Pakistani actresses hid stigmatized origins behind Hindu stage names to survive moral scrutiny

Evidence

As a majority of Pakistani cinema actresses hail from the Kanjar ethnic group (a community of prostitutes and dancing girls), in an attempt to sanitize their lineage, many actresses choose overtly Hindu or “non-Muslim” sounding names, perhaps by the knowledge that Pakistanis don’t wish to see Muslim actresses flaunting so-called immoral values on the big screen (Qureshi, 2010, p. 191). From this viewpoint, off-screen moral sincerity is closely tied to on-screen popularity for Pakistani cinema stars. — Crystal Abidin and Megan Lindsay Brown (eds.), Microcelebrity Around the Globe, 960

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why would Hindu-sounding names shield actresses from the charge of Muslim immorality specifically, rather than any alias? Worth tracing Lollywood naming conventions further.
• XREF: Connects to the chapter-3 theme of platform real-name identity and Ch5’s Chinese Big-V verifiability as another naming/branding regime. — connects to: Only the film industry holds an invisible license to commodify Pakistani female bodies — Crystal Abidin and Megan Lindsay Brown (eds.), Microcelebrity Around the Globe:…, 994