The trailer of Siddharth Anand’s ‘Fighter’ dropped recently, prompting several Pakistani celebrities like Hania Aamir, Annan Siddiqui and many other actors to react with criticism. The Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone-starrer is set against the backdrop of the Indian Air Force’s air strike on Pakistan after a terror attack.
Now, the director has seemingly reacted to the criticism. He reacted with a thinking face emoji to a tweet about Hania’s Instagram Stories. The tweet read, “Didn't she literally work in a movie which was anti-India? If Indian celebs have no issue with the anti-India stuff Pakistani celebs do in movies, why do Pak celebs care so much?"
Siddharth Anand responded with "Oh!!" to another person, who had tweeted, "Was 'art' breathing here?" The original tweet was about the 2018 Pakistani film ‘Parwaaz Hai Junoon.’ It read, "Parwaaz Hai Junoon was an anti-Indian Air Force movie and Hania Aamir starred in it." Agreeing with it, an X user also said, “Yes, they portrayed Indian Air Force as villain…”
Soon after ‘Fighter’ trailer was released on January 15, Hania wrote on Instagram Stories, "So sad and unfortunate to know that there are artists out there in this day and age who are aware of the power that the cinema holds and still go ahead and feed the riff between the two countries. I feel sorry for the artists who try to bridge the gap by trusting their art as a medium. Distasteful; let art breathe.”
Meanwhile, Pakistani actor Adnan Siddiqui said that it was “disheartening” to see Bollywood portray Pakistanis as villains. He recently tweeted, “Once celebrated for love, Bollywood now crafts hate-filled narratives, portraying us as villains. Despite our love for your films, it's disheartening. Art transcends boundaries; let's use it to promote love and peace. Two nations, victims of politics, deserve better.”
Reacting to the trailer, Pakistani actor Zara Noor Abbas said on Instagram Stories, "Aren't you guys tired of selling the same false crap?! Grow up, guys! The world is moving on and getting mature but why do you want to sell this cheap story of hatred? Could have also promoted peace. Don't we have enough hatred in the world that you had to boost more hate through this global medium of movies?”