A passport problem for Pakistani artists is forcing Bollywood composer Pritam Chakraborty to rush to Lahore to record a song with Atif Aslam for the upcoming film “Kismat Konnection”. “I need to urgently record a song with Atif for Aziz Mirza’s ‘Kismat Connection’, but he is suddenly having problems with his passport. So he can’t come to Mumbai, I’m flying down to Lahore to record the song with him,” Pritam, who composed music for films like “Life…In a Metro”, told IANS.

Despite all the talk of amity, solidarity and free-flowing cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan, artists from the neighbouring country seem to be finding it hard to obtain permission to come to Mumbai to record songs.

Pritam has consistently and tellingly used Pakistani voices – the latest being Atif in the “Race” track “O jaan-e-jaana”.

He doesn’t mind making the trip to Lahore because he has more business to mix with the pleasure of visiting Pakistan.

“I’ve never been to Pakistan. And ‘Jannat’, which has my music, is being premiered in Pakistan later this month. So it would be mixing business with pleasure.”