Renowned Pakistani musician Bilal Maqsood has introduced an innovative online puppet show called ‘Pakkay Dost,’ specifically designed for Pakistani children. This show, he emphasizes, employs humor as its educational tool to both entertain and enlighten young minds.
Bilal Maqsood, well-known as the co-founder of Pakistan’s iconic pop-rock band ‘Strings,’ embarked on this creative journey following the band’s remarkable 33-year career, which concluded in March 2021. The idea of creating engaging content for children had been brewing in his mind for some time.
In the past year, Bilal Maqsood began experimenting with creating poems for children, but his latest project is a more significant and dedicated effort, culminating in the launch of ‘Pakkay Dost’ on his YouTube channel.
Speaking passionately at the show’s launch event in Karachi, Maqsood shared the motivation behind this venture. He explained how the absence of Urdu language songs for children bothered him, a sentiment that became stronger with the birth of his son, Mikail, who is now 26 years old.
“This was my life-long passion project. When Mikael, my first son, was born, I used to wonder why don’t we have songs for children in Urdu,” Bilal Maqsood expressed during the launch.
He continued, “We grew up listening to Sohail Rana’s music. Even today, when we hear his songs, it takes us back to our childhood. These songs keep us connected to our values and our culture. But when my kids were growing up, there wasn’t any such thing. They instead listened to Sesame Street, Mary Poppins.”
In the mid-70s, Pakistan’s state TV featured the iconic children’s show ‘Kaliyan,’ starring the beloved puppet character, Uncle Sargam, created and voiced by the renowned puppeteer and television director Farooq Qaiser. To this day, Uncle Sargam and Maasi Museebtay are considered Pakistan’s legendary puppet duo, but the country has seen little production of similar shows since.
‘Pakkay Dost’ comprises four episodes, each with an average duration of 15 minutes, exploring diverse themes that range from educational content like alphabets and names of days to important life lessons. A dedicated team of over 100 individuals worked on the project, which showcases six key characters.
“The show combines humor and valuable messages, making learning an enjoyable experience for children,” Maqsood explained. He also revealed that they are already hard at work on the second season of the show.
To create ‘Pakkay Dost,’ Maqsood diligently studied Disney and Sesame Street songs, aiming to grasp the “science behind it.” His goal was to craft local content with a “foreign sound,” and in just three months, he developed an array of characters in collaboration with Canada-based puppet maker Allison Ewert that perfectly complemented his songs and vision.
For the show’s art direction, Maqsood enlisted the talents of the husband-and-wife duo Umer Adil and Beenish Umer, who have a three-year-old daughter. Their experiences as parents were invaluable in shaping the show’s content.
Beenish Umer, present at the launch event, praised ‘Pakkay Dost’ for addressing the needs of both children and adults. “As a mother, it is very tough for me to teach the Urdu alphabet to kids. But teaching Urdu alphabets through this in the form of a rhyme, mothers will thank Bilal for this,” she said, emphasizing the show’s potential to bridge an important gap in children’s content.
“When great minds work hard, show perseverance and dedication, something spectacular is created. Such is the story of ‘Pakay Dost,’ a first-of-its-kind Urdu Edutainment content for children, where they can learn values that define us, shed light on Urdu as a language, covering years of gap in the area of educational entertainment for us and our children. I recommend every parent, in fact, every Pakistani, to watch ‘Pakay Dost’ on YouTube, feel proud of it, and thank the team for thinking of this much-needed content.”
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