‘Raazi’ Has Not Been Banned in Pakistan: Meghna Gulzar Confirms

Meghna Gulzar confirms that they are still awaiting a response from Pak censor board.

Alia Bhatt in Raazi

(Photo: Junglee Pictures)

A few publications in Pakistan earlier reported that the Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal-starrer spy film Raazi will not see the light of day in Pakistan. They alleged that no distributor agreed to purchase the film and it was consequently banned from screening in cinemas across Pakistan. Meghna Gulzar, the director of the film, confirmed to The Quint that the news that the film has been banned in the neighbouring country is false.

Raazi is an adaptation of the book, Calling Sehmat where a young Kashmiri Muslim girl agrees to fulfill her father’s wish to be an undercover Indian agent in Pakistan. She marries a serving officer of the Pakistan army. All this transpires in the background of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.

“An application to screen <i>Raazi</i> in Pakistan was not made until two days ago. The screening happened yesterday (Tuesday). We have our fingers crossed.”

Meghna Gulzar told The Quint

In an interview to The Hindu Vicky Kaushal had revealed that it would be erroneous to call the film a ‘war’ film. He said:

“The film is not just about the Indo-Pak war, it is much deeper than that. It is about an individual relationship. It is also about an era when there was tension between the two countries and during that time a Kashmiri woman married a Pakistani major.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article curated information from The Express Tribune report which claimed that the film was banned in Pakistan. The error is regretted.