Q. When and how did you hear of the subject?
A. Miriam Chandy Menacherry: I was following a lot of music being shared by young Pakistani artistes over the Internet. I was intrigued by this entire culture of sharing music videos online, very often biting political or social satires. I would scroll down the comments and most responses were from Indians. It was interesting to see that the interactions were often thought-provoking and filled with humour. This planted the seed of the idea, and I began to find an entry point to tell this story. That is when I read about the musicianHamza Jafri, and his school. I contacted Maheen immediately, as I had worked with her previously.
Maheen Zia: Miriam approached me with her idea for the film, and we decided to go ahead.

Pakistani musician Hamza Jafri teaches the finer points of playing the guitar to a girl from Lyari in Karachi

Q. Tell us a bit about how the two of your began working on the project.
Maheen: We had collaborated once before, which had been a good experience.
Miriam: I was making a film for the National Geographic Channel about camel racing. I had shot most of it in Qatar and the UAE, and I needed to shoot a small part in Pakistan but was not getting a visa in time. It’s when I found Maheen online.
The material she shot and sent me added a lot of soul to the film, so when I thought of the concept of Lyari Notes I knew that I would take it up only if she collaborated with me.