Degree

BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts

Date of Award

Spring 2024

Date of Submission

2024-08-29

Advisor

Shahzeb Ahmed Hashim, Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences

Committee

Aliya Iqbal Naqvi, Faculty Member, Department of Social Sciences

Project Type

SSLA Culminating Experience

Access Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

Pakistani Cinema, Censorship, Media Spectacle, Colonialism, Ideology

Abstract

The identity and form of the ‘Pakistani’ film has been predominantly defined by censorship. This thesis studies the precarious nature of censorship in Pakistani cinema and its relationship with the country’s turbulent sociopolitical context and colonial past. Beginning with defining the ‘Pakistani’ in Pakistani cinema, this research lays bare its transnational history and argues the impossibility of limiting the Pakistani film’s essence to a rigid definition. Using the theoretical frameworks of postcolonial theory and Kellner’s media spectacle theory and Althusser’s concepts of ideology and interpellation, this thesis does a sociopolitical visual analysis of Riaz Shahid’s Yeh Aman (1971), Yunus Malik’s Maula Jatt (1979), and Sarmad Khoosat’s Zindagi Tamasha (2019) to study the motives behind censoring or banning Pakistani films. This research contextualises these instances of censorship by placing each film into its respective sociopolitical environment. Analysing each spectacle with respect to the dominant state ideologies, cultural norms, and filmic anxieties, this research studies the role of the authorities in imposing censorship to appease ulterior motives – political, religious, or otherwise – and the role of the audience in enabling or inviting censorship. Furthermore, it highlights the ingrained colonial perspectives which legitimise the unpredictable censorship of narratives – conventional or unconventional – at the whims of unnamed, easily offended characters. Tracing censorship to its colonial origins and connecting it to the governance system of the postcolonial state of Pakistan, this thesis concludes with identifying the multifaceted nature of censorship, acknowledging its contribution in promoting a culture of self-censorship and the gradual depoliticization of the Pakistani film.

Pages

85

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