Sarmad Khoosat appeals to PM, President to facilitate his film’s release

Sarmad Khoosat’s award-winning film Zindagi Tamasha seems to have run into trouble once again.

As the film gears up for release in Pakistan, the filmmaker took to social media to reveal that “a few troublemakers” were creating hurdles in its release “for their political ends.”

In an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, President Dr Arif Alvi, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Chief of the Army Staff and Minister for Information, Khoosat detailed the problems his film was facing in its release.

Along with that, he clarified that “As a law-abiding citizen and with full conviction that there is nothing offensive or malicious in the film, in response I submitted the film for another review to the censor board. It was cleared once again with a few cuts to appease the complainants.”

“I launched the promotional campaign and now, just a week before the film’s release, another attempt is being made by the same group to stop the release of the film and this time they are hell-bent on using pressurising tactics,” he said, adding that he is bringing this issue to their notice because “these series of episodes undermines a state institution like the Central Board of Film Censors.”

Written by Nirmal Bano and directed by Sarmad Khoosat, Zindagi Tamasha starres Arif Hassan, Samiya Mumtaz, Eman Suleman and Ali Qureshi in the lead. The film is centred around a naat khwan Rahat Khawaja (played by Hassan) and his family who are outcast from the society when a secret of Khawaja’s is leaked.

The official synopsis states: “The film is an intimate portrait of a family as well as a scorching political commentary on little gods on this earth who police our private passions.”

The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival held in October 2019 where it also won the prestigious Kim Ji Seok Award.

Read more – Sarmad Khoosat’s ‘Zindagi Tamasha’s’ trailer mysteriously disappears from Youtube

Meanwhile, Sarmad’s colleagues including Meesha Shafi and Ali Gul Pir stepped forward to support the filmmaker and his film.

The state of Pakistan needs to stop censoring art to appease a few troublemakers. If your art is not free, the minds of your people will stay enslaved and never evolve. I hope #zindagitamasha gets released in it's true form #art #freedom #NoToTLPBullying https://t.co/NZK0odHyqm

— Ali Gul Pir (@Aligulpir) January 16, 2020