New Delhi: Anushka Sharma-starrer horror flick Pari won’t release in Pakistan with the country’s censor board banning it over “wrong portrayal of Islamic values”.

Pakistan’s Express Tribune quoted a senior member of the Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) saying that the Bollywood movie was deemed as promoting black magic and anti-Muslim sentiment.

“Pari’s script, dialogues and storyline go against our Islamic values. The concepts within Islam have different ideologies about magic. This film stimulates the viewers in favour of black magic and promotes thoughts that are contradictory to our religion,” the report quoted the CBFC member as saying.

Backing the decision, Pakistan Film Distributors Association chairman Chaudhry Ejaz Kamran said, “Any film that goes against our culture and Islamic history should be banned in Pakistan.”

Geo News quoted another source in the censor board as saying that the film “mixed Quranic verses with Hindu chants”. “It also portrayed Muslims in a negative light as they were shown using Quranic verses to do black magic.”

Directed by debutant Prosit Roy, the horror film is jointly produced by Anushka's Clean Slate Films and KriArj Entertainment. This is Anushka's third project as a producer after NH10 and Phillauri.

Pari, which released in India on Friday, also stars Bengali actor Parambrata Chatterjee.

Pari is the second Indian movie to be banned in Pakistan this year. Last month, the country banned the release of PadMan, a film on menstrual hygiene starring Akshay Kumar and Radhika Apte.