The upcoming Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, Kunal Kapoor starrer, Lamha has been banned in the Middle East because of its sensitive content. The film questions when the citizens of Kashmir will stop being terrorized all in the name of politics.
The makers are unsure why the film has been banned in the Middle East especially since the film has been passed by the Indian Censor Board. According to producer Bunty Walia, there are no explicit scenes that need to be edited. Walia went on to say in an interview, “This news has really dampened my spirits. The Middle East is a huge market for Bollywood movies these days and we could suffer a huge setback because of this ban. There is definitely a lot of money at stake that could have been recovered from that region, but more than that I am sad that the audience there can’t see a film like ‘Lamhaa’”
While the cast and crew find it incredibly ignorant and unnecessary, they have been joined by a number of actors and directors from the fraternity who have come out defending the film on Twitter.
Sanjay Dutt: “First the premiere of lamhaa was not allowed in kashmir.. Now the middle east puts a ban on the release of the film in their countries.”
Bipasha Basu: “Ban on an honest film??What happened to the freedom of expression?? The middle east hs banned r flm # ‘Lamhaa’ n sadly d ppl of Kuwait, qatar, uae, baharain n oman wll nt b able 2 watch it.”
Director Rahul Dholakia: “3 1/2 years on a film- life and death situations !!! Gotto do what u have to do !!! F**k all who ban or dont like/want to see the film !”
Madhur Bandarkar: “Banning a film is nothing but a Cultural Terrorism….very upset about ban on LAMHA iN GULF COUNTRIES…I CONDEMN IT STRONGLY AND SUPPORT MAKERS WHOLE HEARTEDLY!!!!”
