New Delhi: Pathaan, the latest Indian blockbuster is smashing records at the box office in Pakistan. ‘Pathaan’ stars Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in lead roles along with Dimple Kapadia, Ashutosh Rana and others. Reportedly, the movie is being shown illegally in Karachi and Defence Housing Authority.
Following India’s violation of Pakistani airspace in February 2019, the trade group representing movie theatres made the decision to stop showing Indian films. Four years have passed, yet no Indian film has had its formal debut in Pakistan.
The screening is forbidden by the Sindh Board of Film Censors. In an interview with the Daily National Courier, Chairman Khalid Bin Shaheen warned that “dire repercussions” would follow if these laws were broken. The committee demanded that the screening be cancelled immediately on the grounds that it was against Section 4 (10) of the Sindh Motion Pictures Act, 2011.
It is been stated that Fireworks Events is putting on the screening and has advertised on Facebook that tickets are being sold for PKR 900. Dawn reported that there were no more tickets available for Saturday and the post has now been removed. According to the article, since the demand is so high, two more concerts have been added for Sunday, the first one running from 4.30 to 7.30 pm and the second from 8 to 11 pm.
Many Pakistanis have voiced their disapproval of the screening, with some claiming that the Shehbaz Sharif administration has been willfully blind to the illicit activity taking place on DHA premises.
‘Pathaan’ is the fourth movie in producer Aditya Chopra’s ambitious spy universe, following Salman Khan’s ‘Ek Tha Tiger’, ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’, and ‘War’.
The film, which was the “widest Hindi release” of all time in India, has emerged as the “highest grosser” for Shah Rukh as well as co-stars John and Deepika, director Siddharth and YRF, the studio stated in a press release.