As the male lead wades through the ocean and waves gently hit the shore, the cinema screen fades to the title: Joyland – Pakistan’s entry for the Oscars, on release in the capital Islamabad from Monday after weeks of controversy.
The winner of the jury prize at the Cannes film festival narrates the love story about the youngest son of a “happily patriarchal joint family” and a trans woman he meets after secretly joining an erotic dance theatre.
As pressure from hardline Islamic groups mounted in the week before its official release, the government first imposed a ban on the film, then announced that the censor board review committee had cleared it. However, a ban remains in the province of Punjab, where director Saim Sadiq’s movie is set.
Cinemagoers in Islamabad on Monday came to judge for themselves if it was indeed “highly objectionable”.
Emaan Malik, a blogger, said she loved Joyland and felt that it was a reality check for society. “I don’t see why the movie was banned at first or why it still remains banned in some parts of the country,” she said.
“It depicted certain truths about us and our society that are hard for us to digest. If the reality being shown on screen is too harsh for you to see and you want to put a curtain on your eyes, that’s different.”
The movie touches upon several issues that plague Pakistani society, from discrimination against its Khwaja Sira (transgender) community, to gender-based violence and century-old norms based on the fear of log kya kahengay (what will people say?).
Sana Sabri, an architect who came to watch the movie, said that “everyone should see it” and that “it gives one a lot to think about”.
“The movie is a very rare but true depiction of the Pakistani society. It talks about the things that we want to hide or are not comfortable talking about or ignore them and turn a blind eye to,” said Sabri.
Farwa Naqvi, a journalist and psychotherapist, felt the demands for a ban were a political move by religious parties with the elections coming up.
“The movie is much more than the trans character but regardless of that, banning a movie because it stars a trans woman and shows how we treat them in our society is absurd,” said Naqvi, who believes that banning a movie is equal to curbing critical thinking and stopping people from thinking for themselves.
Many of those who had watched Joyland said that the attacks against the movie on social media were baseless.
“The propaganda on social media against the movie is totally false and exaggerated; if one were to merely believe that, one would wonder what obscene and sacrilegious things the movie is showing but there is nothing like that in the movie – it is merely a representation of the society,” said one viewer.
Nida Kirmani, a sociologist, said: “It is a shame that rightwing forces have created such an unnecessary controversy about this film. At a time when transgender rights are under attack not only in Pakistan but also in many other parts of the globe, it is even more imperative that a film like Joyland receives as wide a viewership as possible.”
“The film depicts how patriarchy restricts all members of society, women and Khwaja Siras of course, but also men in various ways,” added Kirmani.
Additional reporting by Somaiyah Hafeez
