ISLAMABAD, May 2, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The screening of two Indian films in Pakistani movie houses after a 40-year ban is attaining political significance with many seeing cultural bonding as the best way to bring the peoples of the arch foe neighbors closer.

"We have allowed the screening of these movies as both these movies reflect the common historical heritage of Pakistan and India," Zia-ud-din Khan, the chairman of Pakistan Censor Board, told IslamOnline.net.

Taj Mahal, a mega budget movie, was premiered in Lahore, considered to be the cultural center of Pakistan, Friday, 28 April 2006.

Based on the true story of Emperor Shah Jahan's love for his Wife Mumtaz Mahal in whose honor he built Taj Mahal, the film has been released with much fanfare in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan, Hyderabad and Rawalpindi.

This came after one of Bollywood's greatest love epics, Mughal-e-Azam, became the first Indian movie in decades to be officially released in a Pakistani cinema.

The two movies are both based on the history of Mughal India with which the Pakistani society feels historical and cultural affinity.

At its greatest territorial extent, the Mughal Empire ruled parts of what is today Afghanistan, Pakistan and most of the Indian subcontinent, then known as Hindustan, between 1526 and 1707.

The empire was founded by the Turco-Mongol/Turco-Persian Timurid leader Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans.

"Mughal" is the Persian word for "Mongol". The religion of the Mughals was Islam.

The Lahore High Court had dismissed a petition filed by the veteran actor and president of the Movie Artists Association of Pakistan (MAAP), Yusaf Khan, to maintain a total ban on the showing of Indian movies.

Indian movies have not been screened in Pakistani cinema houses since a ban was imposed on the screening of Indian movies after 1965 war between the two neighbors.

The movies' screening is being seen as a historical occasion for the cultural relations and people-to-people contact between the South Asian rivals.

A galaxy of Indian actors, directors and producers have visited Pakistan to participate in the release of Taj Mahal.

Pakistan Minister for Culture Ghazi Gulab Jamal has asserted that there was no bond stronger than culture, describing the screening of the movies as a sign of progress in Pak-India relations.

Indian State Minister for Culture Ambika Soni, accompanying the movie stars, said the release of Taj Mahal in Pakistan will further strengthen dialogue between both countries.

After long years of tensions the relations between the nuclear rivals are coming back to normal thanks to an ongoing composite dialogue process.

Despite hiccups in resolving the political issues the two sides are steadily moving ahead on the road of improving people-to-people contact.

Since the partition of India and Pakistan after independence from Britain in 1947, the two countries fought twice over the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Nadeem Mandiwala, the distributor of Mughal-e-Azam, believes the screening of Indian movies would revive the movie-going culture in Pakistan.

"The screening will give a boost to Pakistan film industry and it will revive cinema culture in Pakistan which is at the brink of closer," he told IOL.

Mandiwala said that in the 80s there were some 1400 cinema houses in Pakistan and the number has nose-dived to only 250.

"I am coming to the movie house after 11 years," Rizwan Khan told IOL after watching Taj Mahal.

But he did not share Mandiwala's optimism about the long-term impact on the industry.

"I don't think there is any guarantee that people will start coming to the cinema houses after this movie is gone."

Even after the passage of more than 40 years, the Mughal-e-Azam movie still maintains its attraction for the Pakistani movie watchers.

"I watched Mughal-e-Azam on television some 30 years ago and I wanted to watch it on the cinema screen and that's why I am here," said Khawar Ayub.