Pakistani actor Mawra Hocane's pic has been digitally removed from the poster of Sanam Teri Kasam on music apps such as Spotify. The film's team reacts.
Not just their social media accounts- there’s no place for Pakistani artists on even our music albums it seems. Indian films featuring actors from across the border have quietly started removing them from the film’s assets.
The digitally altered poster of Sanam Teri Kasam now.
It was noticed on Monday that the album of Sanam Teri Kasam, which featured both actors Harshvardhan Rane and Mawra Hocane now only features him. She has been removed from the film's album's covers on Spotify and YouTube Music. When we reached out to the film’s producer Deepak Mukut, he said he had no knowledge about this, “They didn’t ask me, it’s their decision. Whatever our government says, everyone has to follow.”
Sanam Teri Kasam's original poster.
As for Harshvardhan, he tells HT City, “Now they will say that my PR team got this done! No, its again common sense I assume, weeding is being exercised.”
The same has been observed with Zaalima, a romantic number filmed on Shah Rukh Khan and Pakistani actor Mahira Khan for the 2017 film Raees. The album cover across YouTube, YouTube Music and Spotify all have no trace of Mahira, and feature SRK solo.
This is being seen as a crackdown on the presence of Pakistani artists in Indian projects, in light of the recent tensions between India and the neighbouring country. India retaliated strongly to the terrorist attacks carried out in Pahalgam, and even Pakistani content was banned on streaming and OTT platforms in India.