Why Pakistan's censor board finds Pad Man against Islamic culture
As Bollywood is celebrating its coming of age with Pad Man, a movie addressing the issue of menstrual hygiene, its release has been stalled in Pakistan. The Punjab Film Censor Board does not want Pakistani audience to be know about A Muruganantham, who single-handedly invented a machine to produce low-cost sanitary napkins, which has now become an industry. The reason for stonewalling the movie, as cited, is “taboo”, exactly what the movie intends to break.
According to a PTI report, Federal Censor Board member Ishaq Ahmed had said that the film is against Pakistan’s “traditions and culture”. In keeping with the current tradition of outrage against movies, the decision was taken without it even being watched. Before a movie is issued a clearance certificate, it is previewed by the members of the censor board. But in this case, as reports suggest, the members of the board refused to even watch the movie.
"Ruining Islamic traditions, history and culture"
The Express Tribune has described the decision as “shocking”. According to its report, local film producers are also of the same opinion. They have criticised film distributors for purchasing Indian films that are “ruining Islamic traditions, history and culture”. They were not approving of Padmaavat as well.
Pad Man suffering for Padmaavat in Pakistan?
While there were protests in various parts of India against the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat, Pakistan censor board displayed great enthusiasm in releasing the movie in the country. The decision did not go down well with the Pakistani film fraternity, it seems, for the way it portrayed Muslims. “Earlier there was an issue with Padmaavat and the members are facing criticism for issuing it a certificate already… In such circumstances, we cannot allow a film whose name, subject and story are not acceptable yet in our society. Central censor board also raised objections on the scenes and dialogues of the films that are very sensitive," a member of the board told The Express Tribune.
Another name in the long list
The list of Bollywood movies which have been banned in Pakistan is quite long, including the recent Tiger Zinda Hai (2017). But Pad Man makes its entry to the list quite unexpectedly as it has no allusion to India-Pakistan tension or terrorism, for which most Bollywood films are shelved in Pakistan. Tere Bin Laden (2010), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012), Agent Vinod (2012), Phantom (2015), Naam Shabana (2017) were banned in Pakistan for the same reasons. In 2011, The Dirty Picture (2011) and Delhi Belly (2011) were banned for adult content.
Quite coincidentally, Akshay Kumar’s films had a tough luck with the Pakistan censor board. His Khiladi 786 (2012) was released as Khiladi discarding 786 which is the total value of letters of Bismillash al-Rahman al-Rahim. His Baby (2015) was banned as the negative characters were given Muslim names.
Social media backlash
The Censor Board has received backlash for its attempt to protect and uphold the "taboo" as questions are being raised as to how menstruation can be violating Islamic culture.
Also read: How society makes it difficult for me to live a gender neutral life