Barbie cleared for release in Punjab following minor cuts

The Punjab Film Censor Board announced on Tuesday that they will now distribute the Hollywood film “Barbie” following some minor changes.

Barbie release in Punjab: According to a statement by Punjab’s temporary communication minister, Amir Mir, “the censor board cleared the film ‘Barbie’ for release.” “We will remove objectionable content before releasing the movie.”

The entire board evaluated the movie and determined that some of the content was “objectionable”.

All 12 members of the censor board, including chairman Touqeer Nasir, participated in the reevaluation process.

Media reports claim that Punjab previously banned “Barbie” for having “objectionable content.” The board removed the movie’s undesirable content as part of the reevaluation process.

At the time, Secretary of the Punjab Picture Censor Board, Farrukh Mahmood, had stated, “We will conduct a thorough review of the film and censor it where deemed necessary.”

Last week, in an interview with BBC Urdu, Mir stated that the film was “not banne” in the region.

When asked if the same movie was being released in other provinces, he stated that Punjab would not release the movie if other provinces didn’t mind playing inappropriate content.

The release of the two films simultaneously, on 21 and 28 July, earned the term “Barbenheimer” in the film industry. Oppenheimer, another high-profile blockbuster, premiered that same weekend.

With several premieres held around the world, the filmmakers have marketed the film, starring Margot Robbie as the fabled doll and Ryan Gosling as her boyfriend Ken, as one of the season’s greatest blockbusters.

The government last year outlawed the movie “Joyland,” which won an award at Cannes and would represent Pakistan in the 2023 Oscars, since it was “clearly repugnant to the norms of decency and morality” of the nation.

The national censor board later cleared the movie.