I am not surprised. Despite some of the recent dips we've seen in Iran-Pakistan relation, the fact remains Iranians and Pakistanis share a deep bond, culturally and religiously. In every day life, Iranians and Pakistanis on a personal level are extremely close. I speak from personal experience.
Pakistan has not even began to reach its potential bro. Not just in cinema, but economically, socially, industrially etc. Unfortunately many nations in our region are plagued by deep mismanagement and corruption. This is not something that will be fixed in just one President or Prime Minister's term. But I am confident we'll overcome it.
Pakistan is coming back into the world after almost two to three decades of isolation.
Geopolitics are poisonous between the two and sectarian divisions amplify those tensions. I hope for a better future, where we can unite as brothers in Islam.
Culturally, racially, theologically, we are very similar. We study the same Sufi sheikhs and Hanafi Sunni Islam has many parallels with Ithna Ashari Shia Islam.
Sometimes when I watch Iranian movies, I stop looking at subs as I can understand what is being said. This is how close our languages are.
I feel the same for Turkish as well. When I was watching Ertugrul or Yunus Emre, many of the common words we share and Sufi ideas were mistranslated in English. However, being Pakistani, I was able to ascertain the meaning regardless. After a while, I began getting an ear for the Turkish language too.
Before British banned Dari from Pakistan, we spoke it as our main language. Over time, we were forced to abandon it on pain of death.
Still, all of my grandparents spoke Dari, in addition to Urdu, Punjabi, and a few other dialects. They were from the Kashmir-Punjab border region. After partition, they had to migrate and they settled in Central Punjab near Lahore.