Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma’s new film ‘Pari’ has been banned in Pakistan alleging that the film “promotes black magic, some non-Islamic values and anti-Muslim sentiments”, reports The Express Tribune.
Censor board of Pakistan banned the Hindi horror film as “it reportedly contains objectionable sequences where Quranic verses have been used”, said another Pakistani news outlet Geo TV, quoting a cinema owner.
“The film not only mixed Quranic verses with Hindu chants but also portrayed Muslims in a negative light as they were shown using Quranic verses to do black magic,” a source at Pakistan’s censor board, the Central Board of Film Certification, revealed to Geo.
Moreover, the Pakistani censor board claimed that the film seems to support black magic, which it said is un-Islamic.
“Pari’s script, dialogues and storyline go against our Islamic values. The concepts within Islam have different ideologies about magic. This film stimulates the viewers in favour of black magic and promotes thoughts that are contradictory to our religion,” a senior member of the board said to the Tribune.
The Pakistan Film Distributors Association’s chairman, Chaudhry Ejaz Kamra, also concedes with the country’s censor board’s decision.
“Any film that goes against our culture and Islamic history should be banned in Pakistan,” he said.
One theatre company Nueplex Cinemas posted on its Facebook page saying tickets already sold for the film could be refunded.
‘Pari’ is Sharma’s third production venture.
Last month, Pakistan banned Hindi film ‘Padman’ – a film on menstrual hygiene, which starred Akshay Kumar – as it dealt with a “taboo subject”.
“We can’t allow our film distributors to import films which are against our traditions and culture,” Federal Censor Board member Ishaq Ahmed said, reported PTI news agency.
“We can’t allow the screening of films on taboo subjects in our cinemas as it is not in our culture, society or even religion,” a member of thePunjab Film Censor Board said.