‘Zindagi Tamasha’ given green signal by Senate human rights committee

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights on Tuesday approved the screening of Sarmad Khoosat’s latest film,  Zindagi Tamasha, which had been banned by censor boards even before its release.

PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokar, who chairs the panel, said the Committee has “unanimously agreed” with the censor board’s decision to allow the film to screen.

“We’ve found nothing wrong with it,” Khokhar wrote on Twitter.

“Censor board has our go ahead to release post Covid. Detail reasoning to follow later,” he added.

Back in January, the government had announced it would approach the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) for a critical review of Zindagi Tamasha. However, the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights stepped in in March to take up the matter and barred the CII from evaluating the film.

The censor authorities in Punjab and Sindh had earlier announced banning the release of the movie.

Written by NCA graduate Nirmal Bano, the film was set to release on January 24, 2020. It is directed and co-produced by Khoosat, along with his sister, Kanwal.

Starring Eman Suleman, Samiya Mumtaz, Arif Hasan, and Ali Qureshi in lead roles, Zindagi Tamasha is set in Lahore and chronicles the chaos that ensues in a devout elderly man’s life when a video featuring him gets published on the Internet.

Famed writer, journalist, and critic Mohammed Hanif also expressed his excitement at the film being given a green signal as well.

Khoosat had previously revealed that he was receiving threats over the release of his film. In a lengthy note on Twitter, the director had sought advice from people of the country whether he should withdraw Zindagi Tamasha or not.

Khoosat had clarified that the film did not contain any objectionable content as the censor authorities already cleared it. The Manto actor, however, refrained from naming the people who are using coercion for him to stop the release of Zindagi Tamasha.

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