Zindagi Tamasha has won awards at Busan and at the 2021 Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles
Zindagi Tamasha, the drama film by Sarmad Khoosat which had been banned from Pakistani cinemas due to political controversy, will be released to local theatres on March 18.
While the Senate Committee for Human Rights had approved the film from screening in July 2020, it had not been released in cinemas. In this regard, Khoosat Films has re-released a trailer on YouTube.
The film, which stars a devout Muslim that composes hymns praising the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him), was met with religious uproar led predominantly Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s Khadim Hussain Rizvi. Rizvi had claimed that Zindagi Tamasha contained blasphemous content, leading to the removal of the film’s teaser from YouTube. Khoosat had filed a petition against the TLP in a Lahore court for “trying to interfere into the smooth running, public screening/releasing” of Zindagi Tamasha in January 2020.
The petition said that by releasing Zindagi Tamasha, Khoosat Films aimed to “bring the soft image of the society among the public at large”, “to reduce the stress from the minds of people” and to “promote the positivity in the society”.
In spite of the ban in Pakistan, it was selected as Pakistan’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards but was not nominated.
As of March 2021, it had won four awards, including the Snow Leopard Award for Best Film and Best Actor for Arif Hassan at the 6th Asian World Film Festival in Los Angeles in March 2021.
