Fighter: Why Is Hrithik Roshan-Deepika Padukone Starrer Aerial Action Film Banned In Gulf Countries?

All the Gulf countries have banned the release of the much-awaited film Fighter starring Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone, and Anil Kapoor in the lead roles. The film which is set to hit the screens globally on January 25, will not be screened anywhere in the Gulf countries. While the news has been making the headlines since yesterday, nobody knows the exact reason behind the film's banning. However, according to a film industry tracker, it is mostly because the film shows a certain religion as a terrorist.

Why is Fighter banned in the Gulf Countries?

According to the film industry tracker, who said the reason isn't official, claimed that the possibility of the film getting banned could be because of the film's "tonality and branding a particular religion as a terrorist." Though the tracker suggested the supposed reason, he stressed this isn't official.

All you need to know about Fighter not releasing in Gulf countries

On Tuesday, a report in Pinkvilla revealed that Fighter has been banned in Middle East countries except in UAE, but a day later even UAE removed the advance bookings of action drama from all chains, leading to no Fighter across the Middle East. Confirming the news, industry tracker Sreedhar Pillai took to his X handle and wrote, "Fighter no release in #UAE ! The advance booking of the film removed from all chains in #UAE. So No #Fighter in entire gulf! Advantage for @Mohanlal’s #MalaikottaiVaaliban, which will add more screens in GCC Censor cleared in GCC. Distributed by the market leader @PharsFilm!"

With the film being banned in the entire Gulf area, it has turned out to be a setback for the makers as the film might lose the business of more than 500k to 1 million dollars.

More about Fighter

Helmed by Siddharth Anand, Fighter is being produced by Viacom18 Studios and Marflix Pictures. The film serves as the first film in a planned aerial action franchise.