While Pakistanis — especially Punjabis — were disgruntled over the supposed ban on Greta Gerwig’s highly anticipated Barbie, truth has come to light.
The Punjab Film Censor Board (PFCB) approved the release of Barbie across the province on July 20, but a day later Punjab government stopped the screening of the film.
The Punjab Film Censor Board is a wing attached to the Department of Information and Culture in the province.
It had been claimed that Barbie has been banned in Punjab province after Censor Board refused to issue clearance to the film for “objectionable content”.
On July 21, a Twitter user complained, “People are waiting for Barbie and the Punjab Censor Board has banned the film.” In response, a verified source tweeted that the Punjab Censor Board has withheld the film’s NOC until “objectionable” content is removed from the film.
In reality, the Punjab Film Censor Board —the body that regulates films in the province — had approved the release of Barbie across the province on July 21, but Punjab government had banned the film from cinemas for allegedly containing “pro-LGBT” content.
Two members of the Punjab Film Censor Board (PFCB), Muhammad Haseeb and Rehan Shahzad, confirmed that they had issued a “censor certificate” to the Hollywood production, allowing it to run after minor modifications.
However, members of the Censor Board said that on July 22, the Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Culture stopped the screening of the film.
Punjab’s Caretaker Information and Culture Minister Aamir Mir also confirmed that the provincial government had some reservations about the film’s content, claiming that the film depicted “homosexuality”. Mir also mentioned that there was an issue with the content of homosexuality in the movie.
“Now [the film] will go to review and then release, maybe in a day or two, the dialogues etc. will be censored and then it will be released,” he added.
Barbie has been released in the rest of the country and cleared for screening in Sindh and Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.
Barbie banned in Pakistan’s Punjab over ‘objectionable content
