Pakistan Bans Indian Comedy Involving Bin Laden
By SALMAN MASOOD
Published: July 14, 2010
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An Indian comedy about a Pakistani reporter who tries to win points to emigrate to the United States by interviewing an Osama bin Laden look-alike has been banned here, two days before it was to open.
The movie plows boldly into some of the most serious geopolitical frictions in the world today, focusing on a smalltime but ambitious television journalist — played by a Pakistani pop singer, Ali Zafar — who interviews the bin Laden double to secure fame and an American visa.
The trailer shows the character growing increasingly frustrated as he tries to direct the bumbling look-alike into a persuasive impersonation of the world’s most-wanted terrorist. “You have a million-dollar face,” he offers as encouragement.
Pakistani officials expressed concern that the slapstick characterization of Mr. bin Laden could draw terrorist strikes in the country, which is already racked by suicide attacks claimed by the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Mr. Zafar, who was visiting Mumba, India, when the ban was announced, expressed disappointment over the ban.
“I wanted that people should go to the cinema and enjoy this movie,” Mr. Zafar told Pakistan’s popular Geo television channel, noting with a laugh that the film would be released everywhere but the country it was set in.
Mr. Zafar stressed that the point of the film was “the emotions of a common person” and asked that viewers should be open-minded.
Nadeem Farooq Paracha, a culture critic and columnist for Dawn, the most prestigious English daily in Pakistan, said the ban was not a surprise, but that, in practice, it might have little impact. Pirated Indian films are widely available here.
“The movie will arrive as a pirated DVD,” Mr. Paracha predicted. “It cannot be stopped.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/world/asia/15pstan.html
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Pakistani officials expressed concern that the slapstick characterization of Mr. bin Laden could draw terrorist strikes in the country, which is already racked by suicide attacks claimed by the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Ok, agreed with the Pakistani officials. They gave a legit reason for once in their lives.