Pakistan censor board bans 'Lahore' release

MUMBAI: Bollywood films are a huge craze across the border. But this week's release, director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan's 'Lahore', has been denied a release in Pakistan. Ironically the film itself talks of a peace initiative between India and Pakistan and some portions have been shot in Lahore in 2009.

Based on kickboxing sport, the critically acclaimed film — which has made it to several international festivals (Houston, Singapore) — has been denied a release because authorities in Pakistan reportedly don't approve of the title. In addition, they feel Indian films show Pakistan in a negative way. Though the director tried to take a step ahead in bringing down barriers and also stay with the title 'Lahore', this has gone against him.

The director says, "I had to shoot the Pakistan portions with a foreign crew because visas for Indians would have been a problem. However, shooting went off smoothly and we even had local Pakistanis working on our film.

Rashid Khwaja, a leading exhibitor, was happy with the way we handled the emotions and he was keen to release this film in his country." However, Sanjay was told that Pakistan censor board objected to certain scenes: especially one where a Pakistani girl asks for forgiveness from an Indian character. Also the title 'Lahore' didn't go down well with the board.