Censor board places a ban on screening of latest film ‘Maalik’

The Censor Board of Pakistan has placed a ban on the screening of the movie ‘Maalik’ on the directives of the Government. On Wednesday, the board declared the movie ‘uncertified’ and effectively placed a ban on its screening anywhere in Pakistan.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 9 of the motion Pictures Ordinance, 1979, the federal Government is pleased to declare Urdu feature “Maalik” in respect of which a Censor Certificate No.54/M-I/2016 has earlier been granted, as uncertified film in the whole of Pakistan with immediate effect,” said a notification from the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage.

The notification was signed by Deputy Secretary Muhammad Rafiq, and it did not cite any reasons for explaining why the ban was placed. However, according to some reports, ‘Maalik’ blatantly points towards the corruption and malpractices taking place in our political system and society, and this did not sit well with the public.

The movie’s regional focus is on Sindh rather than a general scenario and the main character of the movie, the chief minister of Sindh, is depicted as an extortionist, murderer and rapist. The movie drew varied responses from audience, while many criticized the nature of the movie and its focus, there were others who applauded such a true depiction of the society.

‘Maalik’ was given a screening certificate by the Censor Board a few weeks back, but when the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting received a number of complaints, a decision was taken to ban the movie. The critics blamed the content of the movie for promoting a controversial way of advocating patriotism and social justice.

The director of the movie, Ashir Azeem has not made any comments on the ban so far.

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Posted by fatimaarshad on Apr 28 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.