Pakistan bans Akshay Kumar’s ‘Baby’

“Censor boards in Islamabad and Karachi have decided to ban the film because it portrays a negative image of Muslims and the negative characters in the film also have Muslim names," according to “Dawn”.

Akshay Kumar starrer "Baby" also stars famed Pakistani TV drama actor Mikaal Zulfiqar as well as Rasheed Naz. Photo: Special arrangement

Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Baby’ which is about an Indian spy on a mission to catch a dreaded terrorist banned by the Pakistan censor board.

“Censor boards in Islamabad and Karachi have decided to ban the film because it portrays a negative image of Muslims and the negative characters in the film also have Muslim names,” the Dawn newspaper said.

All CDs and DVDs of the film have also been banned in Islamabad. A representative of the film’s distributor, Everready Pictures informed the paper that the film has been banned in Pakistan.

Although, the film was set to release on January 23 across Pakistan, cinemas in Karachi had removed it from their websites leading to speculations about its imminent screening.

The film stars famed Pakistani TV drama actor Mikaal Zulfiqar as well as Rasheed Naz, who played the villainous cleric in Shoaib Mansoor’s ‘Khuda Ke Liye’.

Earlier, director Neeray Pandey was quoted as saying that the film was not “anti-Pakistan” or “anti-Islam”.

In an interview with The Hindu , Pandey said, “I feel people can be wrong but a religion or a nation can’t be wrong. And we are cognisant of it. We have three Pakistani actors in the film. There is no Pakistan bashing and there is no jingoism towards a particular country or religion. The core DNA of the film is fighting against terrorism ...” (Read more >here )

The board routinely bans films deemed to have ‘anti-Pakistan’ themes. In the past, the local censor board banned ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ that featured an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agent.