Nabeel Qureshi (director)

For the author, see Nabeel Qureshi (author). For other uses, see Nabeel.

Nabeel Qureshi (Urdu: نبیل قریشی; born 16 January 1985) is a Pakistani film director, screenwriter, and singer. He has won two Lux Style Awards for Best Film Director for his films Na Maloom Afraad (2014) and Actor in Law (2016) .

Early life

Qureshi was born in 1985 in Sukkur, Sindh, and moved to Karachi in 2004. He began his professional career as a promotional content director at Aaj News. After a year, he left the organization to study theatre at the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) in Karachi. However, he eventually withdrew from the program due to a disagreement with the faculty.

Career

Qureshi started his career in the mid-2000s by directing ads, cooking shows, television shows, and television films.[4]

In 2012, Qureshi directed the music video for Mohsin Abbas Haider's debut song Beparwah Dhola.[5]

In 2014, Qureshi made his directorial debut with Na Maloom Afraad, which he co-wrote with his college friend Fizza Ali Meerza. Meerza produced the film along with Mehdi Ali through Filmwala Pictures.[6][7] The comedy thriller starred Fahad Mustafa, Mohsin Abbas Haider, and Urwa Hocane, and was released domestically by Hum Films on October 6, 2014.[6] The film gained significant attention in Pakistan and grossed ₨12.2 crore by March 2015, on a budget of ₨ 9 crore.[8][9] At the 14th Lux Style Awards, Na Maloom Afraad won the award for Best Film, and Nabeel Qureshi won the Lux Style Award for Best Director and Best Original Soundtrack for the song Billi in Na Maloom Afraad, which he shared with Meerza.[10]

In January 2015, Qureshi revealed that he and his writing partner Meerza were working on another project, later named Actor in Law, which would be a social satire.[11] The first spell of the film was shot in Karachi in January 2016.[11][12] The film was released on the occasion of Eid al-Adha on September 9, 2016, receiving a positive response from the audience, and went on to collect Rs. 30 crore at the box office.

After the success of Na Maloom Afraad, the director-producer duo considered a possible sequel to the film. Producer Fizza Ali Meerza, nine months after the success of NMA, gave an interview[13] with The Express Tribune. Filming began in March 2017 in Karachi, where only a few scenes were shot.[14] Most of the film was shot in Cape Town, South Africa.[15] The film was released on the festival of Eid al-Adha, September 2, 2017, in Pakistan and worldwide. The film grossed Rs. 20 crore at the box office.[16]

Later, Qureshi directed and co-wrote the social-comedy drama film Load Wedding, starring Fahad Mustafa and Mehwish Hayat, which was released in 2018 on Eid al-Adha.[17][18]

In 2018, it was announced that Qureshi was set to screen three of his films, Na Maloom Afraad 1 & 2 and Actor in Law, at the South Asia Forum for Art & Creative Heritage (SAFACH) in New Delhi.[19]

Currently, he is working as the director of the comedy news show Banana News Network, which has been airing on Geo TV since 2011. It broadcasts every Wednesday at 11:05 PM (PST).[4][20]

Criticism

While promoting Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad, Qureshi acknowledged that certain parts of the film were duplicated and explained that he often recreates scenes he enjoys as a viewer in his own films. He confidently stated, "Meri Film, Meri Marzi" (My film, my wish) and emphasized that drawing inspiration from iconic sequences and replicating them is not an issue.[21]

Nabeel Qureshi
Born	(1985-01-16) 16 January 1985 Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Occupations	Film director screenwriter
Years active	2004-present

Filmography

Films

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Notes
2014	Na Maloom Afraad	Yes	Yes
2016	Actor in Law	Yes	Yes	Special Appearance in title song "Actor in Law"
2017	Na Maloom Afraad 2	Yes	Yes
2018	Load Wedding	Yes	Yes
2021	Khel Khel Mein	Yes	Yes
2022	Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad	Yes	Yes	Special appearance in song "Loota Rey"
2023	Teri Meri Kahaniyaan	Yes	No	directed the part "Jin Mahal"
2024	Na Baligh Afraad	Yes	Yes
TBA	Fatman †	Yes	Yes	Filming

Frequent actor collaborations

Actors	Na Maloom Afraad (2014)	Actor in Law (2016)	Na Maloom Afraad 2 (2017)	Load Wedding (2018)	Khel Khel Mein (2021)	Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad (2022)	Teri Meri Kahaniyaan (2023)	Total
Fahad Mustafa								5
Mehwish Hayat								3
Jawed Sheikh								4
Mohsin Abbas Haider								3
Hania Amir								2
Urwa Hocane								2
Samina Ahmed								2
Nayyar Ejaz								4
Saleem Mairaj								4
Irfan Motiwala								4
Ashhad Siddiqui								3
Noor ul Hassan								2
Marina Khan								2

Television

TV

• Banana News Network (Comedy TV show)

As ads/music video director

• Beparwah Dhola (2012), song by Mohsin Abbas Haider

Discography

Singles

• Khamosh Dono (2011)

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated Work	Result	Ref.
2015	14th Lux Style Awards	Best Film Director	Na Maloom Afraad	Won
		Best Original Soundtrack
2017	16th Lux Style Awards	Best Film Director	Actor in Law
2018	17th Lux Style Awards		Na Maloom Afraad 2	Nominated
2019	18th Lux Style Awards		Load Wedding
2022	21st Lux Style Awards	Best Film	Khel Khel Mein	Won

See also

• List of film directors
• List of Pakistani television directors

External links

• Nabeel Qureshi at IMDb