Banned Pakistani film ‘Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer’ to world premiere at the UK Asian Film Festival

Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story Of A Serial Killer, which was banned in Pakistan two days before its scheduled release in theaters, is all set to see the light of day as the opening movie of the UK Asian Film Festival 2022.

The premiere will take place on May 4 at London’s BFI Southbank. Javed Iqbal was originally supposed to be released in October in Pakistan, but the date was pushed to December 24 due to a pending clearance by the censor boards. The film’s release was delayed again due to a rise in Covid-19 cases. The release date was rescheduled to January 28. However, following a preview screening in Karachi it was abruptly pulled by the government’s Central Bureau of Film Censors, despite initial approval.

Read: Censor board bans third film of the year with Iram Parveen Bilal’s ‘I’ll Meet You There’

Starring Yasir Hussain as the titular character and Ayesha Omar as a police officer, the film is based on the investigations held in the case of a notorious serial killer who abducted, abused and killed 100 young boys in Lahore and sent evidence of his crimes to the authorities and media in 1999. He was arrested and sentenced to death. But just two years into his sentence, he allegedly committed suicide in his prison cell. The authorities suspected his horrific crimes were part of a wider paedophile ring in operation.

The film is directed by Abu Aleeha and is based on his novel Kukri. Yasir Hussain and Ayesha Omar will introduce the film at its UK screening. Yasir took to Instagram and shared the news:

“Yeh bohot fakhar ki baat hai k UK Asian Film Festival hamari movie ko itni izzat de raha hai magar afsos hai k hum kabhi apna content aur apny log pehchan nahi paatay. Pakistan mai yeh Pakistani kahani ban ho gai magar Eid pe aap apny culture pe banai gai 5 movies zaroor dekhiye ga [It is proud moment that the UK Asian Film Festival has honoured our film but sadly, our own people do not recognize local content. Pakistan has banned this Pakistani story but you should watch five local films made on our culture releasing on Eid],” he wrote.

 

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“The importance of this film cannot be underestimated. It brings to light an issue – the abuse and mass murder of young boys – that is of the utmost importance and yet rarely discussed,” commented UK Asian Film Festival Founder and Director, Dr Pushpinder Chowdhry. “It has always been far too convenient for South Asian societies to brush such issues under the carpet but only by creating safe spaces in which to confront these issues and their root causes can we begin to create the meaningful social change we need. In that way we all owe a debt of gratitude to the creators of this film.”