Media365
Maryam Aurangzeb, a minister in Pakistan’s province, has confessed to regretting placing a ban on the famous Aamir-Khan starrer, ‘Dangal’ back in 2017.
Aurangzeb is a senior minister in the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) in Punjab. She was the information minister when Bollywood film ‘Dangal’ released internationally and in India.
Featuring in a popular podcast, she said, “Yes, if there is one regret that I have when I was the Federal information minister, it was banning the screening of ‘Dangal’ in Pakistan.”
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Between 2008 and 2019, the government allowed the release of Indian films in Pakistan.
“It was my first meeting with the censor board representatives and information ministry people and they recommended a ban on screening of the film, giving some reasons for this,” she added.
Aurangzeb said she approved the ban even though she had not seen the film.
“One-and-half year later, I got a chance to see the film and I realised my decision to approve the ban was wrong. It was a film which was inspirational for our girls and was close to home,” she said.
Since the ban on Indian films, dozens of cinema houses have gone out of business in Pakistan and struggling to survive on Hollywood movies as the production quality Pakistani films remains very low despite their dramas doing exceptionally well across India and the world.
