Sarmad Khoosat’s upcoming flick Zindagi Tamasha made waves internationally in October when it premiered at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Kim Ji-Seok Award. The avant-garde arthouse production has high expectations riding given it’s Sarmad’s first cinematic offering since 2015’s Manto and is supposed to offer a soul-stirring narrative that holds up a mirror to our society, per the feedback that has poured in since its world premiere.
Interestingly, the trailer for the film which was released a few months back is now nowhere to be found over the internet. Originally uploaded in late September on popular streaming platforms such as YouTube, it received a largely positive response, showcasing content that was both offbeat, current and relevant. That it has been taken down is perplexing especially given that the film has been cleared by the censors for a nationwide release on January 24. The question that immediately comes to mind is that have the film censors raised objection over the clip’s provocative content, which alludes to taboo themes in the society that are usually brushed under the rug? While the federal film oversight body routinely screens content for theaters, pulling the trailer from the internet would require some coordination with PEMRA.
Galaxy Lollywood reached out to Sarmad Khoosat about the development. The Humsafar director was concerned and stated: “I will be holding a press conference tomorrow about Zindagi Tamasha’s trailer being taken down where I will discuss all the pertinent details.”
The roughly minute and a half long clip narrates the story of a naat-khwan named Rahat Khawaja (played by Arif Hassan) and his family who find themselves ostracised when a certain video of Khawaja becomes public. After the video goes viral, even his own daughter, Sadaf (Eman Suleman) is ashamed of him.
With only a few weeks to go before the film hits theater screens, it is crucially important for all its publicity material to be in the public eye. One can only hope that the censors are not having second thoughts about giving the picture a clean chit.
Zindagi Tamasha will one of Sarmad’s two films to release in 2020, the other being Saba Qamar starrer Kamli. It has been co-produced by Khoosat and his sister Kanwal Khoosat and written by Nirmal Bano. The film is bilingual, mostly shot in Punjabi. Along with Arif Hassan and Iman Suleman, the cast includes Ali Qureshi, Samiya Mumtaz, and Imran Khoosat.
We will be watching this story closely for any new development. Stay tuned to Galaxy Lollywood for the latest on Zindagi Tamasha!
