Tabish Hashmi called out on using Kashmir for publicity
Tabish Hashmi has built his public profile on warmth, humour and a reputation for speaking his mind. His show Hasna Mana Hai made him a household name, and his film debut in Aag Lagay Basti Mein widened that profile further. But a sequence of events over the past few days has placed him at the centre of a controversy that cuts deeper than most he has faced, because it touches on something Pakistani audiences take very seriously: the sincerity of public voices when they speak on Kashmir.
The sequence began when Hashmi posted on his Instagram announcing that Hasna Mana Hai had come to an end. The announcement landed at a moment of heightened public emotion, coinciding directly with his video in support of Kashmiri protesters who were demonstrating against what they described as unrest and violence in the region. The timing created an obvious and powerful impression in the minds of many followers: that his show had been shut down as a consequence of his stand on Kashmir. The response was immediate. Hashmi received an outpouring of solidarity and support from social media, with many people praising him for paying a professional price for speaking up.
Then came the reveal.
It turned out that Hasna Mana Hai had not been cancelled at all. The show’s set was simply being redesigned and renovated. The announcement of the show’s end was a marketing exercise to generate excitement around the new set reveal, and the Kashmir video had been used in proximity to that announcement in a way that allowed the association to form organically in the public mind without being explicitly stated.
Content creator and commentator Ali Arif was among the most visible voices to call out what had happened. In a video addressing the controversy, he went through the sequence of events and pointed out precisely what Hashmi had done: posted a video about Kashmir, allowed the public to connect it to his show’s apparent end, absorbed the sympathy and support that followed, and then revealed the whole thing was a set change. He criticised Hashmi specifically for not clarifying the situation while the solidarity was pouring in, arguing that the failure to correct the impression was itself the problem.
The public reaction was sharp and widely shared. “This is what is wrong with this nation. Using a tragedy for your gain,” wrote one person. Another said simply, “Such a sad state of affairs.” A third was even more pointed: “He made a mockery of taking a stand.”
The controversy has prompted a genuine conversation about the ethics of celebrity activism in Pakistan, particularly when serious political or humanitarian situations are in the vicinity of promotional content. Whether the proximity of the Kashmir video and the show announcement was deliberate or poor timing, the result has been a significant erosion of goodwill from an audience that had, until this week, been squarely in Hashmi’s corner.
