armad Khoosat’s name was removed from the list of the citizens receiving the presidential awards on March 23.

In the list of award winners made public on August 14, as is customary, he had been nominated for a Sitara-i-Imtiaz. However, his name was absent from the list issued for formal invitations for handing over the awards.

Obviously, it was a huge disappointment for Sarmad Khoosat himself as his name had been announced and then withdrawn. It might have been better if his name had not been announced in the first place. The list announced on Independence Day is considered final unless the recipient refuses to accept the award. The authorities will probably say now that it was a simple omission.

The omission was made more anomalous by the fact that in the field of culture successive governments have been promising to revive the film industry. In all the culture policies, film has been highlighted as the most important policy area to address. At times, it appears that the governments have tried to support locally-made films. Sadly, however, the very few people who struggle to make films are neither valued nor helped as such policies promise.

There was a time when about a hundred films were released every year in Pakistan. Though the number was good, the quality of the films was scoffed at by the middle classes and those above them for a variety of reasons including alleged crudeness and for creating far-from-reality fantasies. It then seemed that depiction of reality was considered to be the main focus of the arts. Very few people commented on the crassness of the films - there was little sophistication in handling issues like sexual and physical violence. However, even that era is now remembered with envy and the music, dances and songs are recalled as examples of high quality success.

Nowadays, even if as few as five films are released in a year, it is considered a grand breakthrough and a stepping stone for more releases the following year. Unfortunately, the number does not exceed a single digit. No matter what the public announcements promise, the quantity remains static.

Nowadays, even if five films are released in a year, it is considered a grand breakthrough and a steppingstone for more releases the following year. Unfortunately, the number is no longer exceeding a single digit. No matter what they say in public announcements, the quantity is almost static.

One reason for the films being made in such small numbers is that their production is going through a process of stunting. The censorship is so overbearing that the films are killed even before the embryo is fully formed. Sometimes it is so mutilated that it loses the dignity of full formation. Some of the topics or themes that have triggered this treatment were least suspected to be controversial. In this narrowing of space, no film can survive the sword of public viewing.

All art, including cinema, is not about presenting a sanitized version of reality: it is about presenting reality. It is not supposed to gloss over what is happening round the filmmaker but to augment it by pushing it through the process of aesthetic effectiveness. In the absence of any support or promotion, the filmmakers have struggled to be counted in an era that is experiencing fast changes in technology. Parallel to that is the ground reality of what is happening on the ground. To gloss over that would be be akin to turning one’s face away, not registering reality or downright denying it.

In an industry that is struggling to survive, the filmmakers should be lauded for their efforts. It is a shame that all the creative sweat and toil should go unrecognised or worse seen as worthy of punishment. Sarmad Khoosat, like many other film warriors, has valiantly braved the odds to tell the story of the people living here.

They should not be forced to be dishonest and fabricate a ‘truth.’ The gloss-over should not be the alley creative people are forced into. Sarmad Khoosat has been brave in telling the aesthetic truth. If the Pakistani cinema is to register its presence and embark on a path to revival, people like him are important. Societies that have the strength to look at themselves objectively have the strength to grow out of their problems. Papering over reality and declaring that all is just self-deception.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore