Pakistan is no ban-istan

Local censor boards refute Indian media’s claims of Ritesh Sidhwani’s ‘Bangistan’ being banned in Pakistan

KARACHI:

In a recent turn of events it was reported by the Indian media that producer Ritesh Sidhwani’s upcoming film Bangistan has been banned in Pakistan.

“‘Basing their judgment on the trailer alone, they have decided that the film is anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim. If anything, it’s anti-terrorism and since Pakistan is as much a victim of this global menace as any other country, it is in their interest to screen the film. Its message is that it’s foolish to give up your life for a cause you’ll not live to fight for’, says Sidhwani who has written to the ministry asking for a review of the decision,” Ritesh Sidhwani, reported the Times of India along with the headline ‘Bangistan banned in Pakistan’.

Read: Bollywood actors Riteish Deshmuk and Pulkit Samrat might come to Pakistan

On another instant, Sidhwani was reported being clueless and shocked at the film being ‘stalled’ in Pakistan.

Actor Jacquiline Fernandez makes a cameo in an item number in Bangistan

“I am as clueless and shocked as you are because [they decided to ban the film] based on a trailer, but I have explained [to] them that you cannot judge on the basis of a trailer. A trailer will have to show a conflict [and] I cannot show you the entire film in my trailer...,” Sidhwani told IANS.

However when the individual censor boards were approached to disclose the reasons why they decided to ban the film, it turned out that the film was never submitted to the censor board.



“We can’t tell anything by watching the trailer and there is no truth in Bangistan being banned since we have not censored the film,” Mobashir Hasan, chairperson of the CBFC [Central Board of Film Certification] told The Express Tribune. “In fact, as of now the film has not even been imported in the country,” he clarified. All the cinemas in the Islamabad Capital Territory and cantonments around the country come within the CBFC’s ambit.

Read: Objectionable contents: IHC petitioned against Bajrangi Bhaijaan

Bangistan revolves around the story of suicide bombers, Hafeez Bin Ali (Riteish Deshmukh) and Praveen Chaturvedi (Pulkit Samrat), who’ve been convinced to kill themselves in a mission until they get a reality check.

“No film by the name of Bangistan has been submitted to us for certification,” Fakhr-e-Alam, chairman of SBFC [Sindh Board for Film Certification] told The Express Tribune. “We can only give a verdict after watching a certain film but no such film came to us for our approval.”



Fakhr-e-Alam was recently in the limelight for approving the release of the much-hyped-up Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

On the other hand, even the Punjab censor board, one that certifies the films for the biggest cinema circuit in Pakistan, also never received the film for certification.

“We have not banned or watched any film of this name,” a section officer in the Punjab Censor board spoke of Bangistan with The Express Tribune.

However there could be a possibility that after looking at the content and the lack of box office potential in the film, local distributors decided not to import the film at all.

“This could be a possibility because even if there was a minuscule chance of the film being imported to Pakistan than the exhibitors would have been notified, which they weren’t,” sources told The Express Tribune.

They further added that this could just be a ploy to create pre-release hype around an otherwise low-budget film.

On the other hand, if you analyse the current Pakistani box office, there seems to be no room for another small film with so many big releases on their way.

“The current Pakistani films and Bajrangi Bhaijaan are doing business with the same momentum as that of Eid so we don’t need to import any film,” Khorem Goltasab of Super Cinemas told The Express Tribune.

“Plus since there are major releases such as Mission Impossible 5 and the Pakistani film Karachi Se Lahore slated for next week, there is no point of importing another film,” he added.

So it seems like, that even if the information ministry entertains Sidhwani’s request, there is no room for Bangistan in Pakistani cinemas.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2015.

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