Khoosat Films files petition against TLP for ‘trying to interfere’ in Zindagi Tamasha release

Director of Khoosat Films Private Limited, Irfan Ali Khoosat has filed a petition in a Lahore civil court against the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) for “trying to interfere into the smooth running, public screening/releasing” of the movie Zindagi Tamasha.

In the petition, Irfan urged the court to “[restrain] the defendant permanently from interfering into the peaceful releasing/public screening of above-named film on big screen/cinema in all over Pakistan illegally, unlawfully”.

The petition says that by releasing Zindagi Tamasha, Khoosat Films aimed to “bring the soft image of the society among the public at large, to reduce the stress from the minds of peoples (sic) of the country and to promote the positivity in the society”. It further points out that the movie had been cleared for release by all censor boards in the country.

“The defendant (TLP) who has no concern whatsoever with the above-said film is trying to interfere into the smooth running public screening/releasing of the above-mentioned film in cinema screen all around the country without any lawful justification,” the petition read.

On Tuesday (today), the petition was heard by judge Ziaur Rehman, who issued notices to all respondents to appear before the court tomorrow to present their arguments.

Irfan had also filed for interim injunction from the court under Rules 1 (cases in which temporary injunction may be granted) and 2 (injunction to restrain repetition or continuance of breach) of Order 39 read with Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Irfan’s son, actor-filmmaker Sarmad Khoosat’s upcoming film, Zindagi Tamasha, has come under fire ahead of its scheduled release on January 24. On his Twitter account, Sarmad claimed he is receiving threatening calls and messages regarding the movie.

On Sunday, Sarmad took to social media to reveal he was receiving “dozens of threatening phone calls and messages”, and questioned if he should “withdraw Zindagi Tamasha“.

Last week, the filmmaker had addressed an open letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, claiming — without taking names — that there were attempts to stop his film from releasing despite it being cleared by the central censor board.

On Sunday, he posted another open letter, this time addressed to “my beloved Pakistan and Pakistanis”, questioning whether he should withdraw Zindagi Tamasha or not. He clarified in his letters that the film did not contain any objectionable content and had already been cleared by the censor boards.