Pakistan's foreign minister has urged Indians to boycott Bollywood films with anti-Pakistan themes saying such movies would not help relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri's appeal came ahead of the February 16-18 talks between officials of the South Asian rivals, the first in nearly three years between the two countries, who have fought three wars in the last half-a-century.
"I would appeal to Indian society to discourage the Mumbai (Bombay) film industry from making 'hate-Pakistan' movies," Kasuri said in an interview to Indian daily Hindustan Times, which was published on Sunday.
"They should not encourage those producers, who wish to make money out of hatred," Kasuri said. "Indian civil society should boycott such films."
Bollywood, as India's prolific Hindi film industry is called, regularly churns out films with themes that revolve around terrorism, alleged Pakistani militants, wars between the two countries and the Kashmir dispute at the heart of their enmity.
Most such films are hits with Indian audiences and analysts say they feed on patriotism and appeal to decades of anti-Pakistani sentiments developed across the country.
However, a much-hyped recent release, "LoC Kargil" - based on a brief military confrontation between India and Pakistan in northern Kashmir in 1999 - bombed at the box office due to what critics said was its documentary nature and excessive violence.
India accuses Pakistan of supporting a 14-year war against New Delhi's rule in Kashmir by arming and training guerrillas. Pakistan denies the charge.
But despite decades of hostile ties, the two countries have strong cultural similarities and Bollywood films and stars are extremely popular in Pakistan.