Zindagi Tamasha is a Pakistani film that was supposed to hit Pakistani theaters in 2019. Upon the release of its trailer, TLP labelled the film as blasphemous and launched country wide protests to stop the film from hitting the screens in Pakistan. This film was directed and produced by Sarmad Khoosat who is very well renowned in the country for his contributions towards the revival of the Pakistani film industry. The movie captures the tale of a maulvi who went viral for posting a video of him reciting a naat while wearing dupatta. The bilingual movie sheds light on intolerance in our society and the ways that different factions of the religion misuse the Blasphemy to get their way around.
Just because the movie talks about how the Mullahs` use Blasphemy to get their way around people, the movie was deemed un-Islamic and ignited wide-spread protests by Tahreek-e-Labaik in the country. TLP claimed that the movie will eventually lead people to deviate from Islam and the prophet and declared the content of the movie blasphemous. Since the release of the trailer the director has received numerous life threats and was pushed to such an extent that he had to release an open letter, claiming himself to be a man of the Faith along with a promise to stop the release of the film in Pakistan.
Is it available now in the country since TLP doesn't call the shots(apparently) anymore
I agree with you. No one openly talks about blasphemy because it is a very slippery slope. We have many cases in the past that back this statement, like the murder of a bank manager. There should be proper awareness about it.
Honestly, this is a perfect depiction of why the blasphemy law directly empowers those groups of people who can use the law against movies such as these. In fact, even lynchings like those of Mashal Khan can in part, be associated with the state's empowerment of punishing blasphemists with death. Although it strikes the question, why is the blasphemy law only applied when blasphemy is being done against Islam and not other religions?
The ban on Zindagi Tamasha sometimes makes me wonder whether films like ‘Khuda Kay Liye’ could have ever seen the light of the day in today’s Pakistan
Plan on watching the movie soon, censorship be damned. Love how the state manages to oppress from every angle