Ali Junejo is a Pakistani actor and playwright. In 2022, he worked in the critically acclaimed Pakistani film Joyland in which he played the lead role of Haider.While growing up in Karachi, he wanted to become a writer.In the early 2000s, he started his career as a theatre artist. Initially, he worked in an Urdu-language murder and mystery theatre play after which he decided to pursue his career in acting. In an interview, he talked about this and said, I’ve been doing theater for a very long time. I auditioned for a play; it was like a murder mystery thing and then I got hooked to it. I spent some time out of the country and then came back in 2012, and then I just continued doing theater. I was writing, directing and performing and I’ve worked with NAPA a lot.” [1]Something Haute.In 2022, he made his film debut with the Lollywood film Joyland, starring Alina Khan and Rasti Farooq. In an interview, Ali talked about the role he played in the Pakistani film Joyland, what he enjoyed in playing the role of Haider, and how he bagged the role. He said, It was fairly difficult. I auditioned for it and I was the last audition so maybe that’s why I got it because they ran out of people (laughs). I had read the script so my curiosity was driving me mad; when I spoke to Saim, I came to this realization that he will be open to discussion and debate about the intentions of the character. The challenge was that there is nothing black and white in Haider’s life so, I realized that this will require a lot of work and I loved it.” Ali Junejo as Haider in a still from the Pakistani film Joyland (2022).Saim Sadiq’s critically acclaimed Pakistani film Joyland (2022) was initially banned to be released in Pakistani theatres citing that the Lollywood film had ‘highly objectionable material,’ the film was not allowed to be screened in any theatre in the country. On 11 November 2022, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a notification that read, Written complaints were received that the film contains highly objectionable material which does not conform with the social values and moral standards of our society and is repugnant to the norms of ‘decency and morality as laid down in Section 9 of the Motion Picture Ordinance, 1979.” However, on 16 November 2022, after it was reviewed for the second time by the committee formed by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the ban was lifted. In a tweet, Salman Sufi, head of Prime Minister Sharif’s Strategic Reforms unit, announced that the film will be released in Pakistan theatres with some minor cuts. [2]The Times of India.