The Censorship of Visual Pleasure in Pakistani Cinema

This study focuses on quantitative analysis of the censor certificates of films issued by the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) Pakistan in the pre-and-post-1979 eras. It examines the excisions focusing on issues of decency, morality and social order. The study reviews literature from the west and east, focusing on states’ role in keeping peace and harmony in the country via the censorship. The excisions reflect the exploitation of the female body, sexual innuendos, rape, drugs, derogatory language, rebelliousness, and comments on friendly states. The study finds that the CBFC issues six types of certificates to films for exhibition in Pakistan as opposed to the three recommended in the Censorship of Film Rules (1980). The factor analysis reveals a simple structure showing communality between rape and aggression (alcoholism and sexuality), and indecency and rebelliousness