Pakistan's Punjab delays Barbie screening over objectionable content

Pakistan bans Barbie: Cinema halls across Pakistan's Punjab briefly halted the screening of Hollywood movie Barbie. The movie was later screened with a few cuts.

Authorities said that Barbie needed to delete a few "objectionable scenes" that are contrary to Pakistan's society.

Ban only in Punjab

News regarding Barbie's ban began circulating when the Punjab Censor Board denied a No Objection Certificate to this film. India Today says that some people said they were asked to get a refund after the movie stopped screening midway.

Major cinemas in Lahore, such as Universal Cinemas, Cue Cinema and Cine Star were not running Barbie, which released on July 21. This fuelled speculations that the Punjab government had banned the movie.

Sources told the Express Tribune that the Punjab Censor Board did not ban Barbie but had demanded that a few objectionable dialogues be edited out.

Barbie's Pakistan distributor HKC Entertainment did not agree with these changes. However, on Saturday, the film got a certification from the Bard after the "objectionable dialogues which promoted homosexuality" were deleted.

Pakistan is an Islamic country and doesn't allow homosexuality in any form.

However, Barbie was being screened in Sindh and Islamabad without any cuts.

Widespread criticism

Many Pakistanis criticised the temporary banning of Barbie.

One user wrote on Twitter, “Just heard that Barbie’s banned in Pakistan? I watched [the] movie yesterday. There’s literally nothing in that movie to ban. No swear words. No nudity. No obscenity. Not even any LGTBQ+ characters. Thematically, the film is about women being able to do anything they want, which I guess is a big threat to the fabric of our society,”

Pakistan has banned several films that allegedly attack the country's social and moral fabric. Last November, the country banned Joyland- Pakistan's entry for the 2013 Oscars- because this movie "offended Muslim sensibilities.

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