In the history of Pakistan most films were banned like Khamosh Pani, also known as Silent Waters, was based on a Southern Punjabi family affected by the increasing religious radicalisation under the regime of Zia ul Haq. The film was banned way before it was reviewed because of the Indian actors in the film. Still, Indian movies are banned in Pakistani cinemas. The same as Verna film was banned by CBFC stated, ‘The general plot of the movie revolves around rape, which we consider to be unacceptable’. Nevertheless, the film was released without any censors in November 2017.
The Joyland is the film about the story of a married man’s love affair with a Trans woman, which has won critical acclaim and top awards on the festival circuit, including the prestigious Jury Prize at Cannes. It should be a proud and it will historical moment for Pakistan that the film won an award, not only this as Saim Sadiq commented that “I am humbled, thankful and excited about this immense honour to represent Pakistan at the Oscars with a film that I truly believe is an honest and compassionate representation of who we are as people. I hope that the joys and sorrows of these characters foster empathy among the viewers in Pakistan and abroad”.
As the film should be released in 18th November. Nevertheless, the three big censor boards had given the no objection certificate (NOC) to release this film in cinemas i.e. federal censor board give the NOC on 17 August; the Punjab censor board give the NOC on 11 October and the Sindh censor board give the NOC on 2 November. The censor board come under the control of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under which the Central board of film Censors (CBFC) works. However here also the question raised that after the 18th amendment the province still has the power to release a film by its government? In my point of view the answer should be that the province can do that but against the federal government if not directly but indirectly have control over the provinces. However suddenly on Friday (13.11.2022), the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting revoked the certification it had granted for ‘Joyland’ to be screened in theatres. As according to section 9 of the motion ordinance 1979 the film was repugnant (extremely unacceptable) to norms of decency and morality.
As in this 21st century, we said the media is the 24th pillar of the state and need to be independent in all ways whether it should be print media or journalism or the film industry which has suffered a lot in all time from the time of Zia till current time. The film is not only for entertainment some film really tell the truth about the society, and mostly people not going to accept the harsh reality of the society. is hard to accept (people). like KAGAZ KI NAAV an old Bollywood film released on 1975, is a movie about have a father tell to the son that take the call the tell them that “my father is not in the home” which is mostly happens in every day routine, this forced the son to think that you his father tell lie to his friend. So on and so forth. This film is more or less based on LGBTQ and Feminist perspectives can also read War on Women – The Asian Mirror the last but not least media and film industry should be free.
