The excessive, exaggerated drama in the Bollywood film is likely to displease diplomats on both sides and perhaps complicate matters for present and future Indian citizens stuck in Pakistan.
By Mayur Lookhar
True diplomacy operates in the shadows, aligning with the principles of backchannel diplomacy, where quiet negotiations shape major outcomes without public attention. In Indian diplomacy, matters tend to be more guarded. Each word in the communiqué is carefully crafted— not one word less, not one word more. Media queries are met with equal consideration.
There was, however, an aberration when, in 2017, a nearly 30-minute press conference was held. Present on the occasion were the then External Affairs Minister, the late Sushma Swaraj, J.P. Singh, then Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan, and Uzma Ahmed, a brave young woman who narrated her ordeal in Pakistan.
A resident of Delhi, Ahmed, a single mother, was tricked into a relationship by a Pakistani man, Tahir, whom she had befriended in Malaysia. Having won her trust, Tahir invited Uzma to Pakistan on the pretext of meeting his family in Islamabad. She accepted the invitation and arrived in Islamabad. During the road trip, she was drugged, and when she regained consciousness, her world fell apart. Tahir did not belong to Islamabad but to Buner, a rugged district in the hills of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a Pashtun-dominated region notorious for its patriarchy, exacerbated by the Talibani ideology that has ravaged the area for years.
Source: Screenshot from The Tribune article
After enduring physical and emotional torture, the Indian lady somehow used her wits to trick Tahir into taking her to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The rest, as they say, is history.
What intrigued many was how Uzma narrated her ordeal in the press conference after landing in Delhi. This detailed briefing was perhaps unexpected, especially in matters involving India and Pakistan, and even more so when the dignity of a woman is usually concerned.
Uzma Ahmed, however, didn’t hold back her words, slamming Tahir and labelling Pakistan a maut ka kuan (well of death) for women.
Given her ordeal, it is natural for the woman to paint a dark picture of Pakistan. While Pakistanis will naturally see red, they, too, won’t have a high view of Buner. With a sex ratio of 60:40—well, who would want to be raised as a girl in this regressive tribal belt?
Uzma Ahmed’s story is one of survival but would have been impossible without the efforts of J.P. Singh, and other officials from the High Commission. Gautam Bambawale, the then Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan was said to be in New Delhi when the Uzma Ahmed saga transpired.
Uzma’s story inspired filmmaker Shivam Nair and actor-producer John Abraham to make The Diplomat (2025). The film released last week to fairly positive reviews but hasn’t really set the box office on fire.
It’s too late to do a review, which isn’t by choice—blame that on the film’s select press screenings. Given its plot, it’s natural to be swayed by emotion, but one must not lose sight of objectivity and, in this case, diplomacy.
Typically, Bollywood tends to fictionalise true stories. Writers and filmmakers often give fictitious names. So, it came as a surprise when director Shivam Nair and writer Ritesh Shah named their principal characters after real persons. Shikara (2020) fame actor Sadia Khateeb essays Uzma Ahmed, Abraham stepped into the shoes of J.P. Singh, while the talented Jagjeet Sandhu played Tahir. Revathy played the much admired Sushma Swaraj.
While one welcomes this authenticity, the flip side is that diplomacy demands maintaining a certain level of secrecy. But the veil was lifted in every sense during the MEA press conference in 2017. Uzma was the victim, and she had every right to tell her 26-day ordeal in Pakistan. Asking her to seal her lips in the name of dignity would have been akin to suppressing her voice. So, Shivam Nair and Ritesh Shah were justified in using real names in their film.
While Uzma’s hellacious ordeal needed to be told, one was taken aback that Bollywood didn’t shy away from naming the diplomats. The Indian government, past and present, has rescued its citizens from hostile regions before. Akshay Kumar even did a film on the evacuation of over a lakh Indians stranded in the Middle East during the Gulf War of 1990. Malayalee diplomat Mathunny Mathews was turned into a Punjabi, Ranjit Katyal. By that count, it’s a pleasant change that J.P. Singh didn’t lose his identity in The Diplomat.
A seasoned diplomat, Singh has experience in Iran, Af-Pak, and now serves as India’s Ambassador to Israel. Civilians will naturally hail Singh after watching The Diplomat, but how is such content perceived in diplomatic circles? Singh, like other Indian diplomats, did his duty. How is it that his diplomacy is deemed worthy of a movie, whereas countless others will remain unsung heroes? Truth be told, most would prefer it that way. J.P. Singh, too, doesn’t strike as a man for optics. What makes this story worth telling is the region in which it is placed.
Given the history between these hostile neighbours, ordinary citizens are often caught in political and diplomatic tussles. “If it were some other nation, things would be easy, but this is Pakistan,” J.P. Singh cautions Uzma, explaining that, as per rules, an Indian citizen entering Pakistan must return via the same route or mode of transport they used to enter. This bizarre rule becomes the platform for Nair to craft high-octane drama.
More on that later, but first, it is natural for The Diplomat to polarise opinions in political circles. The opposition will be quick to label it yet another agenda-driven film. To be fair to Nair and Abraham, the political conversations in the film are limited to the primary cause. Sushma Swaraj’s portrayal remains largely understated. However, her receiving Uzma at the Attari border is pure Bollywood fiction. Given her reputation, the late Sushma Swaraj would have preferred to stay under the radar in such a film. “I’m not worthy of praise. I just did my duty,” Swaraj had humbly stated during the famous press conference, reaffirming her commitment that the country would do whatever it took to bring their daughter home.
