Pakistani Film Waar Depicting ‘Indian Terror’ Does Roaring Business

ISLAMABAD – As a policecompound here comesunder terror attack, an ‘Indianfemale agent’ cum social workerin Pakistan is dancing witha mercenary celebrating theirsuccess. This is a scene from‘Waar’, a film doing roaringbusiness here. Said to be themost expensive Pakistani filmever to be made, the film is rumouredto be partly funded bythe military, a charge denied bythe film director Bilal Lashari.The film is about Pakistan’sfight against terror but seemsto lay the blame for everythingbad happening in the countryat India’s doorstep.The script revolves arounda plot by ‘Indian agents’ tocarry out the biggest everblast in Pakistan.Waar openedon Wednesday on 42 screensacross Pakistan and set a newrecord of box-office collectionspertaining to Eid openings.After a first day openingof `11.4 million the big budgetflick earned a total of `42.6 milliontill Friday night, breaking allprevious records of Eid collections.Waar has also broken firstday record set by King Khan’sChennai Express that had earnedaround nine million rupees onEid-ul-Fitr. The film bizarrelysuggests that even the dreadedPakistani Taliban is controlledby India.“The entire patriotic narrativethat RAW is backingKhawarij, political traitors andterrorists in Pakistan has beendepicted well. #WAAR,” ZahidHamid, an analyst known for hisextreme anti-India statementssaid on Twitter.However, many are also havea different view. “Propaganda isone thing, and can be found inany ‘wood’. I just wanted betterscripting and continuity. Andno accents FFS #Waar,” ZarrarKhuhro, an analyst tweeted.