Vande Mataram, Dhurandhar and the Politics of Performative Nationalism |The Wire Wrap

Kabir · December 13, 2025 · 2 comments

Recently, we’ve seen some heated debates in parliament around Vande Mataram and electoral issues, a visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin, and a vicious online campaign against critics of the film Dhurandhar. Jahnavi Sen is joined by lawyer Shahrukh Alam and The Wire’s political editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta to discuss all of this.

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Kabir

I am Pakistani-American. I am a Hindustani classical vocalist and ethnomusicologist. I hold a B.A from George Washington University (Dramatic Literature, Western Music) and an M.Mus (Ethnomusicology) from SOAS, University of London. My dissertation “A New Explanation for the Decline of Hindustani Music in Pakistan” has recently been published by Aks Publications (Lahore 2024). Samples of my singing can be heard on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/0Le1RnQQJUeKkkXj5UCKfB View all posts by Kabir

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X.T.M

1 day ago

Kabir – Dhurundhar is definitely not propaganda against Pakistan..

I don’t think you’ve seen the movie in fact it shows Pakistanis in a very favourable light..

ISI did orchestrate 26.11; it was very factually based.

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Kabir

1 day ago

Reply to X.T.M

I’m not going to see the movie. For one thing, I am not going to subject myself to three hours of violence.

I will go with the opinion of respected Indian film critics and analysts like Arfa Khanum Sherwani that this movie is Sangh propaganda.

The director’s first movie was “Uri: The Surgical Strike” which was again an anti-Pakistan movie. I think we can all see the pattern.

This movie has been banned in most Gulf countries precisely because it is anti-Pakistan– at least the film censors of those countries perceive it to be so.

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