Images

Nimra Bucha says Saim Sadiq’s Joyland shows men as they really are

Nimra Bucha says Saim Sadiq’s Joyland shows men as they really are

The actor said the film should travel the world but return home, again and again.
30 Nov, 2022

After facing some hurdles, Joyland was finally released in parts of Pakistan and since then, has gathered scintillating reviews. It is a film that has been appreciated not just by the public but also by celebrities who have openly vouched for it. Nimra Bucha just added her two cents and said that the film shows men in a light that is often censored in cinema.

On Tuesday, she shared a post on Instagram and wrote, “In Pakistan we women actors always complain of not being shown as we really are. We say there aren’t enough good parts for women. But the opposite is true too. Or truer. We never really see men either. What we are shown is the devastation they wreak. But Saim Sadiq seems to have written a film about men where they actually offer themselves as they really are.”

She said though Joyland is not perfect, she loves it even more because of that. She resonates with the film as it “pulsates with our lives and our beauty”. Picking out some elements she loved, she said, “Biba played by Alina Khan reminds me of all the women I grew up watching on screen who were real and whose skin I could inhale and live in. When Ali Junejo moves on stage with all the other beautiful male dancers, it is a dance I have danced many times. It’s familiar and yet dizzying and glorious. Salmaan Peerzada could do nothing on screen for hours and I would still watch him. Joe Saade’s camera work has a humility that lets us see actors in their immediacy.”

She talked about the unnecessary fight that preceded the movie’s release in its home country. “Yet Joyland embraces history in a peculiar way even as it departs from it. I love that I saw it in a cinema in Karachi, titillated instead of outraged by the silly censor blurs. No one film should have the burden of being the first and the best and greatest,” she wrote. “But it should be able to take its place in showing human desire and everyday heroes.

“Let Joyland travel the world and go where it wants to but please let’s bring it back home again and again. It is ours and it is us,” she concluded, adding the hashtag #releasezindagitamashanow.

Joyland has the distinction of being Pakistan’s first Cannes entry, bagging several awards at international film festivals and being chosen as Pakistan’s Oscar consideration nominee. Despite all its achievements, it was still banned from a cinematic screening in its country of origin. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting canceled its exhibition license which was issued months ago. This resulted in backlash which led to PM Shehbaz Sharif forming a committee to evaluate complaints lodged against it. Soon after, the committee came to the decision to clear the film for release. Later, the Punjab government imposed a ban of its own on the film.

Written and directed by Sadiq, it has been produced by Apoorva Guru Charan, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat and Lauren Mann. It features Junejo, Rasti Farooq, Khan, Sarwat Gillani, Peerzada, Sohail Sameer and Sania Saeed. Shot in Lahore, it is a bittersweet tale of repressed desire and the quest for individual freedom.

