Sarmad Khoosat

He is the son of veteran TV and film actor, producer and comedian Irfan Khoosat and Zahida Butt, a PTV newscaster.^[2] His sister Kanwal Khoosat is also a director, screenwriter and actress.^[3]

Academically, he graduated from Government College University (Lahore) and earned a master's degree in psychology and a gold medal. He also was a member of the Debating Kutta Society of GCU.^[2]

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He rose to prominence in 2001 when he wrote, directed, and acted in the sitcom Shashlik, which ran for over three years on PTV. It was followed by another sitcom on Indus TV, Two Aur Two Chaar, with almost the same cast members, including Nadia Afgan, Khossat's father Irfan Khoosat, and Khoosat himself.^[4]

Sarmad then directed a series of tele-films for Geo TV, Tamasha Ghar, in 2003, the screenwriter Saji Gul basing the work on themes dealing with subconscious desires and fears (inspired by the Freudian school of psychology).

He later directed Piya Naam Ka Diya in 2007, in which he acted opposite filmstar Saima Noor and Erum Akhtar. Sarmad then served as executive director for a soap serial named Mujhe Apna Naam-o-Nishan Milay, directed by his sister Kanwal Khoosat. Khoosat then directed Kalmoohi, an adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore's Chokher Bali, which began airing on PTV in early 2010, and also got good reviews.^[5] In 2011, he gained significant prominence and acclaim with the TV drama Pani Jaisa Piyar^[6] that aired on Hum TV. It won him the best director award for it on LUX Style Awards. He directed Jal Pari, which was aired on Geo TV. He went on to direct Humsafar for Hum TV, which became an overnight success. His serial Shehr-e-Zaat was especially popular with women.^[7][8][9]

He conducted a workshop at the Lahore University of Management Sciences's annual amateur film festival in June 2011.^[10]

Khoosat directed episodes for Faseele Jaan Se Aagay and Ashk. He also directed the remake of the original Pakistani film, Aina, as a telefilm. In 2015, he completed shooting Mein Manto.^[11]

In October 2018, he delivered a 24-hour-long live act, No Time To Sleep, enacting the last 24 hours of a death row prisoner's life, a performance which earned him critical appreciation.^[12] As of October 2018, he wrote the script for Saqib Malik's upcoming production Ajnabee Sheher Main,^[13] while he has two upcoming feature films as director, writing one as well.^[14]

His 2019 feature film Zindagi Tamasha won the Kim Jin Seok award at the 24th Busan International Film Festival as well as the Best Film and Best Actor at the Asian World Film Festival 2021. Despite its critical acclaim, the film release was halted in 2020 by the notorious party, TLP, which called for it to be censored. Despite cleared for release by the authorities, Khoosat continued to receive death threats calling for the film to be banned. It was selected as Pakistan's entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards, but was not nominated. The film was then eventually released on YouTube on 4 August 2023.^[15]

Khoosat is influenced by Satyajit Ray and Ingmar Bergman in direction.^[16]

Television serials

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Network	Actor	Director	Writer
2001	Shashlik	PTV	Yes	Yes	Yes
2002	Do Aur Do Chaar	PTV Home	Yes	Yes	Yes
2007	Piya Naam Ka Diya	Geo TV	Yes	Yes	No
2008	Mujhe Apna Naam-o-Nishan Milay		No	Yes	No
	Qaatil	Aaj TV	No	Yes	No
2010	Kalmoohi	PTV Home	No	Yes	No
2011	Shashlik Xtra Hot	Geo TV	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Pani Jaisa Pyar	Hum TV	No	Yes	No
	Humsafar		Yes	Yes	No
2012	Ashk	Geo TV	No	Yes	No
	Shehr-e-Zaat	Hum TV	No	Yes	No
	Mera Yaqeen	Ary Digital	No	Yes	No
	Daagh		No	Yes	No
2013	Dil Muhallay Ki Haveli	Geo Entertainment	Yes	No	No
2016	Mor Mahal	Geo TV	No	Yes	No
2017	Teri Raza	Ary Digital	Yes	No	No
	Baaghi	Urdu 1	Yes	No	No
	Mujhay Jeenay Do		Yes	No	No
	Manto	Geo TV	Yes	Yes	No
2018	Noor ul Ain	Ary Digital	No	Yes	No
	Lamhay	A-Plus TV	Yes	No	No
	Aakhri Station	Ary Digital	Yes	Yes	No
2021	Pardes		Yes	No	No
2023	Gunah	Express Entertainment	Yes	No	No
	Gumn	Green Entertainment	Yes	Yes	No

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Webseries

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
2020	Ayesha	Fahad Ahmed	YouTube	[17]
2020	Churails	Husband	Released on Zee5	[18]
2022	Baarwan Khiladi	Coach Ikhtiyar Ali	Released on Express TV	[citation needed]

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Telefilms

More information Year, Film ...

Year	Film	Director	Actor	Writer	Notes
2013	Aina	Yes	No	Yes	Remake of Aina, a 1977 classic
2015	Dhokay Baaz	No	Yes	No
2016	Ek Thi Marium	Yes	No	No	Based on the life of female fighter pilot Marium Mukhtiar
2024	Roshan Raahein	Yes	Yes	No	[19]
2025	Badru Chacha Ka Makan	Yes	No	No	Eid-al-Fitr special

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Films

More information Year, Film ...

Year	Film	Director	Producer	Actor	Writer	Notes
2015	Manto	Yes	No	Yes	No	Played the titular role of Manto
2018	Motorcycle Girl	No	No	Yes	No
2019	Zindagi Tamasha	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
2022	Kamli	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	Joyland	No	Yes	No	No
2026	Lali	Yes	No	No	Yes

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• Pride of Performance Award in 2017 by the President of Pakistan^[20]

• List of Lollywood actors