Indian actor and host Rajeev Khandelwal opposed the ban on cross-border collaborations with Pakistani artists, including actors, singers and musicians.

Prominent film and TV actor Rajeev Khandelwal, who also starred in the Pakistani serial ‘Sun Leyna’, by Samina Humayun Saeed, shared his experience of working in a Pakistani production and expressed his disapproval of the Indian government’s ban on Pakistani artists from working in the country. Speaking about the ban, the ‘Table No. 21’ actor said, “Nahi nahi, it is politics. Bohot galat hai (No, it is all politics. This is very wrong).” “Logo ko ban karne waale kaun hote hain politicians. Humari politics dictate karti hai kuchh cheezo ko. Jaha pe pyaar badh sakta hai, uss pyaar ko bhi aap badhne nahi de rahe (Who are these politicians to ban artists? Our politics dictates a certain narrative. Where there is love blossoming between two nations, you don’t even allow that), for whatever reasons. So, I don’t understand this,” he added. “Mera comment karna bhi galat hoga kyuki mujhe samajh hi nahi aata hai ki kyu. Hum aman ki baat karte hain na.

To jaha aman ban raha hai waha bhi political party ke log aa ke usko Hindu-Muslim ka angle de dete hain. Toh wo galat hai. Aisa thodi hai ki Pakistan ki government unhe agent ki tarah bhej rhi hai (I also feel that it’s wrong on my part to comment on this as I don’t understand it. We often speak about harmony and peace. So, where there is genuine peace and harmony, there too political parties give it a Hindu-Muslim angle. That is not right. It’s not that the Pakistani government is sending the artists as agents),” Khandelwal noted, and concluded, “Pata nahi (I don’t know). I have only seen a lot of love coming always.” For the unversed, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) and the Film Producers Guild of India banned artists from Pakistan from working in their country after the relations between neighbouring countries deteriorated, following the Uri attack in 2016.