The Varun Dhawan Shraddha Kapoor starrer, ABCD 2, which has set feet tapping and cash counters jingling in the country has quietly crossed the border too and is playing in theatres in Pakistan. But leading distributor and owner of IMGC Global Entertainment, Amjad Rasheed, who released it there, rues that the ABCD sequel hasn't fared well. “It could be due to the fact that it released during Ramadan,“ he reasons. Business during the month of fasting and abstinence is limited. The dance film opened on the first day of Ramadan.

The Sindh Board of Film Censors, after a screening on June 13, passed the film without any cuts and with a U (Universal) certificate in Karachi on June 18. The certification is valid for 15 days from the date of release. The Punjab Board of Censors also cleared it without deletions.

But the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) in Islamabad wanted “passionate lip kissing shots from the song Dance, excised“. The certificate further stated that “Indian flags, wherever occur in the film, be excised.“ The last diktat posed problems for exhibitors since the Indian tricolour waves across the film and is prominently displayed in the climax song, Vande Mataram. The only cineplex in Islamabad, after some deliberation, decided not to screen the film. But two other cinemas in the jurisdiction played it.

Confirming this, Nadeem Mandviwalla, owner of Mandviwalla Entertainment, a leading producer, distributor and exhibitor in Pakistan, says, “Due to excessive cutting in the film by the CBFC, specially in the end song, resulting in nearly the entire song being excised, we opted not to exhibit the film at our ME--Centaurus Cineplex in Islamabad.“

Meanwhile, Bajrangi Bhaijaan has been certified by the CBFC and PBFC. The Sindh Board of Film Censors will see it today. Distributors and exhibitors are optimistic that there will not be a problem. And Pakistani fans will get to click selfies with Bhaijaan Salman.Khan this Eid.