Swineryy has added a new role to her voice work, becoming the voice and puppeteer behind Mobi, a new character introduced in the fourth season of Bilal Maqsood’s children’s show Pakkay Dost.
The anonymous content creator shared the news on Instagram on Tuesday evening, explaining that the role came about while she was testing different voices for Mobi.
What started as a voice-recording session soon took her in a different direction when Maqsood asked her whether she could sing. “On my first day in the middle of testing different voices for Mobi’s dialogues Bilal Maqsood asked ‘Do you sing too?’ and I go uhhhhmmmmmm,” Swineryy wrote.
Swineryy said that despite being a voice artist and coming from a musical family, she had always felt shy and unsure about her singing voice.
Maqsood then had her sing in his recording studio and guided her through singing as Mobi. Swineryy said that hearing him tell her that she had a good voice helped her move past her doubts.
She also joked about Maqsood’s experience with singers through Pakistan Idol, writing that he must have heard worse voices during the auditions and would survive her singing.
The recording session eventually turned into a role that went beyond voice acting.
“Long story short, that turned into me voicing and puppeteering the little kid for Pakkay Dost season 4,” she wrote, introducing Mobi as a new character on the show.
She described Mobi as a character connected to the feeling of being creatively stuck. “When you’re feeling creatively uninspired and stuck, you’re like a little ghost waiting on your brain to come back and do it’s thing so you can identify as yourself again. And sometimes it feels like EVERYBODY is waiting with you,” she said.
Swineryy said that working as Mobi allowed her to collaborate with the Pakkay Dost team, step outside her comfort zone and learn puppeteering.
“Being Mobi gave me the chance to collaborate (with such a lovely and talented team), get out of my comfort zone and be a part of something so meaningful, challenging, creative, and fun,” she wrote.
She also said that the experience gave her a new respect for puppeteers, adding that she hoped children watching Pakkay Dost would like Mobi.
The fourth season of Pakkay Dost, Maqsood’s children’s show, features songs and musical segments alongside puppet characters. The season includes songs about exercise and vegetables, as well as a song about the names of different bones in Urdu. Kindness and compassion towards animals also feature among the themes discussed during the season.
The show also stars Syra Yousuf as Mimi.
Maqsood has previously said that his aim with Pakkay Dost is to make Urdu “cool again” so children can speak the language without worrying about being judged. Each season combines songs, musical segments and puppet characters to educate and entertain children while maintaining linguistic and cultural roots.
