Visa troubles: Mahesh Bhatt casts doubt over staging 'Daddy' in Napa's theatre festival

Indian filmmaker says they may not visit Pakistan at all if other Indian groups are denied visa

A day after the National Academy of Performing Arts’ (NAPA) announced that it was rescheduling some performances due to visa issues faced by Indian artists, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said that he and his daughter Pooja may not visit Karachi at all for their play.

Bhatt, whose stage adaptation of his 1989 film, ‘Daddy’ is scheduled to be the concluding play in Napa’s International Theatre Festival, said on Saturday that even if one of the Indian theatre groups is denied visa, he may not go at all.

"There is an uncertainty over the staging of Daddy in Pakistan. One of our theatre group has not been given visa to travel to Karachi for the festival. When I asked the host they said some bureaucratic procedure has resulted into this problem," Bhatt said.

Read: Visa crisis takes centre stage at NAPA theatre festival

"My daughter and I are supposed to travel to Karachi for our play, but if one of our own group from our country can't go, then we will also opt out. It is either all of us or no one."

Bhatt added that he and his group had been looking forward to visiting Karachi and hoped that the matter would be resolved soon.

"I have always said that performing art sticks nations together... cultural ties should not get affected by such issues. We have spent a decade to build ties and such an event is a body blow to us."

On Friday, Napa announced that it was rescheduling the play Kasumal Sapno, with Napa production Anjaam-e-Mohabbat to fill the spots vacated on March 14 and 15.

 

 

The move came after the play’s director Ajeet Singh Palawat had to return from Amritsar after failing to obtain a NoC from the Pakistan government.

Original schedule of plays:

 

 

This article originally appeared on Times of India