It may well be the first time that Mehreen Jabbar has worked with Six Sigma Plus and scriptwriter Vasay Chaudhry for her drama serial Jackson Heights; but certainly not the first time that she has wrenched your heart and soul with characters and situations picked from the world around us.

Clever with her craft, she depicts them in a stark manner, so that you cannot help but relate or sympathise with them, shed a tear or miss a beat for the characters set in Jackson Heights, the inelegant and un-posh neighbourhood of New York.

Vasay Chaudhry, who has previously written scripts for College Jeans, Jutt and Bond and Main Hoon Shahid Afridi; skillfully weaves a web of six overlapping stories while Mehreen in her signature style grips her audiences once more just as she did in Rehai, Daam and Raamchand Pakistani.

 “The story is different from what I have done previously. I don’t think it resembles the work in my other serials that have been based in the US,” she says. “Vasay and I have never worked together before but I was really looking forward to the collaboration and I think we both had a lot of fun and back and forth on this project which is now nearly four years in the making. Initially it got stalled and then was re-started again with much vigour.”

Mehreen Jabbar continues to carve a rock-solid reputation for herself as a dynamic young director with Jackson Heights

Daily lives and issues of working class immigrants and overseas Pakistanis have never been presented like this before. Mehreen wasn’t terribly sure that people would like Jackson Heights.

“It would be arrogant of me to say that whatever I will do would be a success. Vasay and I both liked the feeling of the serial and we wanted it to be a little different from the mazloom aurat/saas bahu saga and even if you do see a victimisation innuendo, the intention was to present it with a fresh approach.”

Jackson Heights covers more than one theme. “There are reasons why Michelle is so anti-desi, then there is Salma’s story line with the husband in jail. We have tried to focus on the daily lives of people although it was a little worrying to think about ratings. But we are almost satisfied with the work and the feedback.”

Mehreen Jabbar with the cast and crew of Jackson Heights

Other than Aaminah Sheikh and Adeel Hussain who Mehreen has worked with previously, the cast is packed with surprises.

“Shooting abroad does limit casting a bit. I worked with Adeel twice, but I have done only one play with Aaminah. They fit into their roles and luckily had visas. I had the pleasure of working with a great ensemble team from cast to crew, including the DOP Nausheen Dadabouy and the whole production team in New York and Pakistan with some very interesting and varied people. Cast and location-wise, I think this is most ambitious drama I’ve done so far because it involved a lot of characters and places and with a relatively limited budget, we have to accomplish a lot!” said Mehreen.

Mehreen has worked with almost all the main characters before apart from Ali Kazmi who was a great addition to this team. Mehreen managed to rope in the ‘elusive’ Marina Khan for the character of Michelle; a mature, over-the hill recluse who shies away from life and runs a restaurant around which her drab life revolves.

“When I was looking for someone to do the role, the project was getting delayed. Marina and I are friends and I am so happy she agreed to do the role even though it is a challenge for her because Michelle is way more khuroos and dry so Marina had to make an effort for that role because in reality she is a very positive, bubbly and an easy-going person.”

She rediscovered radio artiste and TV actor Neelofar Aleem of Shehzori fame for the role of a typical, demanding mother-in-law. “Since she lives in the US, it was an easy choice. I approached her and she happily accepted the role. She brings in the old-world PTV charm and it was a delight to work with her. Finding someone for that role in the US would have been a problem if Neelofar hadn’t been there.”

A fair sprinkling of foreign actors adds richness to the multi-culture flavour of the serial.

“Monsoon Bissell who plays Noman’s wife is half-Indian, half-American so it wasn’t difficult to explain the desi situation to her. The two kids in the play I found online and through an acquaintance and they both came with such a positive energy to the project. Apart from them, the vast array of supporting actors in the US were both a combination of seasoned as in the case of Ahmad Razvi who plays Bhatti’s friend Javed and first timers like Almas (who plays Ali Kazmi’s daughter), Taimur Syed (Kash), Taimur Qureshi (restaurant manager) and others. We were helped by Laaj Studios in New York for casting and locations and actually it became like a family almost because of the small crew and mad working hours!”

Nauman Ijaz as Bhatti, the cabbie, is refreshing and brilliant with his Punjabi accent and broken English as he struggles to convince his gori wife about the desi shenanigans encumbering in his life. Aaminah Sheikh, Adnan Jaffer, Adeel Sheikh and other support actors are absorbed in their roles, while Ali Kazmi makes an exciting comeback after a long time in a negative character.

“Shooting outside Pakistan means budget restraints. So we can’t have luxuries like make up rooms and trailers, and you need is a team which is a good sport,” said Mehreen.

Presently, Mehreen is working on a serial with Khalilur Rehman Qamar who wrote Pyaray Afzal.

“It will be a pure romantic drama which is a challenge for me! I love the story and Khalil saheb’s script, so I am looking forward to delving into that.” She is also planning a film for next year. “Nothing social, nothing depressing but if it can give you 115 watchable minutes, I’ll be happy.”

I pestered her with more questions but she shut me up saying there is no use creating hype for something that doesn’t exist. People do it all the time, doesn’t she know that!

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, December 21st, 2014