Recent Bollywood Movies Which Were Banned In Pakistan

Veere Di Wedding can be called a controversial Bollywood film of this year. Starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhasker and Shikha Talsania, the film showed the modern side of the modern women of India. From using cuss words, explicit language and exploring women's sexuality, the film has it all. As expected, Pakistan banned the film for having 'vulgar dialogues and obscene scenes'. The film was one of the biggest hits of 2018.

Starring Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal in lead, Raazi is a story of an Indian RAW agent who marries a Pakistani in order to pass information to India prior to the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. Alia in the role of an Indian spy was much appreciated in India, however, the neighbouring country, Pakistan, didn't approve of the film because of its controversial content and wrong portrayal of Pakistan.

Akshay Kumar's blockbuster hit movie Pad Man is a biography of a man who introduced low-cost sanitary pads in India. This R Balki directorial film deals with the social issue of menstruation, which is still a taboo in India. Saying the film is against their culture and traditions, Pakistan's censor board banned the film. They also criticised the movie for running Islamic traditions. Pad Man also starred Radhika Apte and Sonam Kapoor and made a huge impact in creating menstrual awareness.

Srijit Mukherji’s Begum Jaan is the latest Bollywood movie entrant to receive a ban in Pakistan. The Vidya Balan starrer in which she plays the head of a brothel is a story set on the background of India-Pakistan partition. Some of the bold scenes and raw language used in the film too has become one of the reasons for it getting banned in Pakistan. The film produced by Vishesh Films banner is the Hindi remake of superhit Bengali film Rajkahini.

Taapsee Pannu’s RAW spy act in Naam Shabana became the 23rd film to be banned in Pakistan in recent times. Naam Shabana’s banning in Pakistan came as no shock as it was the prequel of Akshay Kumar’s Baby which also was banned by Pakistan in 2015. Directed by Shivam Nair, the thriller flick also stars Manoj Bajpai, Prithviraj and Danny, when last reports came in had already earned about 35 Cr at the domestic box-office.

Akshay Kumar’s Jolly LLB 2 which released in India on 10th February is the latest Bollywood film to face a ban in Pakistan. The film was apparently banned by Pakistan’s censor board as the courtroom drama has references of Kashmir issue and showing Muslims in bad light which hasn’t gone down well with the Pakistani authorities.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Raees is the latest entrant to get banned in Pakistan. The Pakistan censor board refused the release of Raees in the country as it showed Muslims as criminals and terrorists. The banning of Raees in Pakistan surely would’ve come as a jolt to its producers despite having a Pakistani actress, Mahira Khan playing the female lead. Though the pirated version of the flick would’ve already made inroads but an SRK film not releasing in Pakistan is a first for the star.

Aamir Khan’s blockbuster sports biopic Dangal too received a ban by Pakistan. Pakistan later allowed the release of the film on the condition that Aamir Khan deletes India’s national anthem which plays in the film. To which Aamir refused to do so and has agreed not to release Dangal in Pakistan. The film was based on wrestling champion Mahavir Singh Phogat who trains his daughters in the same sport to bring glory to the country in the CommonWealth Games.

It was expected that Karan Johar 's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Ajay Devgn's Shivaay in all probability will not get a release in Pakistan. The reason is simple, due to the tension prevailing between the two countries due to which the ban on Pakistani artistes was imposed. 

This biopic based on the life and cricketing journey of Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is directed by Neeraj Pandey. The flick is the latest addition to miss out on a release in Pakistan due to the ban threat by the MNS who aren’t allowing Pakistani Actors to stay or release their films in Bollywood. Not that the film shows Pakistan in bad light but it’s just the current political situation which is not in favour of the Islamic state.

After seeing the trailer it was but expected that this Mudassar Aziz directed comedy drama starring Ali Fazal and Jimmy Shergill, will face a ban in Pakistan. The flick which also stars Pakistani actress Momal Sheikh was banned in Pakistan for showing a portrait of Muhammed Ali Jinnah and with the character of Piyush Mishra who plays a Pakistani policeman.

Director Rohit Dhawan’s action thriller which had the team of John Abraham and Varun Dhawan on a hunt to find India’s cricket captain in the gulf who goes missing before an international match. The film faced a ban as Pakistan believed the film showed that Pakistan is behind the act. But audiences believed that nothing of that sort was shown in Dishoom.

