{"id":23330,"date":"2025-07-25T15:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/23330\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T15:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T15:25:08","slug":"bilal-maqsoods-trying-to-make-urdu-cool-again-with-his-kids-show-pakkay-dost-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/23330\/","title":{"rendered":"Bilal Maqsood\u2019s trying to \u2018make Urdu cool again\u2019 with his kids show Pakkay Dost – Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bilal Maqsood is gearing up to release the third season of Pakkay Dost<\/a>, his hit puppet show for children, on September 1 \u2014 and he\u2019s calling on parents, aunts, uncles, and older siblings to make sure the kids in their lives tune in.<\/p>\n

Taking to Instagram with a video message, the former Strings frontman shared a heartfelt plea to support the show, which he described as his \u201clife\u2019s purpose\u201d after the band\u2019s disbandment. But more importantly, he framed Pakkay Dost as his way of \u201cmaking Urdu cool again\u201d \u2014 a cultural mission aimed at re-instilling pride and comfort in speaking the language among children.<\/p>\n

\u201cPakkay Dost is my way of making Urdu cool again, so our children don\u2019t worry about being judged while speaking our language,\u201d said Maqsood. \u201cOur kids, their parents \u2014 everyone is running away from Urdu.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expressed concern over the dominance of foreign media in children\u2019s lives over the past several decades, noting that much of the content available is detached from Pakistani values. \u201cThe details of [foreign content] are not in our control. What values this content is instilling in our children is out of control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since the end of Strings, Maqsood has turned his focus toward crafting original, high-quality content for children in Urdu \u2014 a demographic he feels has long been neglected in local entertainment. \u201cNow, this is me,\u201d he said of Pakkay Dost. \u201cIt is my life\u2019s purpose now to make quality content for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each season of Pakkay Dost features songs, musical segments, and puppet characters aimed at educating and entertaining children while preserving linguistic and cultural roots. \u201cEvery show has 13 to 14 songs. The 33 years of musical experience I\u2019ve had with Strings, I am including that in Pakkay Dost too,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging that screen time is unavoidable, he urged parents and guardians to direct children toward content that aligns with local values: \u201cWe can\u2019t put a stop to their screen time, we can\u2019t switch off their phones and tablets, but we can make sure they\u2019re watching good content \u2014 content that resonates with our values and traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrapping up his message, Maqsood appealed to the loyal fanbase that supported him through his musical career, \u201cI would be grateful if you continued to support me through my remaining journey, by making sure the kids around you follow and watch Pakkay Dost.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bilal Maqsood is gearing up to release the third season of Pakkay Dost, his hit puppet show for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-23330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}