whether it be a bollywood movie or an indian channel a ban against any entertainment or infotainment programme doesnt make sense simply because it is impossible to implement such a banprivatelyowned satellite channels have proved to be the last nail on the coffin on any kind of state censorship and while satellite channels are difficult enough to monitor thanks to rampant piracy across south asia any viewer can watch whatever movie he wants all he has to do is get hold of a dvd and cable operators are also helping the causeif there has to be a regulatory environment it should be to ensure that children do not have access to viewing adult stuff every government needs to fix ratings on who can watch what keeping specific age groups in mindhowever on the issue of the pakistan government banning the screening of hindi films i would like to point out that no government can per se allow the screening of films in theatres without having all the protocol worked out the distributors and exhibitors obtaining all the correct regulatory licences and also the appropriate permissions from the producers and directorsthere is after all a protocol required to screen a foreign film these norms cannot be allowed to be circumventedonce all this is worked out i completely support the screening of hindi or other regional language indian movies in pakistan similarly pakistani movies and plays which are popular in india should be screened there as well reciprocity in this sphere can then be extended to other areas alsolifting the present ban should help increase coproductions of movies on both sides we share a common cultural heritage and i am sure directors on both sides would be happy with bollywood movies showing more and more flesh i dont know what kind of impact actresses dressed in miniskirts will have in the frontier province their government will obviously work towards banning these movies but i am sure they will be very popular in the rest of pakistanhowever there is one problem the increasing sanskritisation of the language in the newer bollywood movies has made them difficult to follow the urdu spoken in mughaleazam seems to be a thing of the pastmany of these films are also using an aggressive religious symbolism which can be quite alienating to crosscultural audiences today one finds hindu gods and goddesses being invoked all the time at times layered on to the text without even being an essential part of the story