LONDON: Best-selling author Fatima Bhutto has expressed happiness as the Pakistani movie ‘Zindagi Tamasha’ will represent the country at the 2021 Oscars.
Directed by Sarmad Khoosat, the movie is all set to be submitted for Oscar consideration in the International Feature Film Award category for the 93rd Academy Awards, final nominees for which will be announced in February 2021. Taking to Twitter, the author termed Pakistan’s artists “daring” and “fearless” when it comes to the content they produce.
Pakistan’s greatest cultural strength isn’t our diversity (we are diverse), range (lots of it), or style (brimming with it). But that our artists are daring & fearless. I’m proud #ZindagiTamasha is representing us at the 2021 Oscars. The @TheAcademy are lucky to have this film pic.twitter.com/MUS5XJYi4l
— fatima bhutto (@fbhutto) January 14, 2021
“Pakistan’s greatest cultural strength isn’t our diversity (we are diverse), range (lots of it), or style (brimming with it). But that our artists are daring and fearless,” she wrote.
“I’m proud Zindagi Tamasha is representing us at the 2021 Oscars. The Academy is lucky to have this film,” she further added. The film has stoked controversy when its trailer was released and was shunned by the censor board. The film was supposed to be released in cinemas on 24th January 2020 but the government stopped screening by protest from a religious party.
Read more: Senate Committee approves Zindagi Tamasha’s screening
The film is directed and co-produced by Sarmad Khoosat. along with Kanwal Khoosat and written by Nirmal Bano. It features Arif Hassan, Eman Suleman, Samiya Mumtaz and Ali Kureshi.
The Pakistani Academy Selection Committee was chaired by two-time Academy Award and Emmy-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The committee includes Faisal Kapadia, Asad-ul-Haq, Hamza Bangash, Syed Muhammad Ahmed, Mehwish Hayat, Hasan Shehreyar Yasin, Asim Abbasi, Arshad Mahmud, and Jamal Shah.
