The team of Akshay Kumar’s Baby is in a state of shock over the film’s ban in Pakistan. While producer Bhushan Kumar is still wondering why, actor Anupam Kher emphasised the need to move beyond borders and look to a universal problem — terrorism.
“The film is about anti-terrorism. Sometimes it is important to go beyond territories and understand who is the enemy — is it a country or a bunch of people?” Kher said over the phone from Mumbai.
Confirming the ban, Kumar said: “Yes, we got a confirmation from my distributor that it has been banned in Pakistan. I don’t know why this happened. If you watch the film, you will know we are not talking about a country, we are only talking about terrorism.”
According to the Dawn, a representative of the film’s distributor, Everready Pictures, shared the news about the film being banned “because it portrays a negative image of Muslims and the negative characters in the film also have Muslim names”.
Kumar supported Kher’s stance on the film being against evil and not any country or religion.
“I don’t know why was it banned there, and we fail to understand that. We are confused because the film is about anti-terrorism. It is totally against terrorism, not against any country. We are trying to figure out what needs to be done,” Kumar said.
Directed by Neeraj Pandey, the movie revolves around an undercover unit, formed to keep an eye on the movements of terrorist groups and to disrupt their plans.
The film also stars Rana Daggubati, Danny Denzongpa and Taapsee Pannu and was released in India on Friday.
The film also features Pakistani actor Mikaal Zulfiqar and Rasheed Naz.
Kher, who plays one of the key roles in the film, said: “I feel that it is a pity that the film has been banned even after the fact that it has Pakistani actors in that. In fact, Rasheed has played a similar role in Khuda Kay Liye.
“Today there is no particular country that is to be blamed for terrorism. It is all over the world. I feel it should have been shown as it is about a situation, which needs to be addressed. The ban is an official stance, which is necessarily not looking into the problem of people,” Kher added.
Kher also brought up the case of terror attack on a school in a Peshawar school, which claimed 148 lives, including 132 schoolchildren.
“Pakistan is one country that has suffered equally, badly or more due to terrorism like Peshawar attack on the innocent school children. So, a country which is suffering from barbaric act of terrorism should have gone beyond,” Kher said.
Kher is seeking a reconsideration of the ban. He said: “Maybe if they send it to a revising committee I am hopeful that something will be done as people want to see the movie and they will watch the movie anyhow after one week.”
Kumar said: “We are figuring out what next step needs to be taken”.
