The film “Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer,” which was censored and banned in Pakistan, is receiving praise abroad.
At the 11th Annual Washington DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF), Yasir Hussain, who portrays Javed Iqbal in the biopic, once again won over the judges and public, winning Best Actor Male Jury Mention for his portrayal of Pakistan’s most notorious serial killer.
This Monday, Hussain posted a screenshot of a festival post that listed all of the winners on his Instagram account.
“Thank you for this best actor award. Javed Iqbal (the character) and Javed Iqbal (the film) are both very special for me as an actor,” he captioned the post.
The Badshah Begum actor acknowledged that this is his second international prize for playing in the movie and continued by thanking his team.
Javed Iqbal:
The UK Film Festival hosted the international premiere of The Untold Story of a Serial Killer in May. Hussain won his first award in the Best Actor category, and Aleeha, whose real name is Ali Sajjad Shah, won the Best Director prize.
The original release date for Javed Iqbal in Pakistani theatres was set for October of the previous year. But because the censor boards had not yet approved it, its premiere was postponed to December 24. Due to an increase in Covid-19 instances, the movie’s premiere was once again delayed and moved to January 28.
The movie’s Karachi premiere, which took place on January 25 at Neuplex Cinema in response to the altered release date, was attended by the cast, crew, and other representatives of the entertainment industry. The filmmaker announced on Twitter the very following day that the Punjab government had stopped production on the movie and as a result, it will no longer be released as scheduled. Since then, there hasn’t been any announcement regarding a potential release.
