Why Has Dangal Not Released In Pakistan?

After Uri attacks by Pakistani sponsored terrorists, the Indian Film Fraternity had decided to ban Pakistani artists from working in Bollywood. Fawad Khan's role in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was cut down by Dharma Productions after immense pressure from political parties. Pakistan followed suit and they banned the screening of Indian Movies in their cinema halls. This tit-for-tat response by Pakistani Cinema Owners proved to be a costly affair for them because Bollywood movies were a major source of income for them and the sub-standard Pakistani movies made by their Lollywood (:P Yes that is what they call it..L for Lahore so L for Lollywood) industry didn't fetch them the money they desired.

Bollywood stars are more famous that Pakistani stars in Pakistan and therefore their people refused to watch Pakistani movies after a ban on Bollywood. Cinema Owners went into a severe financial crisis and finally decided to lift the ban on Bollywood movies.

The cinema owners of Pakistan were expecting Dangal to bail them out of this financial crisis but that did not happen. Indian distributors have not struck a deal in Pakistan for Dangal. May be this is Bollywood's way of retaliating. It sounds like Bollywood said it loud and clear - "You banned us, now you suffer!". Aamir Khan was recently asked by media reporters about the reason for not releasing Dangal in Pakistan, but he refused to give any reason and said he would let everyone know at a later stage. Whatever the reason be, the decision to ban and then lift the ban on Bollywood movies turned out to be a costly affair for Pakistani Cinema Owners.

They now hope that SRK's upcoming movie Raees will take their "Naiyya Paar" because it also stars one of their biggest female stars 'Mahira Khan'. Some people in Pakistan, like director Syed Noor and actor Hamza Ali Abbasi vehemently oppose the move to lift the ban on Bollywood movies. The reason is simple, Syed Noor fears that if he releases his movie in front of a Bollywood movie, then his movie will have very few takers, similarly Hamza Ali Abbasi stands no chance if he has to compete against Bollywood stars. Their jealousy and insecurity is obvious. We only hope that these miscreants let Pakistanis enjoy Bollywood cinema.