''Zindagi Tamasha'', titled ''Circus of Life'' in English, is a 2019 Pakistani drama film directed by

Sarmad Khoosat Sarmad Sultan Khoosat (born May 7, 1979) is a Pakistani actor, film/ TV director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing the super-hit TV dramas '' Humsafar'' and ''Shehr-e-Zaat''. He is considered to be one of the best South Asia ...

. It premiered at the 24th Busan International Film Festival, and won awards at Busan and at the 2021

Asian World Film Festival The Asian World Film Festival (AWFF) is an annual film festival based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Kyrgyz filmmaker, Sadyk Sher-Niyaz in 2015. In its inaugural year, the festival ran from October 26 to November 2. Its awards are known ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. The film was set to be released in Pakistan cinemas on 18 March 2022, but was postponed indefinitely following widespread protests by

Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (; TLP) is a far-right Islamic extremist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Khadim Hussain Rizvi in August 2015. It became the fifth largest party at the 2018 Pakistani general election, but fa ...

. As of November 2022, it has still not been released in Pakistan.

Plot

A devout Muslim who writes, composes, and even records hymns praising the Prophet, Rahat is a respected elderly man who works in real estate and takes care of his bedridden wife. One day, he attends the wedding of a friend's son, where he inadvertently shows off a dance in front of his friends. His dance gets recorded and then uploaded to social media, which then gets broadcast on television. And the chaos begins to ensue in his quiet life. Other than his wife, no one else in the world understands Rahat's circumstances. His daughters and neighbors criticize him, his friends turn their backs on him. Circus of Life provides a calm and detailed picture of challenging issues, in a strict Muslim society and the search for the identity of an elderly man who gradually comes to realize his "minoritiness".

Cast

* Arif Hassan as Rahat Khawaja *

Samiya Mumtaz Samiya Mumtaz ( ur, ) (born 1970, Karachi), is a Pakistani film and television actress. She has performed in several TV dramas. Family Mumtaz was born to Khawar and Kamil Khan Mumtaz. Her mother is a prominent women's rights activist, while he ...

Eman Suleman Eman Suleman (born 1 January 1992) is a Pakistani model and actress. She started her modeling career in 2017 and since then appeared in ramps and advertisements. She is also known for her role as Yasmeen in Sarmad Khoosat's ''Aakhri Station'' (20 ...

as Sadaf * Ali Kureshi as Danish

Production

''Zindagi Tamasha'' is a Pakistani drama film directed by

. The name of the film was inspired by a song in ''

Naukar Wohti Da ''Naukar Wohti Da'' ( Punjabi: ﻧﻮﮐﺮ ﻭﻭﮨﭩﯽ ﺩﺍ) is a 1974 Pakistani, Punjabi film, starring Munawar Zarif in the lead role, opposite actress Aasia. The film tells the story of a hired husband. It was remade in Hindi as '' ...

'' (1974). It is produced by Khoosat's sister, Kanwal Khoosat and written by Nirmal Bano. The film features Arif Hassan,

and Ali Kureshi. The film was set to release on 24 January 2020 under the banner of Khoosat Films; however, Pakistan's Central Film Censor Board asked director of film to approach the

Council of Islamic Ideology Council of Islamic Ideology (CII; ( ur, ) is a constitutional body of Pakistan, responsible for giving legal advice on Islamic issues to the government and the Parliament. This body was founded in 1962 under the government of Ayub Khan. Funct ...

for critically reviewing his film. This film shows an intimate portrait of a family who lives in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

Release

''Zindagi Tamasha'' premiered at the 24th Busan International Film Festival on 6 October 2019 under the section "A Window on Asian Cinema". The film was set to release on 24 January 2020 under the banner of Khoosat Films, however, Pakistan's Central Film Censor Board asked director of film to approach the

for critically reviewing his film.

Accolades

''Zindagi Tamasha'' was selected as Pakistan's entry for the Best International Feature Film at the

93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 202 ...

, but was not nominated. The film was awarded the Kim Ji-Seok Award at the

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festiv ...

. , it had won four awards, including the Snow Leopard Awards for Best Film and Best Actor for Arif Hassan at the 6th

in March 2021.

Controversy

After releasing its first teaser, this film become controversial. Its teaser was removed from YouTube. The release of the film was suspended after religious uproar.

's Khadim Hussain Rizvi promoted protests on the release of this film. Rizvi further accused Khoosat of blasphemy. The supposedly "blasphemous" material includes criticism of

ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

and an alleged reference to

bacha bazi ''Bacha bāzī'' ( fa, بچه بازی, lit. "boy play"; from ''bacheh'', "boy", and ''bazi'' "play, game") is a slang term used in Afghanistan for a custom in Afghanistan involving child sexual abuse by older men of young adolescent males or b ...

. Detractors of Rizvi were quick to point out that suggest criticism of ulama is blasphemous, may in itself constitute blasphemy as it implies ulama hold sacred or holy rank. Rizvi was also criticized for using charges of blasphemy to prevent criticism of religious fundamentalism. No charges against Rizvi have been filed at this point for engaging in blasphemy. A petition against TLP was subsequently filed by Irfan Ali Khoosat, director of Khoosat Films. The Sindh government also banned the film.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on 9 November 2019.

References

External links

*
Zindagi Tamasha{{Authority control
at'' IMDb 2019 films 2010s Urdu-language films Films directed by Sarmad Khoosat 2010s Punjabi-language films 2019 multilingual films Pakistani multilingual films Films set in Lahore