Osama hunt movie banned in Pakistan

Cinemas in Pakistan would not be showing Zero Dark Thirty after distributors decided not to risk the wrath of the country’s censors, military and terrorist groups with a movie about the CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden. The movie, nominated for five Oscars, portrays the hunt for bin Laden through the eyes of a young CIA officer, played by Jessica Chastain, and is described by the filmmakers as based on first-hand accounts.The Daily Telegraph quoted Mohsin Yaseen, general manager for marketing at Cinepax, as saying that derogatory references to Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies meant that all distributors would face awkward questions. “It’s a touchy subject for a Pakistani audience,” he said. The film, set largely in Pakistan, charts a CIA agent’s personal quest to track down the al-Qaeda leader, which ended when US Navy Seals launched a covert raid on a villa in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad, barely 30 miles from the country’s capital, Islamabad. Mr Yaseen said his company had recently bought the rights to distribute an Indian film, ‘Tere Bin Laden’, which poked fun at the al-Qaeda leader. “Pakistan’s censors insisted on so many cuts, it was not possible to show the film at all. So when Zero Dark Thirty came out, we thought it was best to keep away from it. But I’d love to see it. It’s just a film at the end of the day,” he said. The film is available on pirated DVDs and has proved to be a hit with audiences despite its inaccuracies and exaggerations, such as depicting Islamabad as a dust-blown war zone.