Director Kabir Khan's Kabul Express has been banned in Afghanistan because the Hazara ethnic minority community found parts of the film offending.
"The film has some sentences which were very offensive towards one of Afghanistan's ethnicities, namely the Hazara. For this reason it has been banned," Najib Manalai, Afghanistan's minister of culture adviser, was quoted as saying.
Hazaras, a Shia Muslim minority, make up about 10 per cent of the Afghanistan population. They have supposedly descended from remnants of Genghis Khan's invading army.
The film starring Bollywood stars Arshad Warsi and John Abraham, is a socio-political comment on the war-ravaged country and it portrays Hazaras as a ruthless and heartless community.
Based on Khan's personal experience in the country while filming a documentary film, the film hit the screens in December 2006 and received critical acclaim.
While filming it, Khan and both actors apparently received life threats from the Afghan rebels. However, Khan shot the film on location under heavy security. He wrapped it up in 45 days.