The Context
2020. The world stopped. For most people, the pandemic meant doomscrolling and Zoom calls. For me, it was an opportunity to make something: specifically, to capture the particular absurdity and longing of quarantine life in Pakistan.
The Concept
Quarantinenama was inspired by Anwar Maqsood's Anwarnama, a beloved Pakistani literary tradition of observational writing with warmth, wit, and cultural specificity. The series imagined fictional characters living through quarantine: the aunty making too many rotis, the uncle who discovered YouTube, the young couple learning they don't actually like each other that much.
Each episode was a standalone short piece, written as a monologue or narrated story, with a distinct character voice and a specific emotional note. Funny, but never cruel. Nostalgic, but grounded in the present.
What I Did
- Scripted each episode with attention to voice, rhythm, and Urdu-English code-switching that felt natural to Pakistani audiences
- Composed and shot the visual elements; designed the aesthetic to feel intimate, like something made in a living room (because it was)
- Voiced each episode, finding the right tone between wry observation and genuine feeling
- Edited, titled, and distributed across YouTube and social platforms
Why It Matters
Quarantinenama wasn't a commercial project. It was proof of what happens when you take a creative instinct seriously and follow it without waiting for permission or resources. The whole series was made alone, in a locked-down apartment, with a camera and a script. That's still one of the things I'm most proud of.
Watch
