Very few Indian celebrities came forth in support of Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 and the complete lockdown in Kashmir. Bollywood diva Sonam Kapoor is among those celebs, though her remarks do reflect her patriotism for her own country.
Here’s what she said in an interview to BBC recently.
The Kashmir situation on the Indian-administered side continues to divide people, including in Bollywood.
Actress Sonam Kapoor has been speaking to us about it and says it's upsetting because of her family's links to the region. pic.twitter.com/Uz5Leujiaz
— BBC Asian Network (@bbcasiannetwork) August 15, 2019
Her Views on Kashmir
Sonam Kapoor is known for being very vocal with her opinions. She shared her opinion on the Kashmir issue, and commented that it was ‘heartbreaking.’
“It’s heartbreaking to see where the situation has landed right now and I’m very patriotic”
The Bollywood actress and fashion influencer opened up about the current political situation of the region and suggested that she will just quietly wait out the storm, because ‘this too shall pass‘.
“So I think for me now it’s better to keep quiet and let this pass because even this too shall pass.”
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The Veere Di Wedding actress was honest about how she does not know much about the Kashmir issue.
“I think it’s complicated and I don’t understand it as much because there’s so much contrasting news, contrary news everywhere. So I don’t really know what the truth is.”
Yet, she is still a firm believer of ‘peaceful discourse and understanding on what’s going on‘. She wants peace in the Kashmir valley
“I hope there is a peaceful way of working things out. I don’t know how that’s possible but I think there should be because it’s a beautiful place, but I think it’s been under so much duress and I don’t think anybody knows who’s right now. I don’t think they themselves know who’s right.”
Sonam Kapoor and Pakistan
Discussing her family’s links to Pakistan and Pakistan’s ban on Indian content, Sonam brought up how horrible the divisive politics at play are. She particularly referenced how her film Neerja wasn’t screened in Pakistan as the story was of a hijacking that took place in Karachi, Pakistan.
In her opinion, ‘the movie didn’t show Pakistan in a negative light at all.‘
“I think our countries were one country like 70 years ago and the fact that there is so much divisive politics at play is really heart-breaking.”
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She mentioned how two of her best friends are half-Pakistani Muslims. Sonam Kapoor also revealed that it saddens her that as someone who’s half Sindhi and half Peshawari, that part of her culture is something that she can’t explore.
However, most of her Pakistani fans are of the view that Sonam is more concerned about her movie not being released in the country than she is about the plight of the Kashmiris themselves.
Bollywood on Kashmir
Amidst the ongoing conflict between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals and the surrounding tensions on Kashmir, most of the voices from India applauded and supported the decision taken by the Modi government. In some cases, blatant war-mongering was par for the course, like we saw in the case of Priyanka Chopra after the Balakot airstrikes in February.
The United Nations Goodwill Ambassador lost three million followers on her Instagram and is still been getting schooled left, right and center.
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Meanwhile members of the Bollywood fraternity such as Dia Mirza, Sanjay Suri, Swara Bhaskar, and director Madhur Bhandarkar have condemned their government’s move in Kashmir in unequivocal terms. Indian celebs who are Kashmiri-origin like Zaira Wasim, and brother-sister duo Saqib Saleem and Huma Qureshi also registered their protest at the illegal move.
