Sarmad Khoosat is done with the delays and controversies. August is the month of independence and the filmmaker decides to finally release his feature film Zindagi Tamasha on YouTube on August 4, 2023, on Khoosat Films’ YouTube and Vimeo channels.
For the Unversed, Zindagi Tamasha was barred from being screened in Pakistani cinemas due to political controversy. Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) called for protests against its original release on January 24, 2020, alleging it was “blasphemous”.
Sarmad took to Instagram and shared an emotional video taking charge to release the film himself. “There is a sense of loss, and it’s not just mine. It shouldn’t be just mine. There is a sense of failure but it’s not just my failure. It’s a failure of the system, of our independent voices not being strong enough. As a responsible and respectable citizen, I tried everything in my control related to administration and legalities. I spent my money and I followed the procedure and even then Zindagi Tamasha suffered an unfair fate,” he stated.
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Zindagi Tamsha was Sarmad’s passion project, bankrolled without any funding and corporate budgeting. “I spent a lot of money on this film. There’s a monetary loss as well, but it’s been four years, and there’s only so much I can do about it. I’ve decided to be patient about it. In Punjabi, there’s a phrase that says ‘matti pao’ and I’m doing just that now,” Khoosat said.
According to the film’s description on YouTube, Zindagi Tamasha is “an intimate portrait of a family as well as a scorching political commentary on the little gods on this earth who police private passions”.
Zindagi Tamasha had its premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in 2019 it became the first Pakistani 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.
Directed and co-produced by Sarmad and Kanwal Khoosat and written by Nirmal Bano, Zindagi Tamasha’s cast includes Arif Hassan, Eman Suleman, Samiya Mumtaz and Ali Kureshi.
