Adnan Sami’s a patriot before anything. Never missing a chance to put it exactly like it is without mincing any words, he puts India first. Born to a Pakistani family, he had become a naturalised Indian citizen in 2016.

When we ask him about the ban on Pakistani artists in India post the Pahalgam attacks, and whether there’s a place for politics in something like art which is beyond borders, and he says, “Politics is something else, nationalism is something else. An artist will always belong to a country. An artist may not be political, but definitely a patriot. You can turn around and say ‘this artist doesn’t conform to any political ideology. Okay that is understandable, you can’t force them. But an artist will always belong to a country.”

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For the 54-year-old who returned to the mainstream space with the romantic track Bheegi Saari in Param Sundari, “nation has to come first”, and there’s no distinction between one’s house and country. “You have to stand by the very home you belong to, and be a part of protecting it. Your country is your home. Ultimately if people came to disrupt your dwelling, your residence, wouldn’t the artist stand up and fight, saying ‘hey, don’t mess with my house’ You can’t say ‘now I am going to become universal, an artist doesn’t have boundaries’, No, I am sorry! Art also has boundary. Would you allow an artist to live in anybody’s house? No, he will live in his own house. You cannot turn around and say ‘my house is my domain, but not my country’, no, the country is also your home. I am very clear about this. An artist regardless of which part of the world they belong to… if they stand up for their country, I respect that.”

Apart from artists, Pakistani content too has been stopped from seeing the light of day in India. Case in point, Fawad Khan-starrer Aabeer Gulaal. Adnan feels the move was “justified”. He continues, “The point of the matter is right now our country, our home has been threatened, attacked. So in that situation, we have to stand by and protect our home. Therefore we have to take a united stand and can’t turn around. Personally, I come from the boarding school culture. No matter what happened, we would stand together against the teachers, we had that code of ethics. It’s a no brainer. One can’t say artist is above this. If an artist is expecting the government to protect them, then they also have the responsibility. One cannot just stand by and say ‘we expect you to provide us with facilities as we are citizen,s but when it comes to fighting outside, threats, you are on your own’ How can you do that?”