Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: July 05, 2021 | 
Coke Studio Production
It is difficult assigning a neatly defined slot to the multi-talented Zeeshan Parwez. He started his career as a musician back in 2004 with the band ‘Sajid and Zeeshan’. When most of the artists on the music scene were busy churning out a combination of sellable pop sound coupled with Lollywood styled lyrics, Sajid and Zeeshan’s sound was original and remarkably different. The fact that they were making almost all their music in English while being based in off-grid Peshawar, was even more fascinating. Their two full length albums, ‘One Light Year at Snail Speed’ and ‘The Harvest’, got them noticed and they received lot of critical acclaim but not the mainstream commercial success that their peers aspired for. The duo was so unique that despite their niche appeal, they were featured on the very first season of Coke Studio.
Sajid and Zeeshan
Since then, the relentless Zeeshan branched out as a filmmaker, editor, music producer, composer, motion graphics artist, animator and a mentor for new talent, particularly inspiring youth of his hometown, Peshawar. He also plays live keyboards and synths for Ali Azmat, Atif Aslam and many other artists. His did stints as the video producer for Coke Studio Seasons 2, 3, 4 and 12, and as the director for Ufone’s “Uth Records”, and Umair Jaswal’s recent web series ‘Raahi’ (Traveler), while still based out of Peshawar proving that talent is sought no matter where it is.
After directing some really groovy, never-before-seen music videos for mainstream artists such as Atif Aslam, Ali Azmat, and Mekaal Hasan Band, Zeeshan is the first choice to bring the wow factor to any artists’ next big music release. He introduced a simplicity and edginess to music videos when the trend was cliché, bordering on extravagant. His music videos were mostly animations, when the country had yet not seen many locally developed animation-based videos.
Zeeshan with Atif Aslam
Talking about his love of animation, Zeeshan recollects, “I have just been obsessed with animation since I was a kid. My first proper animation project was a video for my own band ‘Sajid and Zeeshan’, and I jumped into it not really knowing what it entailed. I knew that I had to create 12 drawings per second, but I did not fully understand the mechanics back then. Back in 2000s, there was such a wonderful competition happening between video makers and musician to always try and present something new. Every artist wanted their video to be the most different thing. I was based in Peshawar and didn’t have access to film cameras or the big budgets, so I decided to try animation.”
Being at Vancouver Film School on a full scholarship has brought a more structured approach to his art. He returned to Pakistan in 2018 and decided to pick up the threads from where he had left off. “When I came back from the lush green Vancouver and landed in my old dusty town of Peshawar, I felt more strongly than ever about the things that we need to do for our own people. I decided to work on animation again after 8-9 years. The first thing I noticed was the terrible traffic, and I did an animation clip ‘Sabr Kawaee’ (Have some patience!) in Pushto that went viral. It started small but grew, and I am now looking to initiate some more very interesting animation projects in the near future.”
Poster of an animation video by Rokhan Studio
Zeeshan, who now runs his own Peshawar-based animation and video production company by the name of Rokhan says, “Rokhan is a creative boutique production company that is passionate about creating content and constructing meaningful stories through multiple mediums.” He has since gone on to make some poignantly impactful animated messages focusing on creating awareness about a range of issues, including the preventive measures against COVID, the importance of abiding by traffic rules, and perils of aerial firing common in certain cultures as an expression of jubilation.
Speaking to the youth of Peshawar at National Incubation Centre
“It was important for me to give back to my community in whichever way I could. I see a lot of talent around me in the youth that needs to be channeled into something. Our youth has a lot of potential for creativity that should be tapped and given an opportunity to develop. There is always something that restores your faith in the future. If you look at some of the artwork in terms of graphic design and animations that has been coming out in recent times from artists and animators in Pakistan, it is brilliant and inspiring. The public needs to support the influx of new artists and talent. If you see something cool and out-of-the-box, support the artist.”
When asked to define the musical sound of Pakistan, Zeeshan feels that Pakistan has a very wide spectrum of music that people listen to and enjoy. “I recently made the show with Umair Jaswal and got to travel across Pakistan. You get to hear such diverse sounds if you go through the length and breadth of the country. It ranges from folk to Sufi kalam, to more mainstream sounds such as Coke Studio. And then we have indie bands, metal bands, and electronica artists. It is a melting pot. Somebody has to tell them that all they need to do is fit into this jigsaw puzzle and play their part to form a whole. The best part is that there is listenership for all these diverse genres of music. There is so much being done locally, that I hardly listen to any western music nowadays.”
Receiving the Pride of Peshawar Award
Reflecting on his own choice of music these days, Zeeshan reveals, “These days I am listening to Faris Shafi a great deal. I also think Umair Dar is doing some wonderful work through his A for Aleph Studio. I listen to Talal Qureshi, Natasha Noorani, Ali Suhail, and Natasha Ejaz. I am constantly listening to the tracks from Janoobi Khargosh while busy with my animations, and I think they are doing brilliant work.”
Looking at his choice of music, one can see that Zeeshan is not one to settle for anything conventional. “I am not a commercial filmmaker. I am already working on a short animation film these days. My hope is that I keep getting to do some interesting stuff here and there. It is important for me to communicate with my audience, be it through my music, my animation work or through video,” he concludes with a smile. For the sake of those of us who have been admirers of his creativity and his unconventional choice of mediums, we certainly hope so too.
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