"Can poetry, music, ghazal sessions and movie screenings bring two countries together?” asks Shreya Mazumdar.
Mazumdar, 32, is an independent documentary filmmaker in Lucknow, India, with an interest in social activism. In 2015, she started Paaq Bandhu, an online forum to push the idea that art and cultural exchange can help to bridge some of the social disconnects between India and Pakistan. Today, the platform has more than 2,500 members from both countries.
The two nations have a complex and frequently hostile relationship that is rooted in a series of historical and political events, and they are separated today by a highly militarised border. Travel between the two is almost impossible and artists cannot easily perform in one another’s country.
The name Paaq Bandhu translates from Hindi to English as "pure/loyal friends". Mazumdar believes that even before political change, it is more important to focus on trying to change people's hearts. She follows a philosophy of her mentor Daisaku Ikeda, who is a Japanese Buddhist educator and author.
A major turning point for Mazumdar was a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar in December 2014, which played a big role in her wanting to advocate for peace.
"I saw the world come together to pray for Pakistan and the families," she says. "Seeing this solidarity, and being brought up in a country where we think of Pakistan as the hostile enemy, I thought that we needed a platform to connect with the people of that country, simply to understand and have a dialogue with them and also share our common nostalgia."
She also has more personal ties as her grandmother is also from Sindh, Pakistan. After leaving during the partition in 1947, her grandmother could never revisit her ancestral home. Mazumdar grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories of her hometown in Pakistan and how Muslim neighbours helped her family at the time.
“When I started Paaq Bandhu, I did not have any Pakistani friends. Slowly through many of my friends in India I connected with Pakistani youth in different fields," she says.
"I must admit it was not easy to connect with people from across the border initially. We started off with online sessions where we just wanted to know each other, what food they ate and where they lived. What created a huge bonding was our online Antakshari sessions, where music became a bridge for us to understand and appreciate each other.”
Waseem Malik, a theatre artist who lives in Karachi, was a participant in the Antakshari sessions – a game involving singing. He says the online platform helps him to share his stories with a wider audience.
“My home is just five minutes from the famous Wagah border and every day when I go for my morning walk, I see Indian people behind the border wire, beautiful fields just like ours, but the only difference is I can’t go there," he says.
"Paaq Bandhu provided the platform to people like me, to listen to and share stories with people who are just like us, speak like us and look like us. To share our genuine gratitude towards each other and do something together, which can remove hatred and can plant the seed of love and compassion.”
In January, a film screening took place in Lucknow and online, where films made jointly by Indian and Pakistani filmmakers were screened. The short films were produced by 42 emerging filmmakers and originally showcased in Dubai as part of an initiative called Kitnay Duur Kitnay Paas, conceived by the US consulate in Karachi and implemented by Seeds of Peace, a leadership development organisation.
The participants in the festival shared their experience of working with fellow filmmakers across the border and how cinema could be a strong tool for dialogue and peacebuilding.
Paaq Bandhu also has a programme called Rubaroo Online Interactions, which comprises interviews with famous Pakistani artists and activists. Through discussions on various topics like identity and religion, similarities in both countries are established.
Some of the notable personalities to take part include Sheema Kermani, a dancer and social activist, award-winning documentary filmmakers Samarth Mahajan, Indian folk singer Kavish Seth and actor Adeel Afzal.
Mazumdar admits that it isn't always smooth sailing. She deals with hate texts and criticism because of her work and has been called "anti-national".
“It’s not been an easy journey for me, because initially a lot of people could not accept that I was working at bridging the gap between India and Pakistan," she says.
Mazumdar’s dream for the future is to facilitate travel between the two countries so that there can be some cultural exchange.
“The most important aspect of this entire initiative is my mentor's constant guidance to achieve world peace from right where we are, and within our own capacities. It does not have to be something huge. Hence, Paaq Bandhu's foundation is based on the simplest aspect of life – dialogue that can be through art, music or dance,” says Mazumdar. “Like my mentor has said, when you stop seeing people as ‘us’ and ‘them’, then boundaries disappear.”
