Pakistani author and columnist Fatima Bhutto seeks immense pride in how Sarmad Khoosat’s film Zindagi Tamasha has made it as Pakistan's official entry to the Oscars 2021.
Expressing her deligh, Bhutto said on Twitter, “Pakistan’s greatest cultural strength isn’t our diversity (we are diverse), range (lots of it), or style (brimming with it), but that our artists are daring & fearless.”
“I’m proud Zindagi Tamasha is representing us at the 2021 Oscars. The Academy is lucky to have this film,” she added.
In another tweet, Bhutto, 38, expressed her shock and questioned if the movie is the first to make to the Oscars while being banned in its own country? She tweeted, “Is Zindagi Tamasha the first time a film that’s banned in its home country makes it to the Oscars? I can’t imagine but then.”
Burdened with controversies, film Zindagi Tamasha has not yet released in cinemas in Pakistan. Initially scheduled to release on January 25, 2020, the film faced immense criticism and backlash from religious groups that halted the release of the film.
The criticism forced the censor board and later, federal and provincial government to stop its release. However, in July 2020, the Senate HR committee gave the green signal to director, producer Khoosat and cleared the film for its release post-COVID-19 pandemic.
