Pakistan bans Naam Shabana a day after release

The Pakistan censor board has banned the screening of Bollywood action thriller “Naam Shabana” over objectionable content after initially allowing its release with some cuts. Last week, the film was allowed to run but a theatre in Islamabad showed it without the mandatory cuts, leading to the ban.

“It prompted the censor board to ban the screening of the movie,” an official said. He said that some of the scenes related to terrorism were not fit enough to be shown.

The officials at censor board were reluctant to allow its screening but the local distributor Ever Ready Pictures persuaded them to allow the release after editing.

“Naam Shabana” stars Taapsee Pannu, Manoj Bajpayee, Akshay Kumar and Anupam Kher, and was initially released in Pakistan on March 31.

Pakistan had banned the screening of Indian films last year, after cross-border tension between the two countries. The ban was, however, lifted at the start of this year allowing the screening of Indian films after approval by the censor board.