Filmmaker Statement

They say if you want to make a film, you had better love the topic. It wasn’t until making Karachi at Night that I fully understood what that saying meant. I’ve always had the dream and drive to tell stories, but none of them were able to make it past development until now. Growing up, music had the biggest influence on me. We lived in a tiny apartment outside the city of Baltimore and I didn’t know much outside my horizon. Like so many brown kids growing up post 9/11, my sense of self completely shifted in the early 2000s. In school I was constantly told I wasn’t American by other kids so when I’d come home I’d push away the Pakistani culture my parents so lovingly tried to enlist in me in the hopes of becoming more of what people wanted me to be. I didn’t know where I belonged or which part of me was worth liking. One afternoon, after a particularly rough day at school, my older cousin drove to Baltimore to take me for a car ride. When I got in his car, puffy from crying moments earlier, he put on a CD. It was ATB. And then came Armin Van Buren. Then Alice DeeJay. And Vengaboys. The tracks continued. These songs, their upbeat melodies and catchy lyrics would change my life forever. Later in life I would describe this memory as the moment I fell deeply in love with music. As the internet became more accessible and blogs emerged, finding music became a hobby. I discovered I loved practically every genre under the sun – from rap to rock and country to metal. This love would eventually lead me to find myself and the identity that I so strongly hold today. It would help me reconnect to my Pakistani roots and be the vessel for me finding community all over the world. In June of 2022 I was on instagram when I saw the first ever Boiler Room set from Karachi, Pakistan. For those unfamiliar, Boiler Room is the pioneer of streamed parties, typically from undisclosed locations for underground music. They have since become a reputable stamp for up and coming cities emerging in electronic music; so it comes as no surprise that my initial reaction to seeing a party stream from my birthplace sent a shockwave of pride, awe, and excitement. However, it was also met with a big sigh. Karachi, just like music, holds a special place in my heart. Since 2014 I have gone back every year to visit family, build community and replant my roots. It’s a part of me that is visible to anyone who knows me. Being a diaspora kid, you grow up being quite sensitive to the “discovery fetish” the west has on developing countries and their cultural influence. As I replayed videos of DJ sets at this party, all I kept thinking was, “This will one day become a story shown by a western media outlet and its take on my people”. I sat on this thought for months, until finally in September 2022 I decided I would take charge and tell this story myself with the help of my savings account. Knowing some of the people who threw the event, I called a friend and set out to produce this film with a working title of Karachi at Night. In January 2023 I shot the film with a local crew and it felt like a once in a lifetime full circle moment. As we picked up shots of people dancing at parties, I reflected back to the little girl sitting in her older cousin's car blasting trance music, now understanding who she’s always been. In February, Christina Stiles, would come on to edit my film. Christina and I were both fully employed at this time so that meant we’d spent nights, weekends, and holidays on this project. A storyteller in her own right, we would become the duo that each other needed to make this film what it is. We had subsequent pick up shoots in March, May and July where I either flew back or remotely directed on zoom. Trial and error would be the endless cycle as we tried to fit as much as we could in a 15 minute piece. Did we have a narrative? Was this digestible for a larger audience? Was it authentic to our characters? The story I set out to share in Sept 2022 was not the story I was in edit with in July of 2023. At the start of this endeavor, I thought I’d follow a few people around and share what parties were like in the city but in the end it was the story that informed me and not the other way around. And then, after trying everything we could, we found our story: a beautiful introduction to dance music culture in the city of Karachi. And thus, in October of 2023 we would get our final cut. This film has changed me. It has made me a better filmmaker and shown me what it takes to actually follow through with a project. Initially, it felt that wanting to tell a story should be enough, but now I know that is only part of it. To make a good film, you have to live and breathe the topic. This story found me at the cross section of my two deepest loves: music and Karachi. And so as the saying goes, in order to make a film, you had better love the topic.