LAHORE: The movie “Barbie”, one of the most-anticipated films of 2023 hit the cinemas across the globe Friday, however, its screening was delayed in Pakistan’s Punjab over ‘objectionable content’.
As the capital Islamabad and Sindh province cleared it for screening, the authorities in Punjab stayed the show in cinemas due to “objectionable content” in the movie. “There will be a full review of the film, and it will be censored where deemed necessary,” secretary Punjab Film Censor Board, Farrukh Mahmood told AFP.
He said that the fantasy-comedy film, which features Margot Robbie as the famous Barbie doll and Ryan Gosling as her boyfriend Ken, will be cleared for screening once the review and censoring process completes.
The board did not clarify which content was “objectionable”.
While fans in the most populous province will have to wait to watch “Barbie”, the film was screened in the capital Islamabad and Sindh on Friday where the respective censor boards cleared it.
“I have been looking forward to watching Barbie for months. It makes no sense that it’s ok to be shown in Karachi or Islamabad, but not Lahore,” Nousheen Saad, a resident of Lahore, told AFP.
Pakistan banned “Joyland” — a Cannes prize-winning film and Pakistan’s entry for the 2023 Oscars — in November for being “clearly repugnant to the norms of decency and morality” of the country.
“Joyland” depicts a Pakistani married man’s affair with a transgender woman. The national censorship board later cleared the film after the government ordered a review, but it remained banned in Punjab.
