Pakistan: Punjab authorities give approval for screening of ‘Barbie’ in province

Punjab (Pakistan), August 2 : Pakistan’s Punjab authorities on Tuesday gave approval for the screening of the movie ‘Barbie’ in the province. This comes more than ten days after the film's debut in Pakistan, Dawn reported.
Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
The movie’s release in Punjab was halted over ‘objectionable content’, even when the Punjab Film Censor Board had issued a no-objection certificate for it.
Punjab Inform­ation Secretary Ali Nawaz Malik had earlier said that the caretaker government in the province had stopped the movie’s screening due to public complaints.
Punjab interim Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday directed the censor board to take a decision about the exhibition of the Hollywood film.
A statement issued by his office on Tuesday said a meeting of the full censor board had been held during which the movie was reviewed and approval was given for its screening in Punjab.
The ‘Barbie’ movie is directed by Greta Gerwig and stars Margot Robbie as the famous doll and Ryan Gosling as her boyfriend Ken.
The movie was previously banned in Vietnam over scenes with a map showing China’s claims to territory in the South China Sea.
Vietnam state media announced that the movie will not be released due to a scene that includes a map using the "nine-dash line", a set of line segments that represent China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Vietnam claims violates its sovereignty.
"We do not grant license for the American movie 'Barbie' to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line," said Vietnam state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper citing the head Department of Cinema Vi Kien Thanh.