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The Eidul Azha release Lafangey, starring actor Salman Saqib Sheikh, has been making news for being "blocked" by the censor boards for its "objectionable content, obscene, and double meaning language."

Mani has stated that the film"s destiny has not yet been decided because censor boards have not yet formally decided whether or not it should be screened. The Sindh Censor Board"s permission is contingent on the removal of specific lines, while Lafangey"s producers are now awaiting approvals from the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) and Punjab Censor Board.

Mani revealed over the phone to The Express Tribune that his team will be meeting with the CBFC chairman today to talk about the future of the movie. The Ishrat: Made in China actor lamented that these are all "delay tactics" meant to prevent the horror comedy from premiering on Eid and said, "The film has not been banned. I"m not sure who generated these rumours, but they are wholly unfounded. We"re still waiting for the Punjab Censor Board, in particular, to give its clearance. We made the movie as clean as we could after the Sindh board requested that we take out a few sentences. To be safe, we even cut a few from our own side, sacrificing the humour of our film in the process.

Earlier, a top CBFC official told The Express Tribune, "The CBFC has evaluated Lafangey but it hasn"t made a decision for its release. We"ll make a decision about this soon. Even nevertheless, the Punjab Film Censor Board saw the movie and asked that several of the sentences be cut because they were against their rules. For the time being, the board decided to hold off.

Mani stated of the board itself, "We haven"t yet received a notice. Why Punjab and Sindh board exist when CBFC alone must make the final judgement baffles me. They have viewed both the original version of the movie and the one in which, at their request, we removed some speech. After that, we didn"t get any more written notification. They are postponing it as long as they can to prevent our movie from arriving on Eid, and we won"t be stupid enough to release it after that. Except for Eid, there is no commerce for movies in Pakistan.

Regarding the reportedly lewd dialogues, he asserted that humour can vary depending on the individual and that similar dialogues had previously been used "in other movies such as Wrong No." "The dialogues are humorous, and I"ll be honest—I don"t comprehend their standards. Waar, in which Shaan [Shahid] is heard saying "f**k off," was permitted to be screened in theatres. I don"t understand the criteria because Sanju was shown here with naked scenes, and another Pakistani movie that I won"t name contained the line "kapooray dheele hain." People of all ages who are knowledgeable about cinema and television should be on the censor board so they can offer criticism.