Pakistani art cinema goes bold: an upcoming art film rumoured to feature objectionable visual content

There is a mainstream cinema that is full of masala, rain drenched songs, happy endings and content that sells to the masses. Another is substance, message, voice of the suppressed and doesn’t need glamour to be documented. An upcoming art film, Mudhouse & The Golden Doll is considered to be one such non-glamorous film that will entail domestic issues faced by rural girls and an unusual friendship bond between a mentally unstable 30 years old street wanderer and a young childhood denied girl. According to the director (Hamza Ali Abbasi) of the film the movie will be screened at international film festivals abroad. He has not yet explained why he will not release it in Pakistan. We may have a clue!

This soon to be released film, which is in post production phase, may deviate from standard Pakistani cinematic norms and feature a controversial scene. The director has probably decided not to think of a commercial release in Pakistan as censor board has banned movies like Tere Bin laden and Slackistan in the past one year over objectionable script. However, the catalyst for outrage and censorship has not been visual content as yet. It seems as Pakistani cinema grows, more controversies will keep stirring up.