Comments

Hkiahs Nov 30, 2022 03:35pm
She should not compare every men with her clan
Recommend (0)
Mahmood Nov 30, 2022 03:46pm
Sure, if you think ''real men" in your universe or imagination are all sissies, girly and wear makeup and wear lacy underwear! Perhaps she's never been around a real masculine man!?? That is not entirely uncommon in showbiz!!!
Recommend (0)
Kiwi Nov 30, 2022 04:06pm
Only movies like these will get publicity in international film festival. These movies show the dark side of Pakistan society.
Recommend (0)
Hamza Nov 30, 2022 04:10pm
Nobody cares
Recommend (0)
Just a random dude Nov 30, 2022 04:58pm
So it is right to say anything you want about men even if you are a women. But had it been a man saying something about women than Pakistani media would have been on fire. #DoubleStandards
Recommend (0)
Nauman Nov 30, 2022 05:29pm
And all the rap videos of US rappers show women as they really are....
Recommend (0)
Asgher Nov 30, 2022 06:01pm
Nimra should speak for herself. Her own father son brother and husband if there are problems in her own home. If she wanna be an ultra feminist she is welcome to be one, but such generalizing statements are not accepted.
Recommend (0)
Anonymouseee Nov 30, 2022 06:24pm
Our film industry and tested fraternity has been a shame to begin with.
Recommend (0)
Saira Khan Nov 30, 2022 07:11pm
It was a good movie and it shows what happens in our society. People who think this isn’t in our culture, have their eyes shut.
Recommend (0)
Ahmed Nov 30, 2022 07:27pm
Men are not a monolith. The movie is garbage.
Recommend (0)
jsav12 Nov 30, 2022 07:32pm
Tbh other than Salman Peerzada I thought the male characters were all underwhelming. It was a woman's show through and through.
Recommend (0)
Nads Nov 30, 2022 08:40pm
I have always felt that either you can control your desire or your desire can control you. The latter can be dangerous to a degree because your “desire” has no limit no moral and no idea of what’s good and bad so it’s better you control your desires and also use media to show same, those who let desires control them are animals and those who control desires are humans. It’s not about the physical form rather the self control which truely defines the essence of what it is to be an insaan -Hazrat e Insaan.
Recommend (0)
Rami Nov 30, 2022 09:03pm
She is saying Pakistani men wants to be women and wear skirts like Ali Sethi !
Recommend (0)
Alrehan Nov 30, 2022 09:59pm
What is this why men are criticized for no reason
Recommend (0)
Sid Nov 30, 2022 10:01pm
@Kiwi true
Recommend (0)
FA Nov 30, 2022 10:08pm
@Mahmood I think she means they’re shown as real people with emotions and an inner life rather than villains or those causing destruction in some way. The lingerie has nothing to do with it. Also, stop calling people sissies — you’re an adult.
Recommend (0)
M. Saeed Nov 30, 2022 10:50pm
Mantoo had written a story about what he observed written on the walls of public toilets of India, during his observing and writing days. Can someone dare even to write something like that today in our region of the world?
Recommend (0)
S.A.M. Dec 01, 2022 01:10am
That was the reason we were against screening this movie called joyland. It looks like the way she perceives things is totally jeopardized. It’s such an incoherent statement by nimra. Such a confused statement. The statement reminds me of a person who could neither read nor write. Once he was looking hard at a book n he didn’t make out which way to look at it or to make any meaning out of. But he was clever enough to put it away n keep silent.
Recommend (0)
aa Dec 01, 2022 02:28am
our fools are easily influenced by western media
Recommend (0)
AH Dec 01, 2022 02:57am
@Alrehan This is the whole agenda being pushed. This is what they have done in the West and are now pushing in the islamic world. Once they remove the male from the household then it is easier to influence females and children.
Recommend (0)
AH Dec 01, 2022 02:58am
Pushing western model which is morally bankrupt
Recommend (0)
Faisal Ejaz Dec 01, 2022 03:14am
The biggest Problem of PAKISTAN....#JOYLAND
Recommend (0)
Kkk Dec 01, 2022 04:07am
She should stop womansplaining and mind her own sex
Recommend (0)
David Dec 01, 2022 05:25am
@Saira Khan we have filth under mainholes. Should we bring it on dining table?
Recommend (0)
M. Emad Dec 01, 2022 06:01am
'Joyland' (2022) becomes the 'National Film' of Pakistan !
Recommend (0)
Rocket science Dec 01, 2022 06:22am
What a sexist article. Grow up Bucha
Recommend (0)
Anjum Pervez Dec 01, 2022 07:02am
I don't think real reasoning or analysis is her forte. The comments she makes are just to seek attention, there's no rational or real thinking involved.
Recommend (0)
Me Dec 01, 2022 07:45am
She looks like a man
Recommend (0)
Jon Dec 01, 2022 08:10am
These bucha sisters are so melodramatic and fake
Recommend (0)
Jawwad Dec 01, 2022 09:28am
Actually it rather shows the poor choices these women make about men.
Recommend (0)
Subhan afzal Dec 01, 2022 09:56am
@Hamza lmao true.
Recommend (0)
Zoha Dec 01, 2022 11:38am
Nimra Bucha: "Joyland helped us see men more humanely rather than their usual portrayal as feelingless monsters" Men in the comments section here: "How dare Nimra generalize and insult us like this?! These feminists are going too far!" Some jokes write themselves.
Recommend (0)