Joyland

Set in bustling Lahore, the Ranas are, on the surface, a happy patriarchal family.  The family is made up of Abbas, the elderly father, the elder brother, Saleem and his wife Nucchi, and younger brother Haider and his wife Mumtaz. Much to the embarrassment of his father, Haider, is the one in his relationship who stays at home, whilst Mumtaz goes to work at the salon every day, which she loves. When Haider gets a job in an erotic theatre as a backup dancer for trans starlet, Biba, everything changes, and the cracks that have always been there, start to tear the family apart. Mumtaz, dutifully, has to become the stay-at-home wife she never wanted to be, whilst her husband enjoys his new found freedom. Haider starts to secretly date Biba, and is away from home more and more. Meanwhile, Mumtaz feels more and more alienated.
Both Haider and Mumtaz suffer from the same social frustrations of having to adhere to the traditional norms of the society they live in, whilst both yearning for social and sexual freedom. This tension will ultimately result in Mumtaz taking her own life- the only thing she feels she has control over- and taking with it, the life of the so-wanted Ranas unborn baby boy. (Studio Soho Distribution)