The Sindh High Court (SHC) Tuesday declared ban on Urdu feature film ‘Maalik’ null and void. The movie is likely to be released soon across Pakistan
Ban on Maalik movie undone by Sindh high court of Pakistan
Director Asher Azeem’s ‘Maalik’ was banned in April this year by the federal Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage declaring the movie ‘anti-Pakistan’.
Azeem, a prominent director, writer and actor, had challenged the ban in Sindh High Court, stating that film was made with cooperation of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) and does not contain anything that goes against public interest.
The ban, imposed three weeks after the movie’s nationwide release, stirred debate on freedom of expression on the social media and drew condemnation from various opposition party leaders.
Issuing its ruling on the director’s petition, the Sindh High Court declared the government’s ban as null and void, allowing Asher Azeem to release his film countrywide.
Speaking to Samaa, Azeem, who was very happy with the decision, said he would hold an urgent meeting with the film distributors to discuss the screening as soon as possible.
He rejoiced the ruling on Twitter.
We won.
v waited patiently v did not releez the film illegally. We suffered bt kept faith and tday v r vindicated.#Maalik is allwd in pk
Federal Censor Board has banned Maalik after three weeks of its release due to showing faces of politicians and raising sensitive issues and movie doesn’t match the criteria of censor board. This kind of reasons raises a question in the mind of patriotic audience that; Does other comedy, drama or action movies filled with cheap comedy, filthy and unmatched to situation dialogues, item numbers, lack of co-ordination between actors and confused storyline were acceptable to the censor board?
Can we watch those cheap comedy movies with our family? Absolutely not!
So why criticize Maalik for showing the reality?
Nevertheless, Hollywood and Bollywood also produced several movies based on Corruption and Sensitive issues of their society, doesn’t created the chaos in their country, because they are aware of the consequences and face it daringly.
Moreover, the movie got rating 9.2 out of 10 at IMDb. The rating clearly shows the choice of viewers. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, the Indian movies got much positive reviews and made billions business in Pakistan but the Pakistani made movie got banned and criticized because of showing the reality. Closing eyes like pigeon from reality of a society is not the solution. Just after the ban of Maalik, public abruptly starts to support the movie and continuously on social media and expressing their anger towards the government due to their antagonizing act and continuously combining the movie with ISPR and Pak Army. Ban on Maalik is provoking public to speak against the establishment, and it some how shows the doubiousness of government.
