By Manissha Despaande, Bollywood Trade News Network

Never mind the fact that veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra chose to ignore his film at the recent F.I.C.C.I. meet. Khan has now garnered the entire support of the industry in what he considers a new beginning of Indo-Pak ties via films, with the clearance of his film, TAJ MAHAL - An Eternal Love Story, the first Indian film in 41 years to be released in Pakistan. The recent industry meet called by Khan to hail the occasion saw industry bigwigs pledging their full support towards him from Mahesh Bhatt and Shyam Shroff to Pahlaj Nihalani (President of AMPTPP), Ratan Jain, Vikas Mohan, Sanjay Khan, Shashi Ranjan and Aditya Bhattacharya.

Khan of course chose the occasion to snub Chopra for his narrow-minded outlook. "We need to look at the bigger picture of friendship between two countries, rather than whether VEER-ZAARA or TAJ MAHAL... would be the first to release in Pakistan. This is not about who is a bigger name; it is about spreading love. It would be a tragedy if I have a divided home and seek our industry to promote friendship with the industry of Pakistan," he said.

Meanwhile the Pakistan government seems to have unofficially chosen him as an ambassador of the film industry for Indo-Pak ties. Last week a 20-member delegation from Pakistan dropped down at his Juhu-based residence in Mumbai to discuss various aspects of the film market in their country.

Khan, along with his Pakistan-based distributor Satish Anand (of Eveready Pictures), is currently drawing out an elaborate strategy for the film's distribution in Pakistan. According to Khan, the film is being released with 25 prints to start with, considering the acute shortage of Dolby theatres in Pakistan. The theatrical promos of the film have already started playing in Pakistan and according to him, have generated a considerable pre-release curiosity for the April 28 release of the film.