purposes: to indicate Ehsaans religious commitment for which he is cheating Avantika and, to some extent, also his attraction toward her. The Sufi theme of human tussle with physical versus spiritual love is part of this paradox. The first song in the film with its opening lines, Shukran Allah wallah hamdul illahusing a combination of Hindi and Arabic wordsreminds us of the Indian and Bollywood industrys connection with the Indo-Persian and Arab world, which paradoxically symbolizes Islamic terrorism in the films now.15 It also relates to Ehsaans feelings of expressing gratitude to Allah, apparently for finding this girl but actually for finding a way to fulfill his larger motive of penetrating into the American culture in order to achieve a higher objective. Ambiguity is created regarding Ehsaans association with Sunni or Shiite sects, perhaps also to symbolize the ambiguous tussle between
14. Rieder (2010) A parallel can also be drawn between Ehsaan and Sam (New York, 2009). 15. For the songs from Kurbaan, see http://www.songs.pk/indian/kurbaan.html (accessed on July 20, 2010).

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these two sects in Pakistan. While Ehsaan and his gangfrom their discussions on religious books, Islamic practices, and in the scenes where Ehsaan and his friends are prayingappear to be Sunni Muslims, the songs played in the background of the film have Shiite connotations. This is exemplified through the song titled, Ali Maula. This song reminds us of the Shiite populations devotion to Hazrat Ali as exemplified in the following lines, which are constantly repeated in this song: O shahe mardaan, shere yazdaan Jaan fida tumpe maula. The theme of the song revolves around devotion to Hazrat Ali, readiness to die for his cause, and prayer for help from him. In this context, Ehsaan appears to be a true follower of Ali but nowhere in the movie is this indicated through his actions or interactions with other characters. The themes of the other songs also revolve around love, sacrifice, and dua (prayer for salvation through sacrifice). Within the context of the plot, this salvation is achieved by Ehsaan by sacrificing his earthly love for Avantika and achieving his spiritual devotion for his religion. The word fanaa used in the song Kurbaan hua also connotes similar meanings.16 The protagonists psychological conflict between his physical attraction for his beloved and commitment to his religion, along the pattern of the protagonist of Fanaa (2006), results in a love which is beyond worldly needs and leads to his desire for being fanaa or martyred in the name of Allah at the end of the film. Thus, despite the negative portrayal that is constructed in the film, this is not exactly the essence of this character. In the end, he saves Avantikas life and shoots himself. Essentially, he is a good man but his character is constructed negatively, perhaps bearing Indian viewers in mind who might not also be critical viewers. It can thus be concluded that the Indian construction of Pakistani Muslims is negative as well as ambiguous. Despite his negative role, Ehsaan ambiguously also believes in conflict resolution as indicated through his discussions with his students. While Ehsaan believes that these opposing ideologies could be dealt with communication and dialogue, the rest of his gang thinks that the only answer to the US oppression is destruction because their real dushman (enemy) is America.
DSilvas hero modeled on Muslim guys he interacts with in the city, Ehsan can be monikered the new Bollywood Muslimdefined, unfortunately,
16. This also somehow reminds us the title and theme of another film entitled Fanaa.

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more by what he is not, rather than what he is. He is not the decadent, sozzled nawab cavorting with courtesans; not Khan chacha, the benevolent other, wearing a Faiz topi, sneaked into the plot as a secular prop; not an underworld don or a dons sidekick; and not a crazed, wronged jihadi.17

CoNCLuSIoN
Like all progressive institutions, the Bollywood film industry is also dynamic in its approach to themes and ideas. It is, therefore, significant to observe the continuous flux in the themes and ideas conveyed through these films as well as in its portrayal of Pakistani characters. They range from kind Pakistani individuals and families who provide protection and shelter to young Hindu girls who were left behind in Pakistan at the time of Partition to terrorists and fanatics. Although we come across some unredeemable Pakistani baddies in Bollywood films, most of them are depicted as negative characters with some redeeming features like Ehsaan in Kurbaan and Tauheed in Hindustan Ki Kasam. The soft power of Bollywood can be noticed through the portrayal of Tauheed as a negative image in some ways critiques the stereotypical image of Pakistanis being tagged as terrorists. In fact, the twin characters of the two brothers show the good and the bad sides of human personality, which does not necessarily depend on Indian or Pakistani identity or their religious or cultural borders. The idea of Islam as proposed by Haji Jabbar is also challenged because his character symbolizes those who misinterpret and misrepresent Islama religion integrally based on tolerance and peace. The binarism of good and bad not only highlights negative aspects of a character but also brings out positive elements. For example, in Kurbaan, Avantika exposes Ehsaans ugly aspects, but it is again she who convinces the audience that he has not completely lost his emotions and soul. If he were given a conducive environment and a sensible companion, he could be a very good advocate of peace, harmony, and understanding among different faiths. Ehsaans transformation seems to have happened after his marriage with Avantika whose values are humanistic and universal rather than depending on her Hindu origins. This is felt by Ehsaan too, which
17. Sharma (2009).

