Naseer's up in arms

Has bone to pick with fundamental elements. Plays a mullah in next film

Naseeruddin Shah is a very angry man just ahead of the release of Khuda Ke Liye, the first Pakistani film to be released in India. Shah plays a liberal mullah in the film.Wrong focusThe actor blasts conservative elements for attacking Sania Mirza and Shah Rukh Khan. Says Naseer, “I don’t think the majority of people in any community should be identified with the views expressed by a handful of religious fundamentalists. Look at poor little Sania. Why focus on her skirt when she’s doing our country proud? Why not concentrate on real issues like women’s education?” He continues, “Some guy in Chattisgarh pulls up Shah Rukh for smoking. Some people decide that listening to music is haraam…. Who gives them the right to decide?”ImportantAt 59, Shah continues to be as outspoken as ever. Says he, “A film like Khuda Ke Liye is brave and must be watched in the smaller cities like Aligarh and Surat. So I hope the distributors aren’t planning a metro-centric release. I’m surprised to know it’s being released in India. It’s the first Pakistani film to be released in India, and that makes it even more important. It was well received in Pakistan. I wonder how it will be received in our country!”Naseer’s roleNaseer plays a rational clergyman who’s summoned to interpret the Quran when a young girl is accused of moral misconduct. “My role in KKL is only a cameo. I come into the picture two hours into the story. The film belongs to the young Pakistani actor Shaan, who plays a rock star. He’s the SRK of Pakistan. And hats off to him for playing such a role and being in a film that’s not about entertainment.”

Pakistani film on Islam in a rare India screening

By Tony Tharakan
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A Pakistani film about Muslims in a post 9/11 world is slated to open in India next month, a rare event considering political rivalry has limited cultural interaction between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
"Khuda Kay Liye" (In The Name of God) deals with the rift between radical and liberal Islam, an issue that confronts India's 140 million Muslims as well while they fight charges that the community provides recruits for militant groups.
Director Shoaib Mansoor hopes the Urdu film will engage audiences in Hindu-majority India when it opens in theatres on March 28.
"It is the first Pakistani film (in India) after several decades so people should have a natural interest in it," the Lahore-based filmmaker told Reuters in an email interview.
"India has a very big Muslim population which should naturally be interested. And the non-Muslims (would want) to know what real Islam is."
"Khuda Kay Liye" weaves together three stories -- of a pop singer who comes under the influence of Islamic extremists, a Briton of Pakistani origin who is forcibly married to her cousin and a man illegally detained in the U.S. after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The film also features Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah in a cameo as a Muslim scholar clarifying the tenets of Islam during a court case.
Pakistan's film industry has been starved of a natural audience in India due to political differences and the dominance of Bollywood.
But the success of "Khuda Kay Liye" since its release in Pakistan in July last year may be a sign Pakistani cinema is finally emerging from the doldrums.
The film that opened to a standing ovation at the International Film Festival of India last year has premieres planned in New Delhi and Mumbai.
"After many years, 'Khuda Kay Liye' saw packed theatres in Pakistan," said filmmaker Mehreen Jabbar, whose film "Ramchand Pakistani" was screened at the Berlin Film Festival this month.
"It got people talking about the revival of cinema (in Pakistan) and opened doors to other filmmakers to start thinking again about the possibility of making quality feature films."
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