Pakistani actors, including Mahira Khan and Fawad Khan, have seemingly vanished from the posters of their Hindi films, Raees and Kapoor & Sons, respectively, on music platforms. This move comes after Mawra Hocane’s similar removal and amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan. Also read: Emotional Bharti Singh responds to backlash for visiting Thailand during Indo-Pak conflict: ‘Aap log bahut bhole ho’
Fawad and Mahira removed from Hindi film posters
On Monday, it was noticed that Mawra Hocane’s presence was absent from the Sanam Teri Kasam album covers on Spotify and YouTube Music, with Harshvardhan Rane being the sole face left on the promotional material.
A similar edit was made to the album cover of Shah Rukh Khan’s film Raees, where Mahira Khan’s image was noticeably removed, mirroring the change seen with Mawra’s removal. The Raees album, which earlier showed Shah Rukh Khan with Mahira Khan, now features Shah Rukh alone.
Meanwhile, the song Buddhu Sa Mann, featuring Fawad Khan alongside Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt, is currently inaccessible on YouTube in India, with a message stating “Video unavailable. The uploader has not made this video available in your country”. The song was posted by Sony Music India. The poster of the song has also been altered on the music apps, removing Fawad from the image.
However, the poster of Khoobsurat, which starred Sonam Kapoor and Fawad, remains unchanged for now.
Sanam Teri Kasam poster also edited
Mawra has also been removed from the film’s album’s covers on Spotify and YouTube Music. In a chat with Hindustan Times, the film’s producer Deepak Mukut said he had no knowledge about it. He said, “They didn’t ask me, it’s their decision. Whatever our government says, everyone has to follow”.
Harshvardhan also reacted to the latest development, saying, “Now they will say that my PR team got this done! No, its again common sense I assume, weeding is being exercised”.
The recent edits and removals seem to be part of a broader crackdown on Pakistani artists’ presence in Indian projects, amid escalating tensions between the two countries. Following the terrorist attacks in Pahalgam, India took strong retaliatory measures through Operation Sindoor, which also included banning Pakistani content on streaming and OTT platforms.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined a paradigm shift in India’s relationship with Pakistan and said that New Delhi won’t tolerate nuclear blackmail. In his first public remarks since India struck nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on May 7, Modi said Operation Sindoor was now India’s policy against terror and added that the early morning strikes on “universities of terror” sponsored by Islamabad marked a new normal.
