While Bangistan, starring Ritesh Deshmukh and Pulkit Sharma, has some great music, the satire comedy that came out in early August has been banned from Pakistan and the UAE. It seems as though the film has been deemed anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistani.
The film is based on a peace mission in Poland. Religious leaders meet to discuss how to create peace between religions. The Islamist Al-Kaam Tamam and right-wing political party Maa Ka Dal separately recruit and brainwash Hafeez (Ritesh Deshmukh) and Praveen (Pulkit Samrat) to suicide-bomb the conference so that they may continue to wield their local influence. After a laughable training regimen, both Praveen and Hafeez change their religious identities to stay under the radar. Hafeez becomes a conservative Hindu and Praveen a practicing Muslim. Of course, in true Bollywood style, the two end up sharing an apartment and go to extreme lengths to protect their real identities from each other while they go about their mission.
“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," producer Ritesh Sidhwani said in a statement.
Sidhwani has said that Bangistan is a made-up country that “has its own passport, national flag and its own position on the world map. We have created a different world,” and so there was no reason for the film to cause any sort of controversy or offence.
Bangistan is not the first film to be banned in Pakistan. It's thought that Pakistan's Central Board of Film Censors is actually very sensitive and picky about what it allows audiences to watch.
Other banned films in Pakistan
Saif plays a RAW agent in this picture, and the censors felt it portrayed Pakistan in a bad light and that it would offend the people of the country.
The Dirty Picture
Raanjhanaa
Khiladi 786
Ek Tha Tiger
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
Do you feel the censor board is too uptight? Should they be able to choose what audiences gets to see?
Main Image Photo Credit: www.mid-day.com
Vallisa Chauhan
Author
Vallisa Chauhan (@vallisachauhan) presents the Flagship breakfast show on Lyca Radio 1458. She has scripted and produced a full feature film called "Those 4 Walls" and is currently working on other projects. She loves travel and movies and tries to fit in both as much as she can.
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