Pakistan — An Indian comedy about a Pakistani reporter who tries to win points to emigrate to the United States by interviewing an Osama bin Laden look-alike has been banned here, two days before it was supposed to open.
The Pakistani pop singer Ali Zafar in Mumbai on June 21.
The movie, “Tere bin Laden,” plows boldly into some of the most serious geopolitical frictions in the world today, focusing on a small-time but ambitious television journalist — played by a Pakistani pop singer, Ali Zafar — who interviews the bin Laden double to secure fame and an American visa.
The trailer shows the journalist growing frustrated as he tries to direct the bumbling look-alike into a convincing impersonation of the world’s most wanted terrorist. “You have a million-dollar face,” he offers as encouragement.
Pakistani officials expressed concern that the slapstick characterization of Mr. bin Laden could draw terrorist strikes in the country, which is already racked by suicide attacks claimed by the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Mr. Zafar, who was visiting Mumbai, India, when the ban was announced, expressed disappointment over the ban.
“I wanted that people should go to the cinema and enjoy this movie,” Mr. Zafar told Pakistan’s popular Geo television channel, noting with a laugh that the film would be released everywhere but the country it was set in.
Mr. Zafar stressed that the focus of the film was “the emotions of a common person” and asked viewers to be open-minded.
Nadeem Farooq Paracha, a culture critic and columnist for Dawn, the most prestigious English-language daily newspaper in Pakistan, said that the ban was not a surprise, but that it might have little impact.“The movie will arrive as a pirated DVD,” Mr. Paracha predicted. “It cannot be stopped.”
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