Despite not being officially released in Pakistan, Pathaan, the latest Indian blockbuster film that is smashing box office records in the neighboring nation, is being screened illegally in Karachi’s Defense Housing Authority.
In February 2019, the organization of cinema exhibitors resolved not to broadcast any Indian films in response to Indian warplanes violating Pakistani airspace. Even after four years, no Indian film has been officially screened in Pakistan.
However, an advertisement for the film, featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, and John Abraham, as well as Dimple Kapadia and Ashutosh Rana, was brazenly put on at least two prominent Facebook pages.
Soon after, interested parties inquired about the film’s quality, location, and so forth. Some individuals inquired as to why a controversial Hindi film was being screened here, but they were all instructed to contact a phone number for additional information.
The firm organizing the screening is called Firework Events, but a search on social media revealed only a UK-based company sharing its intentions to light up the skies for King Charles’ coronation in England.
The page then declared that they were all sold out for Saturday. Due to popular demand, they planned to hold two more shows on Sunday, from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm and 8 pm to 11 pm.
When this scribe contacted them at the number provided to inquire about the location of the screenings, they stated that the screenings would be held in separate locations on both days. One was in the Khayaban-e-Shahbaz commercial area, while the other was unknown.
According to sources, on the call a young female voice with an American accent said,
There is some construction going on at the location where we hoped to screen the movie on Sunday, so we don’t know yet!
When a person who attended the screening was asked, he responded,
Screenings were to be held in the Ittehad and had been moved from Sunday (Jan 30) to Friday (Feb 3) and the site would be a commercial area.
The screen was claimed to measure 8ft by 10ft in size, while another person told that its a projection screen.
When questioned if they would provide snacks or if viewers should bring their own, they were told that they could buy snacks while watching.
When a ticket owner returned to one of the two Facebook postings selling the tickets, all that was left was a notice indicating that the page no longer existed, despite the fact that the other one was still up and getting traffic.
Visit the Lens celebrity portal to find out more about your favorite stars.
