How PK got censored in Pakistan

As ‘Baby’ heads towards a ban in Pakistan, we look into how PK was censored and not banned by the SBFC.

KARACHI:

Censor boards and their respective film industries have never been on cordial terms. The producers keep on complaining about their artistic voice and the storyline being compromised by the censor board whereas the boards abide by their own rules and regulations. They can never agree on anything, such is the nature of their respective jobs.  But most of the times the censor boards have subjective terms like ‘national interest’ and other catch phrases to use as a shelter for their decision.

Haider was found to be “against the ideology of Pakistan” and a censor board official even said that “certain Hindi words can have adverse effects on our culture.” While Waar was given a U (Universal) rating by the censor board which deemed it suitable for people of all ages despite the amount of gore and cursing in the film.



In the latest chain of events, all main officials of the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) of India were replaced by people who supported the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This lead to an overtly politically influenced film certification body.

Thankfully, owing to the 18^th amendment, such influences have been reduced to the minimum in Pakistan since the provincial censor boards. However, the situation gets even more interesting and ironic when different censor boards give separate verdicts on different films.

CBFC approval certificate for PK. PHOTOS: FILE

The Express Tribune got hold of the Excision notes of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and Sindh Board of Film Certification (SBFC)on PK and it seems like people in Islamabad saw a relatively more censored version of the film than Sindh. Seems like the Aamir Khan did manage to create some stir in the Pakistani censor boards, if not as much as it did in India.

It is pertinent to mention that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa still hasn’t formed its own censor board and gets their certifications from CBFC.

SBFC approval certificate for PK

SBFC Excision notes:

1) “Background music in the song where “Matam” shown sound erased”.

2) “Background sound in “Dancing Car” shot erased”

CBFC Excision notes:

1) “Very first scene of Aamir Khan in which his lower part is naked blurred”

2) “Two lip kissing scenes wherever occur in the film excised”

3) “ Slang word ‘lul’ wherever occur erased”

4) “Voices of Azaan wherever occur erased”

5) “The sentence ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jay Ho’ wherever occur in the film erased”

6) “The reference of Mehmood Ghaznavi, Kamal Pasha and Pervaiz Khan removed”

7) “The sentence ‘Musalman Bomb phaaraingay’ erased”

8) “The word ‘Apne Khuda’ muted”



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Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th,  2015.

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