Zindagi Tamasha petition withdrawn

Director of Khoosat Films, Irfan Khoosat, filed an application on Wednesday to withdraw his petition for the release of his son’s film Zindagi Tamasha. His request was accepted by civil judge, Ziaul Rehman.

Their lawyer told SAMAA Digital that the petition had been taken back owing to some reasons.

Initially, the film had been approved by the censor boards in Punjab and Sindh. It was expected to release this weekend on January 24 (Friday). However, the petitioner claimed that members of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik had been threatening the film’s director, Sarmad Khoosat, and his cast to stop the country-wide release.

The petition

On Tuesday, Khoosat Films had filed a petition against the TLP for trying to interfere with the release of their upcoming film Zindagi Tamasha starring Arif Hasan, Samiya Mumtaz and Eman Suleman.

The petitioner said that the film was promoting a “soft image of society” and had already been cleared by the censor boards, yet the defendant was creating hurdles for them.

Following statements from the censor boards in Sindh and Punjab to not release the film this weekend, Special Assistant to the PM on Information and Broadcast Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan tweeted that the Pakistan Film Censor Board would consult the Islamic Ideological Council for a critical review of the film.

مرکزی فلم سنسر بورڈ نے فلم “زندگی تماشہ” کا تنقیدی جائزہ لینے کے لئے فوری طور پر اسلامی نظریاتی کونسل سے رجوع کرنے کا فیصلہ کیا ہے۔ پروڈیوسر کو فلم کی ریلیز مؤخر کرنے کی ہدایت بھی جاری کر دی گئی۔

— Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan (@Dr_FirdousPTI) January 21, 2020

Qibla Ayaz, the current chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, told SAMAA Digital that he received a government’s letter at 5pm Wednesday, asking the council to form a panel to review the movie.

The council has summoned a meeting Thursday morning to finalise members for the panel. “We will review the movie and then present a report,” he added.

With additional reporting by Shahid Hussain and Qaisar Kamran.