Nabeel Qureshi (director)

Nabeel Qureshi (born 1985) is a Pakistani film director, screenwriter, and occasional singer best known for making films that tackle socio-economic issues. He has won two Lux Style Awards for best film director award for his film 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 started his career at AAJ TV, where he directed promos. After one year, he left AAJ TV to study theatre at the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) in Karachi. He dropped out of the program after falling out with members of the faculty.

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

Qureshi is also the director of the comedy news show Banana News Network, which has been aired on Geo TV since 2011. It broadcasts every Wednesday at 11:05 PM (PST).

In 2012, Qureshi directed the music video of Mohsin Abbas Haider's debut song Beparwah Dhola.

In 2014, Qureshi made his directorial debut with Na Maloom Afraad, which he co-wrote with his college friend Fizza Ali Meerza, who produced the film along with Mehdi Ali through Filmwala Pictures. The comedy thriller stars Fahad Mustafa, Mohsin Abbas Haider, and Urwa Hocane, released domestically on 6 October 2014 by Hum Films. The film became a box office hit in Pakistan and grossed ₨12.2 crore until March 2015, with a budget of ₨9 crore. At the 14th Lux Style Awards, Na Maloom Afraad won the Best Film award, Nabeel went on to win the Lux Style Award for Best Director and Best Original Soundtrack for the lyrics of "Billi" for his film Na Maloom Afraad, which he shared with Meerza.

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. The first spell of the film was shot in Karachi in January 2016. The film was released on the occasion of Eid al-Adha on 9 September 2016, to good response from the audience, and went on to collect ₨30 crore at the box office.

After the success of Na Maloom Afraad, the director-producer duo started thinking about a possible sequel of the film. Producer Fizza Ali Meerza said nine months after the success of NMA, in an interview with The Express Tribune, that, "We'd hopefully like to start working on a NMA sequel, but don't have a timeline in mind at present. We don't know if it's going to be a proper sequel or a spiritual successor through which we'll tell a different story this time". Filming began in March 2017 in Karachi, where few scenes were shot. while nearly the whole film was shot in Cape Town, South Africa. The film released on the festival of Eid al-Adha, 2 September 2017 in Pakistan and worldwide. The film grossed ₨20 crore at the box office.

Later on, 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.

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

Criticism
While promoting Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad, Qureshi accepted that certain parts were duplicated and that he recreates situations that he enjoys as a spectator in his own films. He went on to say, "Meri Film, Meri Marzi," (My film, My wish) and clarified that being inspired by legendary sequences and replicating them is not a problem.

TV

 * Banana News Network (Comedy TV show)

As ads/music video director

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

Singles

 * Khamosh Dono (2011)