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transforms him. In some ways, Avantikas character conveys what Shahnaz regards an ideologically coded message for Pakistani women as she positively turns into a role model for them while the other women in the film end up obeying and serving their men. Her image of an independent woman can bring change for Pakistani women through the soft power of Bollywood. Her character, thus, resists the paradoxical image of Muslim women as being burqa-clad or over-sexualized and exotic courtesans by emancipating few other female characters from the borders of burqa, repressed sexuality, and psyche.18 In this context, Avantikas character must have deeply affected the minds of Pakistani viewers, which surely is an evidence of the Bollywood soft power instigating modernity as also proposed by Shahnaz Khan. Thus, for a layperson, the film seems to be anti-Pakistan because it portrays Ehsaans Muslim character (and this role is played by Saif Ali Khanan actor coming from a Muslim background) having links with Pakistan as being negative. However, for a conscious person, the film reminds Pakistanis about how they need to change their stereotypical understanding of such Bollywood films. Ironically, it is through this soft power that our middle-class moviegoers can see that Bhai Jans religious fanaticism is a curse for them. In this backdrop, Bollywoods soft power creates a space for the Pakistani (and world) viewers to change the ways they think and in some ways also mentally prepares them for this change. With the help of Bollywood cinema, our thinking has been changed concerning fanatical approaches to religion. Like Ehsaan, Tauheed in Hindustan Ki Kasam has not yet lost his goodness and nobility of soul. Both characters negativity may not be taken as nihilistic; rather it can be viewed as Dada-negativity, which is meant for a changea change for betterment. On this positive note, the Sufi connotations in the film and its songs can also be interpreted as the ways in which South Asian directors mobilize notions of Sufi love to overcome the religious barriers between the Hindu and Muslim counterparts on the basis of which India and Pakistan were partitioned in 1947. Despite the fact that the Bollywood industry is influenced and affected by governmental policies and Indo-Pakistani political relationship, it becomes problematic to generalize these cinematic narratives as being entirely jingoistic. Instead, the mere softening of such a jingoistic tone seems to be another affirmative aspect of Bollywoods soft power.
18. This is also discussed in the chapter by Shahnaz Khan in this book.

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These representations of Pakistanis in Indian films, which have a large following worldwide, do affect the representation of the Pakistanis in the global imaginary, primarily with reference to Pakistans own reception of this negativity and also in terms of global politics. In a notable Bollywood film Kabul Express (produced by Aditya Chopra Yash Raj Films in 2006), the Pakistani character is a retired army man who has joined the Taliban regime and now represents post-Taliban scenario in Afghanistan. His anger towards Indian and Americans journalists is clear as they travel with him through Afghanistan in this film. On the one hand, the juxtaposition of a Pakistani against Indian and American characters creates binaries, which also create a boundary between the representation of Pakistani and non-Pakistani characters in the Bollywood industry. On the other hand, this juxtaposition also becomes a source of bringing these representative characters together to create a dialogue between India, Pakistan, and the US governments. More significantly, Bollywoods soft power has successfully inspired the Pakistani people to resist the negativity of Pakistani characters intermittently portrayed in Bollywood industry as we have discussed earlier in this chapter. An example of this is a recent comedy titled Tere Bin Laden (directed by Abhishek Sharma in 2010),19 which is regarded as motivating Indian and Pakistani governments for strengthening peace talks between India and Pakistan and, of course, counterbalancing the negative image of Pakistanis depicted in Bollywood films. In fact, Bollywoods soft power is not a soft power; rather it is a powerful discourse to persuade both Indian and Pakistani governments to come to the negotiation table and provide peace, prosperity, and progress to teeming millions who are being ground to power by militarism of both the countries. Bollywood films make the film viewers from both the countries realize that peace is necessary for survival and existence of the countries in the region: Hence, the themes of Bollywood films have a global appeal. If there are hawks in Pakistan, they are quite active in India as well. Bollywood filmmakers like Veeru Devgan, Mahesh Bhatt, and Yash Chopra are trying to create doves out of Pakistani hawks: In turn, Indian hawks will also realize that hawkish policies cannot serve the interests of both the peoples.

19. http://www.terebinladen.com/ Official website of the movie Tere bin Laden (accessed on July 15, 2010).

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rEFErENCES
Bhabha, Homi. 1994. The other question: Stereotype, discrimination, and the discourse of colonialism. In Homi Bhabha (ed.), The Location of Culture (p. 100). New York: Routledge. Bohn, W. 2002. The Rise of Surrealism: Cubism, Dada, and the Pursuit of the Marvelous. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. Hutchinson, Mark. 2009. Thinking Dada. http://www.slashseconds.org/issues/003/003/ articles/mhutchinson/index.php (accessed on July 20, 2010). International Dada Archive. http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/dada/collection.html (accessed on July 27, 2010). Kabir, Ananya. 2005. Nipped in the bud? Pleasures and politics in the 1960s Kashmir Films. South Asian Popular Culture 3 (2): 83100. . 2010. The Kashmiri as Muslim in Bollywoods new Kashmir films. Special issue of Contemporary South Asia 18 (4, December): 373385. Mujtaba, Syed Ali. 2007. Bollywoods clichd caricatures http://mujtabas-musings.blogspot. in/2007/11/bollywoods-clichd-caricatures.html (accessed on July 17, 2010). . 2009. Movie Kurbaan portray Islamic terrorism and the US. November 22. http:// www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/129703 (accessed on June 15, 2010). Rai, Amit. 2003. Patriotism and the Muslim citizen in Hindi films. Harvard Asia Quarterly 7 (3, Summer). http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~asiactr/haq/200303/0303a001.htm (accessed on July 10, 2010). Rieder, Kilian. 2010. My name is Bollywood . . . and I am not a moralist: The international (un)importance of Islam in Bollywood politics, Masters thesis for the course Islam & International Relations at Sciences Po, Paris, 12 pages. Sharma, Sanjukta. 2009. The new Bollywood Muslim. http://www.livemint.com/2009/ 06/25202438/The-new-Bollywood-Muslim.html (accessed on July 10, 2010). Watten, Barrett. 2003. Constructivist Moment. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

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