Pakistan has banned the film, "Tere bin Laden"

Pakistan has banned the theatrical release of a comedy about Osama bin Laden due to hit cinema screens in South Asia on Friday.

Movie distributors say they are appealing the ban, issued by Pakistan's Film Censor Board.

The film, "Tere bin Laden" ("Your bin Laden), stars Pakistani pop singer Ali Zafar as an ambitious young journalist trying to land the scoop of a lifetime as a way to win a visa to live in the United States. Made in the India's Bollywood "movie factory," it's a departure from the melodramas and musicals that dominate Indian cinematic fare. It's also unusual in that it has a Pakistani in the starring role.

The trailer for "Tere bin Laden" suggests a movie of fast-paced slapstick comedy, and shows Zafar trying to coax an anxious and utterly inept bin Laden look-alike to impersonate the al Qaeda leader. "You have a million-dollar face," he pleads. But the whole scheme spirals out of control when a video they make is taken seriously by the U.S. government.