The disgustful

Shareef Maseeh has been cleaning waste off Lahore's streets for 35 years but is still awaiting the respect he deserves.
Published November 24, 2019

This film by Waleed Akram, Sheikh Mubashir, Mariam Hassan Naqvi and Hammad Javed won the second prize of Rs300,000 in Dawn.com and Deutsche Welle's video story contest, #ItHappensOnlyinPakistan on the theme #OurDiversePakistan.

The Disgustful lets you spend a day in the life of Shareef Maseeh, a sweeper in Lahore. Shareef has been cleaning the waste off Lahore's streets for the last 35 years, but is still awaiting the respect and acknowledgment he deserves from the community and his country.

"The Disgustful has true meaning; story well-told, portrait well-made, many issues of life addressed with this single narrative. Well-crafted through stylisation." — Babar Sheikh


It Happens Only In Pakistan is a nationwide video story contest organised by Dawn.com and Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany's international broadcaster. This time, the theme for the contest was sharing stories under the hashtag #OurDiversePakistan, and invited filmmakers from all over Pakistan to submit short documentary-styled videos that captured stories of unsung, unique Pakistani heroes. Jury for the contest included noted Pakistani documentary filmmakers Jami and Babar Sheikh. The contest accepted entries from July 5 to August 25, 2019.