‘Zindagi Tamasha’ movie by Sarmad Khoosat wins big at the International Film festival, actually became the ‘Tamasha’ of Sarmad’s ‘Zindagi’.
The government of Pakistan has suspended the release of the film after an Islamist political party objected to its portrayal of a struggling cleric. The government announced that that it will contact the Islamic Ideological Council to review the film.
Firdous Ashiq Awan announces this in her tweet on the 21st of January.
مرکزی فلم سنسر بورڈ نے فلم “زندگی تماشہ” کا تنقیدی جائزہ لینے کے لئے فوری طور پر اسلامی نظریاتی کونسل سے رجوع کرنے کا فیصلہ کیا ہے۔ پروڈیوسر کو فلم کی ریلیز مؤخر کرنے کی ہدایت بھی جاری کر دی گئی۔
— Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan (@Dr_FirdousPTI) January 21, 2020
She did not specify how long it will take but for now, Sarmad Khost has been instructed not to release the film.
The story of this film is based on a ‘Naat Khawan’ whose video of dancing got viral and people out there start disrespecting him and abusing him. Even his family stops respecting him and he makes a video to apologize but society is unwilling to consider him a good man again. The cast of the movie includes Eman Suleman, Samiya Mumtaz, Arif Hasan and Ali Qureshi in lead roles
Sarmad Khoosat said the purpose of this movie is not to offend or hurt anyone. He said that not a single group of society is targeted in this movie.
Sarmad Khost shared a post on Twitter in which he revealed that he was receiving dozens of intimidating phone calls and messages to stop the release of the movie. After all these threats, the filmmaker asked people for their opinion about releasing the film.
Getting dozens of threatening phone calls and msgs. Should I withdraw Zindagi Tamasha? pic.twitter.com/OJB396B1xq
— Sarmad Khoosat (@KhoosatSarmad) January 19, 2020
He further writes an open letter to the higher authorities of Pakistan and shared on twitter.
میں بھی پاکستان ہوں
An open letter to:@ImranKhanPTI@ArifAlvi #Chiefjusticeofpakistan #Chiefofthearmystaffpakiatan#ministerofinformationpakistan@DanyalGilani #censorboardofpakistan #ZindagiTamasha #pakistanicinema pic.twitter.com/D10lS1V1gw— Sarmad Khoosat (@KhoosatSarmad) January 16, 2020
Many famous artists like Mahira Khan and Humayun Saeed are tweeting in favor of film to be released on time.
The government must address this at the earliest. Filmmaking in Pakistan is already a tough challenge; those who dare to venture into it need to be encouraged and appreciated https://t.co/H2ZP1Wjd8H
— Humayun Saeed (@iamhumayunsaeed) January 18, 2020
Fans are going crazy on this step of government and called Government a coward who takes such a big step on the threats of one political party. #ZindagiTamasha became the latest trend of Twitter now.
It's time to stand up! Now or Never…#ReleaseZindagiTamasha #ZindagiTamasha pic.twitter.com/XBGxJnJCif
— Travel the world ✈ (@iqraaa7) January 22, 2020
The real opponents of this movie TLP called for mass rallies across the country to protest at the release of the film. They stated that
“The characterization of the naat-reader in the film is such that it can cause discomfort to the public and might lead them to deviate from Islam and Prophet (Muhammad)”
“Thus this movie must not be released as it could otherwise be a grave test of the Muslims of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
This is not the first time that the Government has banned a film. In 2016 a movie named ‘Maalik’ was banned because it showed the dirty face of politicians.
Sources have affirmed that Sarmad decides not to release the movie. He said
“He won’t release Zindagi Tamasha so no one can ban it”
Let’s see how far the Government will go to stop the artists from expressing their creativity.