by Subhash K Jha

Irony cannot get any thicker. A Gandhian film Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara not only gets lauded at the 5th Kara Film Festival in Karachi, Anupam Kher walks away with the best actor award.

Anupam who's in Dubai couldn't believe his luck.

"I couldn't be there to receive the award. Pooja Bhatt collected it on my behalf. But I'm pretty flattered and happy. It just goes to show that Gandhian philosophy is acceptable in any part of the world."

"Relations across the border are improving now, and we must encourage that trend. Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara is based on the ideas of non-violence... For that message to come across so loudly and clearly in a country we've considered our traditional enemy, is quite something."

Jahnu Barua's elegiac expose on the extermination of Gandhism trots from kudos to kudos. Producer Anupam Kher is over-the-moon.

"There were 160 films at the Pakistan festival and a distinguished jury chosen from world cinema. To be selected the best actor in Pakistan is to me a greater honour than even an Oscar. Why do we make the Oscars the ultimate criteria for our excellence...just because they market their prizes better? I always feel popular culture and cinema have no LOCs. Emotions are the same all over the world."

Anupam was present at the opening of the festival in Karachi.

"My mentor Mahesh Bhatt gave a speech about me that should've been given for a lifetime achievement award. I look at Maine Gandhi... as a modern Indian film. Its message is timeless...Gandhiji has helped me twice....he once got my country freedom and he gave me the reason to produce a film that's getting me international recognition."

Anupam who's currently at the Dubai Film Festival with the film feels it has a long way to go.

"Because I was recognized in Pakistan it's proven that Maine Gandhi... goes beyond petty differences created in Pakistan."

To his chagrin Maine Gandhi...stands no chance of a commercial release in Pakistan. "That's a pity...because Pakistan has no cinema culture of its own to speak of. If we're allowed to distribute films in Pakistan it would become the biggest revenue-earning territory for Bollywood."

Kher was asked by the Pakistani press about the prospects of Pakistani actors like Meera in Mumbai.

"I told them it's fine for Meera to get a fantastic break from Bhatt Saab. But she has to compete with the Rani Mukherjees and Preity Zintas . Meera is no patch on them. If I've to work in Hollywood I've to be better than Clint Eastwood . Even good enough is not good enough. We should not confuse media attention with merit."