January 26, 2011 : Pakistani authorities objected strongly to Hammad Khan’s film Slackistan. The film deals with some youngsters who are exposed to western culture in the capital city of Islamabad. There were protests from Pakistani authorities regarding the screening of the film at theaters.
The film contains many scenes which bear a resemblance to Taliban or Osama Bin Laden and this seem to bother the authorities. The Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) have even asked the makers to edit all dialogues or scenes that has any reference to Taliban’s or any kind of beard and dress that the Muslims often sports. That‘s not all, as the film also has the word lesbian in it and there are also some expletives in Urdu and Hindi in the film. The film also has scenes where the characters resort to drinking and the authorities has asked the makers to delete such scenes from the film.
The film is all set to get restrictive adults only 18+ rating, in spite of making the necessary alterations. Pakistani authorities are worried that showing the youths of the country in such a light where booze and using expletives are common might leave an impact on young minds.
Though Hammad Khan is denied the right to creative freedom but it also shows how the attitude of the authorities toward the culture. Mara pictures has taken up the initiative to release the film in U.K. and is also working towards its release in Pakistan.The film has already been screened at London, Abu Dhabi, New York, San Francisco and Goa.
So, I guess about a three minute infomercial remains once everything objectionable is taken out? Might as well object to the repressive attitudes or something and get those three minutes taken out as well. Anyway, they will probably have women wearing insufficient clothes or something.