KARACHI: A sessions court dismissed on Friday an application seeking registration of a criminal case against the director, producer and actors of the Bollywood film Dhurandhar for allegedly defaming the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.

The court observed that the application, filed by PPP sympathiser Muhammad Amir, had been filed only to grab “media attention”.

The judge observed that the film was not produced or released within the jurisdiction of Pakistan. “Such affairs pertain to state level and required to be dealt by Foreign Office at official level. So filing this petition is nothing except to grabbing the media attention,” the court order said.

The court ruled that no direction could be issued for the registration of an FIR as all the proposed accused persons were Indian nationals and no cognisable offence had occurred within the country’s jurisdiction.

However, the judge suggested that the applicant could approach the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) or the federal government for redressal of his grievances.

The applicant moved the court after the police refused to register an FIR. He had submitted that the PPP was portrayed as sympathetic to terrorists in the movie, and Lyari was labelled as a “terrorist war zone”, which was provocative, misleading and harmful misrepresentation, damaging the reputation of the country and its people.

He stated that he viewed the official trailer and promotional material of the film on social media platforms. He said that the images of Ms Bhutto, along with PPP’s flag and rally visuals, were used in the movie without any legal permission.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2026