Mehreen Jabbar (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. She is a daughter of the Pakistani media-person Javed Jabbar.https://tribune.com.pk/story/483415/with-coke-kahani-mehreen-jabbar-highlights-the-lives-of-pakistanis/, Interview with Mehreen Jabbar on The Express Tribune newspaper, 23 December 2012, Retrieved 19 March 2017 She is also the niece of Beo Zafar. Mehreen Jabbar is first cousin of famous Pakistani-British singer, actor and director Yasir Akhtar. Active since 1994, Jabbar established herself as one of the prolific directors of the television. Her work for 2008 TV series '' Doraha'' earned her

Lux Style Award The Lux Style Awards is an award ceremony held annually in Pakistan since 2002. The awards celebrate "style" in the Pakistani entertainment industry, and it is the oldest event dedicated to cinema, television, fashion, music and film industry ...

for Best TV Director.

Early life

Born in Karachi, Jabbar grew up around Pakistan's show business. Her father, Javed Jabbar has been a filmmaker, and a very successful ad man apart from being a former Pakistani senator and a cabinet minister. After receiving a BA degree from Saint Joseph's College in Karachi, Jabbar went to the US to study film and completed a two-year program at

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

in 1993, with a ''Film, Television and Video certificate''. She returned to Pakistan, and directed and produced drama series/serials under the banner of ''TasVeer Productions'', almost all of which were critically acclaimed by the Pakistani press.

Career

Jabbar is a Pakistani-American director who is a 25-year veteran of the industry, with a prolific career as Director/Producer of gritty, hard-hitting films and TV series for Pakistani and South Asian Television which have earned her both critical and commercial success. She has also made a number of narrative shorts that have been screened internationally in film festivals as well as on TV. Her award-winning short films and TV dramas include ''Marhoom Colonel Ki Betiyaan'', ''Beauty Parlor'', '' Doraha'', and '' Daam'', amongst others. In 2008 Mehreen directed her debut feature film ''

Ramchand Pakistani ''Ramchand Pakistani'' ( ur, ) is a 2008 Urdu-language Pakistani drama film directed by Mehreen Jabbar and produced by Javed Jabbar. The film features Nandita Das, Rashid Farooqi, Syed Fazel Hussain, Maria Wasti and Noman Ijaz in lead role ...

'' for which she was awarded the ‘Global Film Initiative Grant’. The film premiered in competition at the Tribeca Film Festival and continued a successful festival run. It was later released theatrically in Pakistan, India and the United Kingdom in 2008-09 to wide critical and audience acclaim. ‘Ramchand Pakistani’ was awarded the ‘Fipresci Prize’ by the ‘International Federation of Film Critics’, the ‘Audience Award’ at the ‘Fribourg Film Festival’, Switzerland and an ‘Honorable Mention’ by the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Award at the London Film Festival. In 2010, Mehreen was invited to screen her film at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Her second feature film ''

Dobara Phir Se ''Dobara Phir Se'' is a 2016 Pakistani romantic drama film directed by Mehreen Jabbar, written by Bilal Sami and a production of ARY Films. The film is produced by Salman Iqbal and co-produced by Mohammad Jerjees Seja. The film stars Ali Kazmi ...

'' which was shot in New York and Karachi had a successful theatrical release in Pakistan, the UK, USA and the UAE in December 2016. Jabbar has been a member of the National Board of Film Censors in Karachi, a founding member of the KaraFilm Festival in Karachi, Pakistan and a founder member of the NGO WAR (War Against Rape). In 2011, she was invited to the Maisha Film Lab in Uganda - a non-profit training lab founded by director

Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural spher ...

to be a directing mentor. She is the recipient of several awards for her work and has served as a jury member in many local and international film festivals.

Ramchand Pakistani

was Jabbar's first feature-length film, which was released in Pakistan, India and the UK to wide critical and audience acclaim. The film premiered in the competition section of the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

in New York in 2008. It won the

FIPRESCI PRIZE The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

from the International Federation of Film Critics and received Honourable Mention by the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Awards at the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...

, 2008 as well as the

Audience award An audience award is typically an award at a film festival (or some other type of cultural festival or similar competition) which is selected by the audience attending the festival, rather than by the festival jury or a group of critics. Example ...

at the

Fribourg International Film Festival The Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) is an annual film festival in Fribourg, Switzerland. It is focused on selected films from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Grand Prize is the main award of the Fribourg International Film Festival ...

. The film recently had a week-long screening at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York. Jabbar directed the web drama series ''

Ek Jhoothi Love Story ''Ek Jhoothi Love Story'' is a 2020 ZEE5 exclusive and Zindagi Original Pakistani drama web series. The web series stars Bilal Abbas Khan, Syeda Madiha Imam, Kinza Razzak, Kiran Haq, Furqan Qureshi and Mariam Saleem. It has been directed by M ...

'' which was released on

ZEE5 ZEE5 is an Indian subscription video on-demand and over-the-top streaming service, run by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It was launched in India on 14 February 2018 with content in 12 languages. The ZEE5 mobile app is available on Web, Andro ...

in October 2020.

Filmography

Film

Web series

Television

Awards and nominations

* ''Ramchand Pakistani'' wins FIPRESCI Award from the International Federation of Film Critics and receives Honourable mention by the 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Awards at the London Film Festival (2008) * Won – Indus Drama Awards (2004) Best Director for ''Harjai'' * Won – IndusVision Young Achievers Award (2002) * Won – Kara Film Festival (2001) Best Director & Best medium-length Film for ''Daughters of the Late Colonel'' * Won – Pakistan Media Award (2010) Best Drama – Satellite Malal * Nominated - Hum Awards (2012) Best Director for

Mata-e-Jaan Hai Tu ''Mata-e-Jaan Hai Tu'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani drama serial directed by Mehreen Jabbar, based on a novel of the same name written by Farhat Ishtiaq. It was originally aired on Hum TV from 2 March 2012 to 22 June 2012. The drama follows the ...

Lux Style Awards

Festival screenings

''Beauty Parlor'' screened at: * Hong Kong International Film Festival * Pusan Film Festival, South Korea * San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, USA * Trikone Festival, USA * New Orleans Film Festival, USA * Toronto Inside Out Film Festival, Canada * Regent Park Film Festival, Canada * Leeds Film Festival, UK * Bite the Mango Festival, UK * Travelling Film Festival of the British Film Institute. UK * Screenings at Pioneer Theatre, and the Queens Museum of Art, New York . ''Daughters of the Late Colonel'' screened at: * KaraFilm Festival, Pakistan ''Ramchand Pakistani'' Official Selection at: * Tribeca Film Festival * Seattle International Film Festival * Osian Film Festival * Rhode Island International Film Festival * Pusan International Film Festival * London International Film Festival * South Asian International Film Festival * Third I Film Festival, San Francisco * Cairo International Film Festival * Dubai International Film Festival * Kerala Film Festival * Fribourg Film Festival Lala Begum screened at: * Jagran Film Festival, Delhi, India * MISAAF Film Festival, Canada * Dallas South Asian Film Festival, USA * Washington DC South Asian Film Festival, USA (Winner, Best Story) Dobara Phir Se screened at: * Chicago South Asian Film Festival, USA * Tasveer Seattle South Asian Film Festival, USA

References

External links

Mehreen Jabbar's – Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jabbar, Mehreen 1971 births Living people Film directors from Karachi Pakistani film producers Pakistani television producers Pakistani women film directors UCLA Film School alumni Pakistani people of Hyderabadi descent Women television producers Muhajir people People from Karachi St Joseph's Convent School, Karachi alumni