Why would a nation glamorize those who seek to destroy it?

By: Mazin Jawed

 “The propagandist’s purpose is to make a set of people forget that certain

other sects of people are human” —Aldous Huxley

This quote from Aldous Huxley, the same writer who foretold a dystopian future in the classic novel, “Brave New World”, rings ever true in the case of the Indian film industry of late. Dhurandhar is just the latest example of Bollywood’s constant tirade against Pakistan, Pakistanis and even Indian Muslims. Dhurandhar revolves around RAW agents infiltrating the Lyari gang wars, in a bid to “strike terrorism at its very core”. It is bereft with the distortion of facts, and insulting portryals of Pakistan and Pakistanis. Meaningful storytelling has become a long forgotten concept, lost in the colossal wave of Modi’s bigoted hyper-nationalistic Hindutva rhetoric. Powerful films about cultural and historic identity that transcend borders and politics, promoting peace in a divided region, appear to be a vestige of a bygone era. Today’s Bollywood movies revolve around jingoistic storylines, where some RAW operative or the other is heroically putting a halt to the nefarious designs of the evil Pakistanis, who are always portrayed as deceitful yet extremely gullible radicals obsessed with India and hell-bent upon destroying it.

Furthermore, recent Bollywood films appear to be following a trend. The hero is a nationalistic hyper-masculine figure, and the villains are always Muslims or Pakistanis, who are always terrorists and their backers. (It should also be noted that India aggressively supported the LTTE Tamil separatist terror group in Sri Lanka, who were at the time the world’s largest perpetrators of suicide bombings). I analyzed the list of major Hindi films in the 2023-2026 release years, and made a startling discovery. In these 3 years alone, (with the 2026 list not fully formed), there were over 46 major films, all of which were among the largest box office hits in India, that had a plot directly against Pakistan or highly supportive of Islamophobia. That’s close to half of the major productions, with all of these films starring Bollywood’s biggest and brightest actors. This extremely high number of propaganda films fuelling Modi’s fascist Hindutva narrative must be treated as an incredibly concerning matter. These jingoistic films are gradually changing complete propaganda into fact, as if a lie is repeated enough times in the right places it becomes truth.

The content

Portrayals of the country itself are always woefully inaccurate, with world famous landmarks misplaced hundreds of miles away ( in 2023’s “Mission Majnu”, the Wazir Khan masjid and surroundings were captioned in huge block letters –  Rawalpindi), and there are plenty of comical attempts at showing how ordinary Pakistanis dress and speak. Bollywood appears to have spent countless amounts of time and money trying to rewrite and distort history and reality to suit Modi’s agenda, and this is a deeply concerning development for multiple reasons.

These films appear to be fully aligned with the BJP government’s war on history that doesn’t toe the line with its Hindu supremacist narrative. Dhurandhar is following the same playbook, with the film vilifying Pakistani police and glorifying gangsters and criminals who fought against them, since of course, anyone against the evil Pakistanis deserves a Bharat Ratna.

Dhurandhar

In just a few short weeks since its release, Dhurandhar has become the biggest commercial success of the Indian film industry in 2025. It too follows the usual pattern of vilifying Pakistan and portraying the country in a stereotypical, negative and insulting manner. As reported in a BBC news article, Dhurandhar blends its falsehoods with real events, such as multiple terror incidents in India such as the 26/11 attacks, which greatly contribute to the distortion of history against Pakistan and the portrayal of Pakistanis as terrorists. The film portrays Pakistan at large as a lawless barbaric country endlessly hostile towards India. The movie also hits on religion as the sole driver behind the India-Pakistan conflict, fuelling misinformation, Islamophobia and even more discrimination against Muslims in India just to fulfil Modi’s fascist ideological aims. The distortion of history goes to the extent as to draw the India-Pakistan conflict where it had no role, in the Lyarigang wars, and it glorifies violent criminals such as Rehman Dakait as macho heroes fighting against the “evil” Pakistani police and security forces, who it paints as terrorist supporters instead of defenders of civilians and the law. The film portrays the hero and martyr SSP Chaudhry Aslam as a villain, when in reality he fought valiantly against criminals like Rehman Dakait whom the film turns into heroes. This proves that Dhurandhar is a propaganda film which is defaming Pakistan, its people, and its history.

How do these films impact the real situation on the ground?

Modi’s BJP stems from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, (RSS), a Hindu extremist far right paramilitary organisation. It’s ideology is in synthesis with the puritanical Nazi concept of an “Aryan race” a concept the Nazis themselves gained from extremist Hindu groups. Much like the Nazis, the RSS and BJP seek to purify India from those who do not adhere to the “superior” Hindu religion and culture. They follow the ideology of Hindutva, an ideology seeking to establish Hindu supremacy in India and even the subcontinent and beyond. The ideology also has deep links with Zionism and Israel, with many of its founders and propagators admiring Zionist philosophy and methods such as the construction of illegal settlements to achieve ethnic cleansing, a practice carried out by Israel on Palestinian land for over 75 years, and a practice that the BJP government in particular has been carrying out in occupied Kashmir. It is this Hindutva ideology that is behind incidents such as the Babri Masjid demolition, or even the assassination of Gandhi in 1948 by an RSS member. All of this ideological background is key to understanding the poison being spread by Bollywood in recent years, as this is what it is attempting to promote. A key recent example of this point is 2023’s The Kerala story, which revolves around the Hindutva conspiracy theory of “Love Jihad” and likens all Muslims to ISIS terrorists. The film even attempted to present itself as a factual documentary, when in reality it was a bigoted conspiracy theory film which was made to further push Modi’s vile agenda and further generate hate against Indian Muslims and Pakistan.

The greatest tragedy of Bollywood’s perverted narratives however is that Pakistanis appear to be content with it. Indian actors, singers and producers retain colossal followings in Pakistan, regardless of the war-mongering statements they all released supporting India’s unjustified and murderous crusade against Pakistan in the so called “Operation Sindoor”. (It will be interesting to see if there’s ever going to be a Bollywood film showcasing the 7 Indian planes that fell from the sky). Every big Indian film finds its way into millions of Pakistani households, even if it’s entire premise is on slandering Pakistan with lies. It is also paramount that we tell the lesser known stories, such as that of Aitzaz Hasan, the 15-year-old who sacrificed his life to save his school from a heinous terror attack, or the selfless strive of humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi, or a film retelling of the story of the “Cornered Tigers” who brought home the World Cup in one of the greatest sporting underdog stories ever. There is no doubt that Pakistan’s rich history and legendary heroes provide near limitless avenues for excellent productions, and we must strive to tell these stories. However, the first step to achieving this must be taken in living rooms and cinemas across Pakistan. Stop giving your valuable time, money and attention to those who want to destroy you and your country, and instead delve into the incredible film and TV projects undertaken by our greatly talented Pakistanis. In the battle for hearts, minds and the truth, we are all frontline soldiers.

Mazin Jawed is an aspiring journalist