Omung Kumar’s Sarbjit has failed to attract any Pakistani distributors, with some saying the biopic has no box office potential due to its non-commercial subject and anti-Pakistan content.
Pakistan’s Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) Chairman Mobashir Hasan told PTI that until now no major distribution company in the country has approached to review the content of the movie.
“In Pakistan, a distribution company first approaches the information ministry for importing and releasing an Indian film. The ministry then asks the censor board to review content of the film,” Hasan said.
Once the CBFC has given a clearance certificate and its feedback to the information ministry only then it asks the Ministry of Commerce to clear the film for import, he said.
A local distributor said off the record that it would have been a useless exercise to try to release the film in Pakistan since it was already viewed as a anti-Pakistan.
The film, starring Randeep Hooda and Aishwariya Rai Bachchan, is based on the ordeal of Sarabjit Singh who was captured and deemed an Indian spy by Pakistan and who later died in jail on May 2, 2013.
The film revolves around Sarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur’s (played by Rai Bachchan) struggle to bring her brother home.
“No one wants to get their investment stuck or go to waste, which usually happens if a film is stuck with the Censor Board or it flops at the box office,” said the distributor.
He also added that most distribution companies that import Indian films have to often face backlash from religious elements and others.
