KARACHI: Award-winning feature film Zindagi Tamasha of ace-director Sarmad Khoosat has finally secured permission to hit the cinema screens across Pakistan on March 18.
In 2020, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting suspended its release days before the January 24 date after the radical Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party objected to its portrayal of a struggling cleric.
Zindagi Tamasha (Circus of Life) is about a man shunned after a video of him dancing at a wedding goes viral.
The party claimed the film “might lead [people] to deviate from Islam and the prophet”, with officials warning screening it could lead to unrest.
Khoosat, son of veteran actor Irfan Khoosat, said he never intended to offend anyone.
The film had its premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019 and was the first Pakistan 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.
The trailer has been re-released by the production house on YouTube.
