'Mah-e-Mir', 'Civil War' cleared with Universal rating in Pakistan

Scene featuring political party flag, derogatory language excised in Pakistani film

KARACHI: Apart from a few minor excisions, the Anjum Shahzad directorial Mah-e-Mir has been given a Universal (U) rating by the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) on the eve of its release. While the federal censor board deemed the movie fit for exhibition, its chairman Mobasher Hasan disclosed that the panel had recommended the cuts whilst keeping in mind the Motion Picture Ordinance (1979) and Film Censorship Code (1980).

“There are a few derogatory words that have been used in the dialogue which we have asked to be bleeped or muted and secondly there is a flag of a major political party fluttering in the background in one of the sequences, so the panel has also asked for that sequence to be cut,” Hasan told The Express Tribune.

These aren’t the only cuts that have been made to film, however the censor board has asked film-makers to add a statutory warning to the film owing to the depiction of smoking and alcohol consumption in some instances.



Interestingly, Mah-e-Mir is not the only film to have gone under the scanner, with the highly-anticipated Marvel Studio’s film Captain America: Civil War also been given a U rating by the CBFC. Unlike the former, the third installment in the Captain America franchise has had no excisions made to it. And, while the film has managed to earn a U rating in Pakistan, it has been given a PG-13 rating in North America.

Elaborating upon this decision, Hasan said, “The CBFC panel is independent of all these bodies and the decision regarding the movie was made keeping in view our local laws.” Both the movies were previewed by the Punjab Board of Film Censors (PBFC) on Tuesday and had been granted a U rating. No representative of the Sindh Board of Film Censors (SBFC) was available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 6^th, 2016.

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