Joyland Controversy: From being banned for objectionable material to reversal of decision

Pakistan's Oscar contender movie Joyland has been hitting the headlines for the past few days. The movie written and directed by Saim Sadiq explores the life of a Pakistani family that is entrapped in the old traditional notions when it comes to duty and gender. These are the factors that create tension within this Pakistani family.

During its course, the movie unravels some complex lies and secrets as well as the pressures and biased views of the society that has enslaved this Pakistani family. Slated as the first Pakistani movie to be played at Cannes, the expectations from Joyland are very high with the makers expecting that it will be able to make a connection with global audience.

However, things turned sour when the Pakistan government banned the movie on 11th November for containing highly objectionable material. The decision was made by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Pakistan after it received written complaints that Joyland carried objectionable material.

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These complaints said Joyland is against the moral standards and social values of Pakistani society and hence defies the decency and morality norms as laid down in the Motion Picture Ordinance of the country.

However, after an aggressive appeal by the director who called the ban a grave injustice, the Pakistani government lifted the ban, and now Joyland will release albeit with some minor cuts.

Interestingly, Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is linked with the movie as an executive producer and her influence might have contributed to the Pakistani government reversing the decision.

Joyland depicts the life of Haider, a young boy from a middle-class, traditional Rana family. Set in Lahore, as the Rana family starts planning for the birth of a baby boy, Haider gets connected to an erotic dance theater and fiercely falls for a trans starlet.

This love story of Haider and the ambitious starlet creates an upheaval in the Rana family and brings to the fore the secrets as well as the desires of all the family members.

The movie won the jury prize on its debut at the Un Certain Regard strand, Cannes at the start of this year and also recently won a young cinema award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. It is also the official entry of Pakistan at the Oscars in the international feature category.