It is a sultry Sunday afternoon when I meet director Mehreen Jabbar. Karachi’s traffic is less chaotic and almost serene. Mehreen is dressed in a black button-down shirt and jeans and, as the conversation progresses, I conclude the weather matches her: she, too, is sultry and serene.
We begin the conversation by talking about the TV serial Dr Bahu, which she has directed and is currently on air, receiving rave reviews. I ask her how the project came about. She tells me that, a couple of years ago, the idea was first brought to her by actor and producer Humayun Saeed, who heads the production house Six Sigma and who believed it had the makings of a strong commercial drama. At the time, she had little interest in returning to long-form television.
“I wasn’t doing long-form serials those days,” she says. She had been dabbling in miniseries such as Nadaan and Jurm. But then director Nadeem Baig, who’s also part of Six Sigma, persuaded her to read the script and told her that if he weren’t so busy, he would have directed it himself. “Nadeem kept telling me, ‘Just do this. Trust me.’”
Although Dr Bahu initially appeared to revolve around familiar themes of family politics and in-laws’ relationships, she discovered a far more layered narrative beneath the surface.
