After Nine Years, Fawad Khan’s Comeback Film Faces Ban in India

Pakistani actor Fawad Khan’s comeback Bollywood movie Abir Gulaal won’t be releasing in India. An insider affiliated with India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting attested to the news, coming on the heels of a tragic terror attack at Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22. The movie, co-starring Vaani Kapoor, was aimed at being Fawad’s comeback to Bollywood after almost a decade. His earlier movies, such as Khoobsurat (2014), Kapoor & Sons (2016), and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016), gave him a good following in India.

Though, ever since the Uri attack of 2016, tensions have hit cultural exchange between India and Pakistan. Pakistani artists were subject to bans from industry associations like IMPPA and AICWA, while though a 2023 court verdict rejected a plea for imposing a ban in official terms, an unofficial moratorium on cooperation continued to remain.

Abir Gulaal was criticized even prior to its release, but criticism escalated after the recent Pahalgam attack that took 27 lives, with the Resistance Front, an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba, claiming responsibility. Both Fawad Khan and Vaani Kapoor, in response, took to social media to share their condolences on the loss and prayed for the victims and their families.