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Pakistani blogger Sarmad Iqbal who has been in limelight since February this year when he flabbergasted famous Indian novelist and Bollywood socialite Shobhaa De by greeting her and interacting with her in her native Marathi language (during her visit to Lahore’s annual literary festival’s 6thedition) has once again come in news not just in Pakistan but in neighboring country India too through his article and a short video for famous Indian media outlet Quint about his love for India’s regional Marathi cinema.
In that video, Sarmad spoke in Marathi like a pro and just like a native Marathi speaker which reflects how much he is zealous towards mastering a foreign language like Marathi. Sarmad not just greeted Maharashtrians (inhabitants of the Indian state of Maharashtra) with a typical Marathi Namaskar but also introduced himself as a blogger and columnist and expressed his love for the Maharashtrian people and culture in the Marathi language.
This Marathi video message done by Sarmad was a double delight for many Maharashtrians along with his written article about his love for Marathi cinema and music. Since that article and short video came into inception and got published and released through Quint’s website and YouTube channel on 6th June 2018, Sarmad’s official Twitter account as well as his Facebook account and the comments section of the above mentioned Quint’s short video (regarding Sarmad’s love for Maharashtrian people on their YouTube channel) have been flooded with messages of love and respect for this young blogger from our country.
Very well understood and explained about Marathi movie.
Thanks @sarmadiqbal7— संदीप औताडे (@sandeepautade) June 6, 2018
@sarmadiqbal7 read your blog on Marathi film. If you like India & Maharashtra this much, then why don't you come here & settle in Pune or Mumbai, like @AdnanSamiLive did. You will love it & we Indians would love you. And rest assured, you won't repent your decision.
— Sanjay (@ssmhjn) June 6, 2018
These messages vary from the ones asking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant Sarmad Indian citizenship to the ones where people from Indian cities like Mumbai, Pune and Nashik are inviting Sarmad to their cities and homes and promising a warm welcome upon his arrival along with a promise that Sarmad wouldn’t repent his decision of accepting their invitation and coming to their country and their cities and even of living there with them.
Love you @sarmadiqbal7 Indian government should give @sarmadiqbal7 Indian citizenship. @IndianPM_ @SushmaSwaraj @rajnathsingh @Riteishd
— Lucy Xander (@lucy_xander) June 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/Parthsathi25/status/1004464056428781568
And these messages of love in the form of comments weren’t just confined to the invitation to Maharashtra but were surprisingly also about Maharashtrian people asking Sarmad to act in some Marathi movie and to do his debut with Marathi cinema and he will definitely accomplish there. Some even said that some big Bollywood director shall soon cast Sarmad in their film. Some Indians from Maharashtra in the comments section of the YouTube video even said that Sarmad shall become a part of famous Indian reality show Bigg Boss’s Marathi version which is running these days on Indian Television and is creating a buzz every day in Indian entertainment news with different drama filled fights and brawl of its contestants.
The article and video were also retweeted and praised by renowned Pakistani journalist and filmmaker Beena Sarwar on Twitter. Pakistani novelist Nadya A.R also retweeted Sarmad Iqbal’s article which comprised of his video message for Maharashtrians too. Sarmad is surely a game changer for peace between both countries through his articles as well as his peace initiatives.
Despite the fact that politicians from both sides continue to spew venom against each other’s countries and despite the fact that some celebs like Swara Bhaskar are ignorant enough to call our country a Failing state, Sarmad has shown that peace can be achieved even through an artistic medium like cinema which connects people from both sides even when language isn’t familiar as here in the case of Marathi language.
