Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; March 6, 2014)

The makers of Total Siyapaa and actor Ali Zafar have been planning to hold a special screening of the film in Pakistan for a while now, but it looks like this is not going to happen now. It has emerged that the film’s premiere — that was slated to take place today in Karachi — was cancelled as the makers did not get permissions for the same from the Pakistani authorities.

A source says, “Ali and the film’s makers were keen to host the premiere in Karachi, Pakistan. The idea was to cash in on the Pakistani actor/ singer’s popularity in his home country and he was anyway garnering positive feedback for the film. But their efforts went in vain as the permissions failed to trickle in.” Another source says that despite the huge fan following that Bollywood enjoys in Pakistan, Indian cinema is yet to gain acceptance there. “In the past, there have been instances where Indian films were not even allowed to be shown in Pakistan because of their content,” says the source, adding that Total Siyapaa will release in Pakistan on Friday.

The film’s spokesperson confirmed the news.