LAHORE: Popular conversation in Lahore’s affluent society these days revolves around whether they have seen Bollywood’s latest release, ‘Ram Leela’, which is running to packed audiences in many cinema halls. This is not the only movie being lapped up by the denizens of Lahore. Though the reviews in the local papers have dubbed the movie as being mediocre, ‘Gori Tere Pyar Mein’ is also drawing audiences. On a Sunday evening show at a multiplex in the city’s posh Gulberg area, the audience breaks into thralls as the hero of the movie, the dhoti clad Imran Khan , runs away from the marriage mandap.

This is not all. Pakistani newspapers carry huge ads of television serials like ‘Kahta Hai Dil Jeele Zara’ and ‘Afsar Bitiya’ that you thought were accessible only in India. But in Lahore you can switch on the TV and see the machinations in the house of Big Boss and more.

Pakistan is having a new love affair with India and wants to be recognized for this. “We feel close to India and we perceive that there is little to differentiate us. We have to be close friends and have intense cultural interactions,” says Ataul Haq Qasmi, a well-known Urdu columnist and chairman of the Lahore Arts Council. Nasrullah Khan, a well-known ENT surgeon concurs: “There is no other way for us.”

It is not only such moderate Pakistanis who are airing such views. At a meeting to discuss the role of the media in promoting Aman ki Asha, a participating TV anchor gets emotional: “I was a brilliant student but took the same training like the Taliban and indulged in the same activities as the Taliban. But then I realized that the rich and the famous are sending their students to English schools and enjoying life. What’s the point of wielding the gun?” he asks. Another TV journalist delivers a sermon to a huge audience collected at the same meeting: “These leaders misled us and talked about a one thousand year war with India and led us on by saying that one day the Pakistani flag will fly at Delhi’s Red Fort. All this is trash. Get ready for peace because there is no other way but amity.”

It is this new context of increased love for India that makes Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cry out for dismantling the requirement of visa for movement between the two countries. “You must tell your government that we want peace and want to move forward,” he told this correspondent.

“Let me assure you there is a consensus across the board in Pakistan that peace talks must be renewed and good relations must be built with India,” says well-known journalist and for a brief while the chief minister of Punjab, Najam Sethi. He is almost right but not absolutely. A day after Nawaz Sharif called for dismantling visa requirements between India and Pakistani, the chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami lashed out at him for now trying to ‘sell’ the Indian agenda. But local analysts say that his opposition is not serious. They point out that new love for India has much to do with the growing Pakistani disenchantment with the US. “They are using us for fighting their battles and giving us dollars which makes our elites dependent on them. We have to shake off this American dependence,” says Feroz, a taxi driver. What has incensed Pakistanis most are the US drone attacks on Pakistan. Though aimed at flushing out the Taliban targets in ‘settled’ areas in cities of the frontier Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province has led to large-scale demonstrations in major cities of Pakistan. “They cannot take our sovereignty for granted. India and Pakistan must work together to form a bulwark against outsiders meddling in our region,” Feroz adds.

Stories about Narendra Modi are appearing in the Pakistani press and many want to know about the future of the relations between the two countries if he becomes prime minister. Leading journalists like Nazir Naji, group editor of Roznama Dunya, have detailed information about the political scene in India like the strength or otherwise of BJP in a state like Andhra Pradesh.

The general Pakistani feeling is that in this new love affair, the Indians are not reciprocating with the same zest. “Our channels are not being shown in India nor are our movies. We know your Deepika, Kareena and Priyanka, but do you know our heroines?” asks Rukhsana Noor of Hush Films. Journalist Naji says that the perception in Pakistan is that India is one of the largest acquirers of defence equipment in the global market and this amassment is for use against Pakistan. “This makes us apprehensive,” he points out and refuses to buy the argument that India shares a huge border with expansionist China also. Other analysts point out that being a scion of huge industrial group, Prime Minister Sharif’s Aman ki Asha has much to do with opening up of the Indian market to Pakistani companies.

Incidentally, Pakistan is probably one of the few countries that you can across over by foot from India. But it is the only country where Indian cellphone operators cannot provide international roaming facilities. At the border, before the cellphone went dead, when this correspondent called up his host on the other side of zero line, a Border Security Force official said: “With this call your phone is now on watch.”

Pakistani civil society has this new obsession with India, but on the fifth anniversary of the Mumbai blasts can this affair of the heart progress much before the civilian governments play a dominating role in Pakistan? As is known, the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage are still roaming free in Pakistan and there is no indication that they will ever be punished.