Mahesh Bhatt’s “Milne Do” – II

Posted on December 15, 2014 by beenasarwar

A year ago, I wrote about Mahesh Bhatt’s new theatrical project a play titled ‘Milne Do’ aiming to find common ground between India and Pakistan. Here’s an update: He’s going ahead with it in collaboration with Azad Theatre and Laal band in Lahore. My article published in Aman ki Asha below:

imran and mahesh 1

Imran Zahid and Mahesh Bhatt: teamwork for a causMahesh Bhatt, in an attempt to find common ground between India and Pakistan, is all set to produce and present a play titled “Milne Do”.

The veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, in an attempt to find common ground between India and Pakistan, is all set to produce and present a play titled “Milne Do”.

“I have always maintained that a movie or a play can be a greater vehicle of peace than all the lectures we give,” he says. Any message, if communicated through storytelling, touches a chord. We are also trying to do the same. This play will be an emotional transaction between industries on both sides.”

This cross-border collaborative project across borders has been in the making for over a year. Continue reading →

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Pakistan, India and Aman ki Asha: The year that was, and looking ahead

Posted on January 2, 2014 by beenasarwar
Indo Pak Global Peace Vigil, London. Photo by Ali Mehdi Zaidi

Indo Pak Global Peace Vigil, London. Photo by Ali Mehdi Zaidi

Something I wrote last week for The News year-end special supplement, published Jan 1, 2014. I later remembered many special moments I left out, like the Mumbai and Karachi Press Clubs exchanges, the border security guards allowing violators to return instead of throwing them in prison, the Indian heart patient allowed to disembark without a visa in Pakistan, to name some. There are many others…

For millions of Indians and Pakistanis, Aman ki Asha is just that – a shared ‘hope for peace’ between our two countries. Despite falsehoods circulated by detractors targeting this peace initiative in all kinds of underhand ways since its launch on January 1, 2010, it has stayed the course, and continued to urge both governments to do so. In the process, Aman ki Asha has provided a platform and a way forward for aspirations of peace between India and Pakistan.

India Pakistan Global Peace Vigil

The year 2013 started out with a powerful expression of these aspirations countering rising tensions due to firing and the loss of lives at the Line of Control in Kashmir. In the midst of the cacophony of allegations and counter-allegations arose voices of sanity, coming together for a global vigil for peace between India and Pakistan. Continue reading →

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Play for peace: Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Milne Do’

Posted on December 6, 2013 by beenasarwar
Mahesh Bhatt-Imran Zahid play

Mahesh Bhatt’s forthcoming play is creating a media buzz

My article in the Aman ki Asha page of The News, Dec 4, and in the TOI blog

Play for peace: Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Milne Do’

A behind-the-scenes look at what is driving a veteran film producer and peace activist’s fourth stage production, coming up

By Beena Sarwar

It was Google’s “Reunion” ad released on the web that pushed Delhi-based actor Imran Zahid to move on an idea that he has been thinking about for some time, creating waves in the media.

Last week Imran messaged me, asking for story ideas for a stage play “to promote Aman ki asha and the concept of ‘Milne do’ (let them meet) to be staged in various cities of India and Pakistan in association with Mahesh Bhatt Saab”. Continue reading →

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Google’s tearjerker ‘Reunion’ ad, and the ‘Milne Do’ campaign

Posted on November 14, 2013 by beenasarwar

“Reunion“, the moving, well made little video released by Google today is going viral. And it’s not just the one ad, there’s a playlist of five in the series – ‘fennel’, ‘cricket’, ‘Anarkali’, and ‘sugar-free’. If it doesn’t move you, you’ve got a heart of stone. And if oh, it was that easy.

A still from the Google ‘Reunion’; film’ ad

For Pakistanis and Indians to get visas to visit each other’s country is just short of impossible. Check out their visa requirements for each other’s nationals — Pakistan visa requirements for Indians, India visa requirements for Pakistanis – which includes the notorious Sponsorship Certificate “mandatory from 07/03/2011 for all visa applications”, to be signed and stamped by an Indian first class gazetted officer vouching for the Pakistani applicant. But let’s suspend disbelief for now, and  watch Google’s heartwarming Reunion video below. 

If you can’t access Youtube, here’s the Vimeo link.

AKA Logo

If the Reunion ad moved you, go to the Milne Do (Let people meet) petition link and sign (and share) the campaign against India Pakistan visa restrictions. Every voice counts.

UPDATE August 2022: The Southasia Peace Action Network or Sapan Alliance now runs the MilneDo online petition.

The text below has not been updated.

Continue reading →

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