Kareena and Sonam Kapoor’s latest movie ‘Veere Di Wedding’ is creating a lot of buzz. From the moment the trailer was released, everyone knew this wasn’t going to be your average Bollywood movie. The movie follows 4 female friends, who are all equally munhphatt, dealing with life and questions of ‘marriage’ and ‘morality’. From the trailer (and song videos) it seems like the movie aims to show women as having agency and having a voice against the patriarchal society that surrounds them.
A lot of people were looking forward to seeing the movie here in Pakistan. Sadly, the Censor Board banned the movie this afternoon
According to their official statement, they were shocked that such explicit content is being shown in a film. They deemed the film ‘vulgar’, thereby banning it across Pakistan.
Pakistani women took to Twitter to express their anger about this
Loooool Pakistan banned #VeereDiWedding. Nargis’ crazy butt dances and Shaan’s violent killing sprees were okay but you’ve banned this film coz it shows women have agency & choice. Way to go, idiots.
— Mahwash Ajaz (@mahwashajaz_) May 30, 2018
Censor board has confirmed that #VeereDiWedding is going to be banned in Pakistan because of "vulgarity" and also "theme."
A film about a bunch of badass ladies being banned by a bunch of grumpy men, why am I not surprised?
— Hamna Zubair (@hamnazubair) May 30, 2018
Clearly, priorities are messed up
#VeereDiWedding is banned in Pakistan because of “vulgar” content.
Meanwhile there are men on the roads of this very country jerking off in public and no one seems to be taking any action in that regard.Go figure!
— Maznah (@Maazzzzyyy) May 30, 2018
Some *interesting* trends were spotted
Desi censors be like:
– glorification of domestic abuse (Chain Aye Na)?
*MUNCHS POPCORN*– glorification of mass suicide (Padmaavat)?
*MUCH APPLAUSE*– a bunch of women discussing female sexual pleasure (#VeereDiWedding)?
*ER MY GAWD QIYAMAT IS HERE HAMARI IZZAT nooooo*— Hamna Zubair (@hamnazubair) May 30, 2018
Sonu ki Teeto ki Sweety was the most non-vulgur film ya of course. But oh my god, how dare a women cuss, ban Veere Di Wedding!!!!
Everyday, I get a reminder why men are cancelled.
— Faryal Hasan (@HasanFaryal) May 30, 2018
Everyone is seeing through the Censor Board’s intentions
Really, they allow all the other films where women are objectified, and now that there is a film that has strong female characters celebrating friendship, and love, they have a problem. If men had taken on these characters, this film would not have been banned. #VeereDiWedding https://t.co/6vjwiGKirg
— Tania Saeed (@taniasaeed) May 30, 2018
Because female characters were highlighted and female friendship was glorified; obviously, Pakistani women were excited to see the film
Honestly I've never been so angry about any movie being banned here but #VeereDiWedding? FGS, I've been waiting for this one Bollywood movie since the trailer came out ?
— Fatima. (@notsocurvy) May 30, 2018
I was SO excited for Veere Di Wedding. It was finally a movie that did not glorify bromance and masculinity and boys will be boys rhetoric. Banning it is just upsetting.
— Faryal Hasan (@HasanFaryal) May 30, 2018
All the material we’ve seen from the film so far is very obviously celebrating woman-hood and the beauty of female friendship. This one movie represents the total opposite of films we’ve been seeing come out of our region. For once, women are shown in a powerful role, commanding their lives and how they want to live it. From what we can tell, it also deals with the anxieties of growing up in the Sub-continent; the different trials and tribulations you face given how the patriarchy here works.
A lot of discussions online revolve around the fact that the Censor board needs to ban more Indian films, however, this ban is beyond ‘India-Pakistan dynamics’, this ban represents how unwilling some people are to seeing women in a powerful role. This film would connect to so many women, on both sides of the border, as it is the first time that there has been a movie by women for women.
This movie is a bold declaration of womanhood and spreads the message of being proud of who you are, and celebrating one another.
The question falls to the Censor Board, what made them want to ban ‘Veere Di Wedding’ and let other, more problematic, movies screen in Pakistan? Weren’t movies like ‘Padmavaat,’ or ‘Chain Aye Na,’ disturbing our ‘national’ sense of morality? How is it that this one movie poses such a great threat to how to see ourselves and the women in our lives.
Meanwhile, ‘Hello! Pakistan’ has speculated that this ban may be a temporary one and that the movie may be allowed to play after Eid.
Is the Veere Di Wedding ban in Pakistan a temporary one? According to the Pakistan Censor Board only Pakistani movies will screen in the country during the Eid ul Fitr holidays and celebrations! pic.twitter.com/vR7eqJw7of
— HELLO! Pakistan (@HELLO_Pak) May 30, 2018
What do you make of the ban? Let us know in the comments section.