Bollywood’s digital purge: Pakistani celebs vanish from posters, but not from memory

Despite a ceasefire, the divide between India and Pakistan is widening now surfacing not just in politics, but across streaming platforms and film posters. From Mawra Hocane to Mahira Khan and Fawad Khan, top Pakistani stars are being digitally erased from iconic Bollywood visuals. Their faces may be gone, but their unforgettable performances continue to live on.

Actress Mawra Hocane has been removed from Sanam Teri Kasam posters on Spotify and YouTube Music even as the 2016 romantic drama enjoys renewed popularity.

This digital erasure comes after Hocane’s public condemnation of Indian  military's Operation Sindoor, which targeted areas in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 civilians dead.

On May 7, 2025, Hocane’s viral statement criticizing the airstrikes reignited fierce debate about nationalism, art, and accountability. But the backlash didn’t stop there.

Her co-star from Sanam Teri Kasam, Harshvardhan Rane, lashed out on Instagram, calling her comments “derogatory” and “hateful.” He publicly announced that he would not return for a potential sequel if Hocane were involved emphasizing his pride in India and his refusal to compromise on “values.”

Never one to stay silent, Hocane clapped back in a fiery Instagram story, accusing Rane of turning cross-border conflict into a PR stunt for “personal gain.” She called his stance “performative,” and his refusal to return “a strategy for attention.”

Rane responded calmly, claiming he never disrespected her or attacked her dignity, but likened her removal from the sequel to an Indian farmer “weeding out unwanted elements” a comment many saw as a thinly veiled jab.

Mahira Khan, who starred alongside Shah Rukh Khan in Raees, has disappeared from the film’s YouTube cover image. Fawad Khan, too, has been scrubbed from the posters of Kapoor & Sons.