Actor-director Shamoon Abbasi, last seen in the offbeat feature Durj (2019), will next appear in a web series which is another unconventional (at least by Pakistani standards) subject. Titled ‘Akela’ (or ‘Lonely’), the seven-episode series is borderline psychedelic and deals with the story of an ageing novelist of fantasy genre who appears to be a loner and ‘away with the fairies,’ but all that might just be a façade — he’s actually hit a wall, as he can’t understand the challenges presented by the digital world. His struggle to find his own place in it leads him to consider writing an autobiography. But soon he realises that his life is too uneventful for that, and so he must ‘look out for’ a conflict to feed his stories.
Abbasi, who is also the producer of the series, recently released a trailer which looks promising, to say the least. He plays the title role, and judging from the clips he makes quite an impact. The Waar star says he “worked hard to transform myself for the character — I grew a stubble and a paunch.”
Joining him are Faryal T and Sohaib Khalid who also directed the series together with Sherry Shah. Akela is written by Shahid Nizami.
What is equally interesting to note is that the show’s seven episodes — Abbasi calls them “chapters” — are of 10 minutes duration each. Plans are afoot to release it on some digital platform soon.