Nair and John Abraham haven’t tinkered with the key plot points in this story, but in their thirst for drama, they may have done a disservice to Indian diplomacy. Hey, if your title is The Diplomat, then stick to diplomacy.
Abraham delivers a classy, mature, and sensitive portrayal of the diplomat, but the excessive, exaggerated drama surrounding this episode could potentially endanger current and future Indian citizens stuck in Pakistan.
What have Abraham and Nair done that has us worried? Certain spoilers ahead, so reader discretion is advised.
Nair and Abraham couldn’t resist their Bollywood urges and seem blind to how their dramatization harms Indian diplomacy. More worryingly, it adds to the tension for innocent Indians stuck or jailed in Pakistan.
Given their hostile relations, it is perhaps normal for diplomats from both countries to be under constant watch by their respective hosts. However, this in-your-face watchdog approach raises the question— is it even worth maintaining a diplomatic presence in Pakistan? Well, if not for the Indian High Commission, Uzma would have never made it out of Buner alive. One must not lose sight of how diplomacy is essential in handling cases of innocent civilians caught in the Indo-Pak slugfest. It is well documented how both countries have released trespassing fishermen. Poor farmer Sarabjit Singh, however, was one unfortunate soul who, in his inebriated state, accidentally crossed into Pakistan.
Constant scrutiny is expected, but Indian diplomats in Pakistan surely get adequate security. It’s bizarre that, in an early scene, the Deputy High Commissioner is shown traveling without any security cover.
Pakistani courts have experienced dramatic incidents, such as in 2021 when a woman and her brother were manhandled by a group of lawyers after she filed a case of a dishonored cheque against her estranged lawyer husband. However, this shameful act occurred in the court premises. In The Diplomat, Tahir Ali (Sandhu) and his armed Pashtun associates intimidate the victim, with Tahir audaciously approaching her directly. If events transpired this way, it likely strengthened Uzma’s case, leading Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani to promptly declare her forced marriage void and order state police to escort her safely to the Wagah Border.
The real intimidation and threats begin once Uzma is escorted from the court. Angry tribal men, under the orders of ISI agent Malik (Ashwath Bhatt), pursue Uzma. Gunshots are fired, with the bulletproof van narrowly escaping the assault by Tahir and his fellow Pashtun gunmen. While Bhatt is a skilled actor, he often portrays the stereotypical evil Pakistani ISI agent or military figure. Malik’s tailing continues up to the immigration point at the Wagah border. If the environment outside the Indian High Commission is so perilous for Uzma and even J.P. Singh, it raises the question of how the powerful Pakistani Army and intelligence agency allowed Uzma to leave their territory in the first place.
For much of its first half, The Diplomat (2025) proceeds effectively, adhering to factual events and addressing the issue through diplomatic channels. In the film, J.P. Singh pleads to not view this personal matter through the conventional India-Pakistan lens, yet the narrative introduces heightened drama. Additionally, the mention of Sarabjit Singh’s tragic death (in a Pakistani jail on May 2, 2013), seems unnecessary. Regardless of political implications, Indian diplomats typically refrain from emphasizing distinctions between pre- and post-2014 India.
Such portrayals raise questions about the filmmakers’ objectives. While depicting Pakistan as a regressive, patriarchal, and oppressive society is one approach, it’s important to acknowledge that even Sushma Swaraj recognized the contributions of their Foreign Affairs office, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Barrister Shahnawaz Noon, the legal counsel for Uzma Ahmed. Here, a politician showed diplomacy, but Nair and Abraham perhaps abandoned it for the sake of jingoistic climactic drama.
In 2016, amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following India’s surgical strike, a group of 19 young Pakistani girls found themselves stranded in Chandigarh. These girls had come to India to participate in the Global Youth Peace Festival on September 27. Concerned for their safety, Aliya Harir, the head of the group and convenor of the Indo-Pak friendship initiative ‘Aaghaz-E-Dosti’, reached out to India’s External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, seeking assurance for their safe return. Aliya expressed her relief and gratitude on Twitter after speaking with Swaraj, who assured them of safe passage. In a heartwarming response, Swaraj tweeted, “Aliya – I was concerned about your well-being kyonki betiyan to sabki sanjhi hoti hain.”
These Pakistani girls were not involved in a grim scenario like Uzma Ahmed’s; but upon their return, they expressed gratitude towards Sushma Swaraj and India. Maybe, some of them mourned Swaraj’s passing in 2019.
The Uzma Ahmed story could never be told in any utopian Aman ki Asha narrative, but a few jingoistic elements will surely leave a sour taste in the mouths of those Pakistanis who helped Uzma return home safely. Forget the Pakistani Army, ISI, or their radical population, but how would Justice Kayani and Barrister Noon react to The Diplomat? “Hey, that isn’t how things panned out,” they would quietly say. This jingoistic drama will further fan anti-India sentiments in Pakistan, who’ll accuse India of fabricating lies through this Bollywood film. Also, this will complicate matters for those stranded in Pakistan. More worryingly, will another Shahnawaz Noon or Justice Kayani fight for an innocent Indian in future?
It appears that The Diplomat’s creators prioritized populism over pragmatism. A narrative centered on diplomatic efforts warrants prudence in writing. Unfortunately, what began as a promising Bollywood diplomatic thriller devolved into another instance of jingoistic cinema.
This isn’t a formal review, but we couldn’t rate The Diplomat highly.
Rating: 1.5 / 5
