‘Sharpasand’ creators reveal how fictional 'mohalla' was built from scratch

Karachi’s old neighbourhood charm isn’t just a backdrop in ARY Digital’s Sharpasand, it is the drama’s most powerful character.

However, many viewers have been left wondering where this old school area is actually located in the city. The answer is surprising: it doesn’t. The entire neighbourhood is a beautifully constructed set.

According to director Aehsun Talish, he took on the project under two strict conditions which are that Naumaan Ijaz would play the title role and that at least 30 percent of the story would unfold outdoors in a specially controlled environment.

“I had two conditions before I decided to take on this drama: that the title character would be portrayed by,” he said in an interview.

Talish further added, “Thirty per cent of our work, which means at least 200 scenes, had to be shot in this lane. We couldn’t go off and shoot just anywhere, where we would have to ward off random passers-by and traffic. We needed a controlled environment, where we could work easily. And we found this place, with old trees growing on the sides and we built our set around it.”

Meanwhile, drama’s producer – Abdullah Seja of iDream Entertainment – shared, “Facades were created from the houses on this street and we deliberately aged the walls. All the indoor filming has been done in other locations. As soon as we read the script, we knew that the star of the drama was going to be this street. It was a challenge that we took on.”

“We deliberately asked the playwright to write a large number of scenes that could be shot outdoors. We also tried to incorporate natural components into the filming. If it was raining, we shot in the rain rather than coming up with scenes that were shot in artificially created rain,” he continued.

Abdullah further shared, “You’ll see hawkers roaming around in the background, implying that it is a semi-commercial area, and there are plenty of scenes with children getting off a school van.”

Sharpasand features a small, tightly packed residential street that is bursting with life, gossip, secrets and the messy beauty of mohalla culture.

The drama – which airs on ARY Digital every Wednesday and Thursday at 8:00 PM – stars an ensemble cast including Naumaan Ijaz, Nadia Afgan, Hira Mani, Affan Waheed, Hareem Farooq and Seemi Pasha among others.