Abhishek Chaubey’s Udta Punjab which was in the news for getting into censor issues was banned in Pakistan too. The main reason for the ban was cited for it showing too much use of abusive and vulgar language. The Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh starrer despite getting leaked online went on to do decent business at the box-office and entered the 50 crore club in the first half of 2016.

Based on the Karachi hijack of flight 73 in 1986 where the late air hostess Neerja Bhanot was gunned down by the hijackers. Sonam Kapoor played the titular role who was supported by Shabana Azmi who essayed the role of her mother. The film struck gold at the box-office as it tried to portray the facts the way it unfolded in a dramatic manner.

Madhur Bhandarkar’s social drama on the glamour and fashion world was banned by Pakistan due to objectionable dialogue and adult content in the film. Though the film received a lukewarm response at the box-office but it showed the real plight of models and how they are exploited by various corporate houses.

An instant ban was called upon this Kabir Khan directorial film which loosely based on Hafiz Muhammad Saeed's Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the prime accused for the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai who belongs to Pakistan. The Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer faired decently at the box-office which took a while to release as the director got busy with his Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

A satirical comedy about two suicide bombers whose plans go haywire in an Islamic state was also banned by the Pakistan's Central Board of Film Censors for its anti-Pakistan content. Produced by Farhan Akhtar’s production house, Excel Entertainment, the film which had Pulkit Samrat and Riteish Deshmukh couldn’t get the cash registers ringing as much.

Director Vishal Bharadwaj’s modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, set amidst Kashmir insurgency conflicts of 1995, the film too was banned by Pakistan. The film which starred Shahid Kapoor, Tabu and KK Menon highlighted the current ongoing unrest in the valley where many Kashmiri’s have gone missing.

Director Anand Rai’s love story which also got banned from screening in Pakistan as it portrayed a Muslim girl falling in love and trying to marry a Hindu boy. The reason for it getting banned sounded atrocious but that was the reason cited by the authorities. The film marked the debut of Tamil star Dhanush in Bollywood and didn’t go unnoticed at the box-office.

This biopic on India’s flying Sikh athlete Milkha Singh was yet another film which was prohibited to screen in Pakistan as it showed the lead protagonist as anti-Pakistan. The athlete who was a victim of India-Pakistan partition later went on to join the Indian armed forces and still is regarded as one of India’s most popular athletes ever.

Director Sriram Raghavan’s action spy thriller starring Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor found no takers in Pakistan as it showed ISI in bad light. This flick which was a remake of the same title released in 1977 with Mahendra Sandhu was slickly made but somehow couldn’t really get the cash registers ringing at the box-office.

Director Kabir Khan’s tale of a RAW agent played by Salman Khan who falls in love with a Pakistani ISI agent played by Katrina Kaif, didn’t go down well with the neighboring country. Produced by Yash Raj Films, the action thriller went on to become one of the biggest all-time grosser in India as well as abroad.

Vidya Balan’s The Dirty Picture got banned from showing at the theatres in Pakistan due to its unsuitable content, subject matter and bold scenes. The Milan Luthria directed film was officially certified as ‘A’ in India by the censors wasn’t cleared unfortunately by its counterpart in Pakistan. The film somehow managed to generate the maximum downloads online from Pakistan.

A sports film based on Kick-boxing directed by Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan was banned as the Pakistan censor board objected to some of the dialogues and scenes in the film. Though the action flick received many accolades at film festivals before getting a release at home, it somehow went unnoticed and didn’t find many takers.

A black adult comedy directed by Abhinay Deo starring Imran Khan, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Vir Das, Poorna Jagannathan and Shehnaz Treasurywala did good business in India and abroad whereas it was banned in Pakistan for its adult content. As expected it was outright rejected as it also had been certified as an ‘A’ by the censors.

Though the film did decent business at the box-office, director Neeraj Pandey’s Akshay Kumar starrer Baby which was based on a pack of RAW agents who get back one of India’s most-wanted masterminds, was rejected outright by Pakistan for its anti- Pakistan content. Besides having a few Pakistani’s actors as expected it faced a ban.

Director Abhishek Sharma’s satire comedy featuring a lookalike of Osama bin Laden which got banned in Pakistan fearing the title could be misconstrued by Islamist extremists. The comedy did manage to garner a decent crowd at the box-office but somehow didn’t do the business it was expected to do. The same went with its sequel which released in 2016.