The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India on Friday announced that it has asked its members not to screen movies featuring Pakistani, singers or musicians. The ban is applicable to single-screen theatres in the four states of Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra, NDTV reported.
President of the association, Nitin Datar, said they will not screen Fawad Khan-starrer Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which releases on October 28, and Shah Rukh Khan's Raees, which has Mahira Khan. The ban includes films that have had both artistes and technicians from Pakistan work on the projects in any way, according to Firstpost.
"After Pakistan banned our content, we decided to boycott Pakistani actors, technicians and others [in the industry] in India," Datar said, adding that they would have incurred greater losses from vandalism had they screened the movies than from not running their shows at all.
Earlier, Datar had said that they would make a decision on the matter based on public sentiment, The Times of India had reported. The move comes weeks after the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association banned Pakistani actors and technicians from working on projects in India.
The decision was made amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the militant attack on the Indian Army camp in Kashmir's Uri sector. Hours after the strike, Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had said Pakistani actors had 48 hours to leave the country.
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