- Bollywood’s reigning king dropped the trailer this week for “Bard of Blood,” his latest production for Netflix
- Pakistan army spokesman urges Khan to use his platform to promote peace, highlight human rights abuses in Kashmir
ISLAMABAD: Bollywood’s reigning king Shah Rukh Khan’s dropped the trailer this week for his latest production for streaming giant Netflix, “Bard of Blood,” inciting an overwhelmingly negative response from viewers for its “jingoistic” storyline, with the Pakistan Army also weighing in.
The series is based on a book of the same name written by Bilal Siddiqi. The trailer begins in Balochistan, a southwestern province in Pakistan, and shows that Indian spies captured by Pakistan are about to be beheaded before they can relay important information to India. Former spy Kabir Anand, played by Emraan Hashmi, is then tasked by the government of India to travel to Balochistan for a rescue mission.
In Pakistan, the trailer has drawn sharp criticism and is being seen as an irresponsible attempt at war-mongering at a time when tensions between arch-rivals India and Pakistan are at an all-time high over the disputed Kashmir region.
Among the Pakistans irked by the trailer was Pakistan Army Spokesman General Asif Ghafoor who tweeted at Khan, asking the actor to use his platform to promote peace and highlight human rights violations by India in Jammu and Kashmir.
Other Pakistani Twitter users also took to the social media platform to express disapproval.
This Twitter user accused Khan of making “jingoistic content”:
Rights activist Sabahat Zakariya wrote:
Haroon Rashid, the editor of Independent Urdu, had this to say:
Another Twitter user was equally miffed: