LAHORE: Sarmad Khoosat’s film Zindagi Tamasha, which had faced many delays due to protests over sensitive subject matter, is finally coming to cinemas across Pakistan in March 2022.
The trailer for the movie has been re-released by production studio Khoosat Films on YouTube, showing the new releases date for the film as March 18, 2022. Directed and co-produced by Sarmad and Kanwal Khoosat and written by Nirmal Bano, Zindagi Tamasha’s cast includes Arif Hassan, Eman Suleman, Samiya Mumtaz and Ali Kureshi.
According to the film’s description on YouTube, Zindagi Tamasha is “an intimate portrait of a family as well as a scorching political commentary on the little gods on this earth who police private passions”.
The film stars Arif Hasan, who plays a naat khwaan named Rahat and enjoys a celebrity status amongst his community in the old city of Lahore. He is a devout Muslim; someone who, in the eyes of everyone else, is almost super-humanly incapable of any sacrilege. Hence, when he does wrong, there is no forgiveness for him. Rahat and his family get sidelined by society after a video of him go viral on social media.
Zindagi Tamasha had its premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019 and was the first Pakistani film to win the prestigious Kim Ji-Seok Award at the festival. It also bagged the Snow Leopard Award for Best Film at the 6th Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) in 2021. The movie was also Pakistan’s official film entry in the International Feature Film Award category for the 93rd Academy Awards in 2020.
Zindagi Tamasha faced controversy after Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) called for protests against its original release on January 24, 2020, alleging it was “blasphemous”.
The following month, the late TLP leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi announced that they will never allow it to be released. In his announcement, Rizvi had clearly stated that even if the government were to green-light the release of the film, he will not allow its release.
In July 2020, the Senate Committee for Human Rights had approved the movie for screening as well, dismissing all objections raised against the film, however, it never got a public screening.
