In a shocking development, the Pakistan government has imposed a ban on the film-based transgender, titled Joyland which was also the official entry for the Oscars from Pakistan.
While imposing the ban Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has said that the film does not conform to the country's "social values and moral standards"
The ban came amidst immense pressure from the hardliner Islamic groups in the country, who are terming its depiction of a love affair between a man and a transwoman as “repugnant and highly objectionable.”
The movie directed by Saim Sadiq that went to the Oscar as Pakistan’s official entry for best International feature film at the Oscars was scheduled to release later this week on the 18th of November.
The film presents the story of Haider, a young married man from a middle-class family in Lahore, who joins dance theatre and falls in love with a performer name Biba who happens to be transgender.
The film earned loads of accolades on the international stage, however, didn’t stand by the grounds in its own country, among the major recognitions recently the film which is also the directorial debut of Saim Sadiq, Joyland became the first Pakistani movie to be screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival where it won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize and Queer Palm award.
The movie was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival. On Friday, it won the Asia Pacific Screen Awards’ young cinema award, given in partnership with the critics’ association NETPAC and the Griffith Film School.
Tweeting in Urdu Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, who is the only senator from the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami welcomed the government’s move to impose a ban on the family terming it against the Islamic values of the government. "Pakistan is an Islamic country and no law, ideology or activity can be allowed against.”