New Delhi
Indians absorbed a fresh horror recently as they reeled from yet another spate of bomb explosions in Bangalore and Ahmedabad - threats against beloved film stars who are Muslim.
In an e-mail sent to news organisations, a group calling itself the Indian Mujahedeen warned the four actors who dominate the film industry - Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan - to stop acting or face death. Their families were also threatened. In India, the four Khans (they are not related) are idolised by millions of fans of all religious denominations.
The e-mail described acting in Bollywood as 'against the tenets of Islam' and said that if they failed to stop, 'we are ready for order [sic] to kill you'. It added: 'Today [the bombs in Ahmedabad] is only sample but our next is Muslim film star [sic].'
For an industry that has always prided itself on its secularism, the threats are an outrageous affront. The country might burn in sectarian riots and bloodletting but not a trace of Hindu-Muslim animosity has ever seeped into Bollywood.
Ever since independence in 1947, when Muslim Pakistan was carved out of mainly Hindu India, tensions between the two communities have broken out on occasion. The rise of a Hindu nationalist movement in the 1990s exacerbated suspicions. But in Mumbai, home of the country's film industry, Hindus and Muslims have worked together peacefully as actors, lyricists, scriptwriters, singers, composers, dancers and directors.