Director, actor and producer, Sarmad Khoosat, largely popular for his role in Manto has had his fill with the controversies around his movie Zindagi Tamasha and today, he finally expressed his frustration through Twitter and called the film fraternity a joke as the destiny of his movie still remains undecided. Sarmad Khoosat has been bullied, accused and harassed for quite sometime now for his movie Zindagi Tamasha that still remains unreleased. Khoosat has written letters to President Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan stating how he has been threatened and his movie had to go through unnecessary screenings over and over again, despite being cleared by PEMRA.
This all started after the release of the film’s trailer that started a conversation about a certain franchise of people. The trailer itself did not marginalize nor comment on any cultural stigma, rather, it was a social depiction of modern day Pakistan.
Sarmad had never before shown such frustration eversince the controversies around his film had started. His approach with dealing with the matter has been utmost civil and his decency is admirable.
What’s the current status of the case?
While the Federal Government had said that the film will be reviewed by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), the Punjab Government had directed the filmmaker to hold a screening on February 3 so that the film can be reviewed again. However, the screening has not taken place as yet. It is pertinent to mention here that the provincial and central censor boards had earlier cleared the film for release with a few cuts. Ever since the film was barred from release, the director had not made a public statement regarding the film. His father, Irfan Khoosat, who had filed a case against Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) for interfering in the smooth release of the film also withdrew his petition for reasons unknown. Meanwhile, TLP chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi had remarked that he would not let the film release no matter what, saying: “We will not let Zindagi Tamasha release and will do whatever it takes to make sure it does not see the light of day.” Along with Khadim Rizvi, other religious clerics have also preached against the film which is alarming to say the least.