The year was 2003. I was between jobs and desperate. Islamabad, even then, was an expensive city and I was running out of money. I had a regular column but it did not pay well. It was then that an idea struck me. I had applied to various papers and recently launched news channels. While I awaited a call I could branch out and dabble in fiction writing. The only medium that paid well was television. I have always been good at storytelling. So, I came up with the kind of stupid idea a twenty-something maverick would be capable of: the script of a long play in which the Quaid-e-Azam comes back and leads a movement to improve the country.

Once it was finished, I had to offer it to TV networks. One low-hanging fruit was PTV, still in the entertainment business, where I had worked before. The other was the country's largest private media empire. I had managed to extort the email address of its entertainment head from a friend. I sent the script to PTV, and a one-line elevator pitch to the private channel executive, mentioning only the idea of the Quaid's return. The response was radio silence; I was soon to learn why. The executive liked the idea and hurriedly commissioned the country's best-known humourist and playwright. The writer decided to bring back Allama Iqbal and, I think, Mohammad Ali Jauhar for good measure, and stranded them at an airport. By the time I saw the end product, I was seething with rage. The end credits included the name of the very same executive as the executive producer.

PTV's story was even better. I was invited over by the head of the entertainment department for a meeting. When I got there, the gentleman told me he really loved my script, but........

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