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There have been varying views on India's ban on Pakistani artists, but Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan has had the most unusual of them all.

In an interview with Indian Express the Phantom actor said that the only reason Pakistani actors like Fawad Khan are lauded in India is because they're seen as 'exotic' since they hail from the 'forbidden land'.

"Make up your mind, make it a law if you want to," he said of the ban. "(Laughs) Also, there is a sense of exotic to them because they are from the forbidden land, like Fawad Khan. If they were from India, that would remove that extra glamour from them. Maybe they are just usual but there is a Mata Hari sense of a foreigner about them."

Having said that, he questioned the hypocrisy of the ban.

"I can understand the ban. On one hand you are playing nice, casting each other in movies and playing cricket, and on the other hand they cut five people’s heads — who are ‘they’ though, I don’t know," said Saif.

"We don’t know how much to believe. A lot of what happens between the two countries is covert, there are a lot of underhand dealings and trade etc."

Saif was never one to mince his words and this time is clearly no different.