Daily Times

Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer, a film which was banned in Pakistan two days before its scheduled release in theatres, has won two accolades at the UK Asian Film Festival 2022.

Yasir Hussain, who has played the lead and titular role in the film, has won the Best Actor award while its director Abu Aleeha has bagged one for the Best Director.

Yasir took to Instagram and constantly updated his fans about his trip to the UK. He shared pictures from a panel discussion with Beo Raana Zafar about his film that was screened as the opening movie of the festival. Later, he shared the big news of bringing home two trophies for his film. He thanked his co-stars Ayesha Omar, Rabya Kulsoom and Paras Masroor, as well as the director and producer of Javed Iqbal.

Have a look at his winning speech for bagging the best actor trophy and also what he said when he received the award on behalf of his director, Abu Aleeha.

Starring Yasir Hussain as Javed Iqbal 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 took to Instagram and constantly updated his fans about his trip to the UK

Javed Iqbal was originally supposed to be released in October 2021 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 28,2022. However, following a preview screening in Karachi it was abruptly pulled by the government’s Central Bureau of Film Censors, despite initial approval.

This is what Ayesha had to say at the red carpet:

“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 prior to the festival. “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.”