Bollywood star praises Bite the Mango festival (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bollywood star praises Bite the Mango festival

12:00pm Saturday 24th September 2005 in News

A Muslim actress who received death threats after kissing a Hindu actor in a Bollywood film will appear at Bradford's Bite the Mango film festival tonight.

Meera, 22, a huge Bollywood star, will talk about her experiences as a Pakistani actress working in India's film industry.

Her talk will be followed by a screening of her controversial movie, Nazar, a psychological love story inspired by Japanese horror films The Eye and The Grudge. Meera plays a singer who has an accident that leaves her haunted by strange visions of murders. It includes an embrace between Meera and Hindu co-star Ashmit Patel.

The film was banned in Pakistan and Meera had death threats from religious fundamentalists, leading her to move to Mumbai. The Ministry of Culture in Pakistan requested a ban on Meera from the country, claiming the kissing scene was against Islamic morals.

"If they don't appreciate me I don't care," said Meera. "The kiss is a small matter for me. I will always respect what the script tells me to do.

"Pakistani actors are not encouraged to work in India but the film industry in both countries is changing and I am a Muslim from a new generation that is moving forward. I want to bring new ideas to the industry."

She said films like Nazar should be screened in Pakistan and other countries, to help with the India-Pakistan peace process.

"I would like to see more Indian and Pakistani actors working together to bring the two countries closer together," she said. "I have opened my own production company to make Pakistani films for the international market, to show a different face of Pakistan.

"Bite the Mango is important because it shows films from Pakistan and other countries to a new audience."

Meera was a leading model in Pakistan before making her film debut in 1998 in Inteha, made by Pakistan's film industry in Lahore known as Lollywood. Meera went on to make more than 60 Lollywood films.

Last year she became one of the few Pakistani actresses ever to appear in an Indian Bollywood film.

She has since made another one and is filming the next one in London. She said she aimed to work in Hollywood.

Bite the Mango director Irfan Ajeeb did not expect protests against the screening of Nazar from Muslims in Bradford.

"Muslims are more westernised over here, we're used to kissing scenes involving Asian actors in TV programmes like EastEnders. It isn't a taboo like it is in Pakistan," he said.

l Meera will be in conversation at the Cubby Broccoli Cinema, National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, at 7.30pm. Her talk will be followed by a screening of Nazar. Ring 0870 701 0200 for details.