Punjabi → English transcript

These days, there’s no need to watch the whole film.

The film comes later, but its songs, its

dances, its reels, and the “we’ll beat you up from the inside” type

dialogues are already on our phones. “Dhruv Tara”

obviously was not released in Pakistani cinemas,

but many people managed to find some workaround and watch it.

Some of their old objections are the same: hey, all of Pakistan

is not Lucknow, and not everyone here is constantly raising their hands saying “adaab, adaab.”

Only a few of us even wear kohl

in our eyes. But in this film, two famous Karachi characters

Rehman Dakait and S.P. Chaudhry Aslam are shown.

In Karachi, both of them are heroes to some people and

villains to others, that is why people watched the film with extra interest.

People have seen Akshaye Khanna doing a Balochi dance in an Arabic song.

They have seen Sanjay Dutt as Chaudhry Aslam

arguing and trading insults with Baloch people too.

People keep watching, and at the same time, they enjoy it too.

They also explain things to the Indians, man.

Our Chaudhry Aslam is more handsome than your Sanjay Dutt.

He was. Akshaye Khanna acted well, but

our Rahman the bandit was cruel, though he was not that cruel.

Anyway, the governments of both India and Pakistan shout the same

slogan, that we will barge in and kill you.

Now you cannot even tell whether this slogan was first shouted by some

film hero or by the government itself. But

Indian movie spies have been coming to Karachi for quite some time.

The late Irrfan Khan and his companions in a film called

“D-Day” came to take Dawood Ibrahim back

from Karachi and they did take him, while the real Dawood

Ibrahim, no one knows where he is yet. Saif Ali Khan in two or three

films came to Karachi to take revenge. After doing all the fighting,

watching the mujras, he went back safe and sound.

In the films where Indian spies do not come to Pakistan…

And even when they come, their wars are also with Pakistan.

Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, for Pakistan’s

ISI, some pretty spy meets them by a swimming poolside

and they lose their hearts to her. Those

poor Pakistanis who actually have to deal with the real ISI,

they just keep asking, “Man, where on earth have they

hidden such beautiful spies?”

Anyway, these films are just “cut them, chop them” type nationalism

propaganda. Sprinkle in some patriotic masala,

one and a half to two item songs, every third minute blow up

some Pakistanis and rake in the cash at the box office— business

thrives and you can say you served the nation too. By the way, my personal

opinion is this, that instead of fighting on the borders, instead of

blindly burning money on fighter jets, instead of sneaking in

to kill, it is better to sneak onto some film set and shoot a movie.

The internet also lights up, there is a buzz,

and the meme-makers have a great time too.

At the start of a film, it usually says that

this is not true, it is fiction, or it is some small historical

incident that we have turned into fiction. But

in Dhurandhar there is one thing that is shown, and

that is that when the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai happened

they celebrated in Karachi. I have spent half my life

in Karachi. Karachi is such a big city

that no one can claim that they know all of

Karachi. But all over Karachi, our friends

live. Among them there are people from the government,

there are underworld types, and there are some with

a jihadi mindset. But I have never seen, never

heard from anyone that when the attacks in Mumbai happened,

the people of Karachi celebrated. Most people in Karachi

obviously have not seen Mumbai, but they have definitely

seen it in films. And generally they think of

Mumbai as being like Karachi, also on the seashore

It seemed like a city. When the news of the attacks came

I also remember that the entire city was terrified

and people kept thinking, what new doomsday has

come upon us. As for the rest, it is up to the filmmakers

to show whatever they want to show. God protect us.