Filmmakers from Pakistan could not make it to the film festival at National Institute of Design (NID) titled ‘Alpavirama-2011′ that ended on Sunday. But, they still have a reason to smile.

A Bangladeshi film about a love affair set in the country’s bloody 1971 struggle has stirred up heated debate, prompting the distributor to pull it from cinemas.

Meherjaan: A Story of War and Love, which features some of south Asia’s biggest stars including Victor Banerjee and Jaya Bachchan, wife of Indian movie legend Amitabh Bachchan, was released last month to critical acclaim.

But the plot, charting a romance between a local girl and a Pakistani soldier, has hit a raw nerve in Bangladesh, where a new tribunal has just begun prosecuting suspected collaborators.

Indian extremist outfit Shiv Sena has warned Bollywood against hiring Pakistani artists, saying it will teach a lesson to those who do so.

India’s famous film director Mahesh Bhatt revealed that the Maharashtra Cinema Television Sena (MCTS), a frontalorganization of the Shiv Sena, has threatened those hiring Pakistani artists, a private news channel reported.