Even after the partition, it was common for the Baloch from India to visit their extended families in Pakistan, mainly in Karachi. In recent decades, this became difficult due to tightened visa restrictions.[1]
There are around 300 Baloch families living in Mumbai, numbering about 1,500 individuals. They are scattered across the outer western suburbs and ghettos of Mumbai's metropolitan area. The vast majority of them belong to a working class background, having little formal education, and are employed as manual labourers or drivers.[1]
The Bhagnari are Hindu Baloch community living in India,[6] who trace their origin to the Southern Balochistan but migrated to India during the Partition.[7]
Culture
Some Baloch in India have held onto their cultural practices and traditions, including their clothing, music, and their native language Balochi.[1] The women wear a traditional dress known as pashk, an elaborate, handwoven two-piece costume which resembles a kurta-pyjama. Balochi folk music is known for its incorporation of drums and beats.[1]
In the Hindi film industry, the Baloch are particularly well known as professional stunt performers and drivers who are hired to choreograph dangerous action sequences.[1] One such performer, Wahid Lala, was the first stuntman from this community who started his career in Bollywood in 1951, working in seven Bimal Roy and nine Jugal Kishore film productions, including as a stunt double for actor Pran. His sons and grandsons have collectively worked in around 300 Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Kannada films.[1]
Faiz Baloch, a social media celebrity, is one of the prominent TikTok and Instagram influencers in India, having amassed a following of over 9.4 million and 2.8 million respectively on the two platforms as of July 2019.[14][15]
