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Pakistani filmmaker thrown out of Mumbai hotel: IBNLive.com > Videos



TIES OF TENSION? The incident, many say, reflects on the growing suspicion among Indians and Pakistanis.

Pakistani filmmaker thrown out of Bombay hotel

Hindol Sengupta / CNN-INDIA

Published on Friday , August 31, 2007 at 02:25

Bombay: It's a scene he may introduce in his future films. One of the subcontinent's best-known filmmakers Hasan Zaidi was thrown out of a hotel in Bombay. His fault: he's a Pakistani.

Two days after he was thrown out of Juhu Plaza, the Pakistani filmmaker - who organises Pakistan's famous Kara film festival - has been getting calls of support constantly.

He has found a room at the Sun and Sand Hotel, just a wall across the Juhu Plaza. With the case getting media attention, Zaidi says all he wants is the hotel to do a rethink.

“All this media attention is a little embarrassing but it would help if they think twice before doing this to someone else,” he says.

However, across the wall, the people at Juhu Plaza is unrepentant. “We are careful about these things, look at all the bomb blasts happening, who knows who comes from where?” says General Manager, Hotel Juhu Plaza, I Krishnamurthy.

One wall divides the hotel quite like the view on India and Pakistan. One view brings people together, another separates. But this case brings up a bigger issue - in the age of terror, where we are afraid of everyone, how many friends are we turning away?

Clearly Zaidi is not taking this to heart. For all the closed minds next door, his new room has a great view.