Pakistan's animation industry is young, but it has moved fast.
What started as an ambitious experiment in 2015 has grown into a small but genuine film category, with local studios tackling everything from political satire to climate change to stories about fatherhood.
This list covers every notable Pakistani animated film, feature, and short that has actually been released, plus the ones currently announced for the future. Entries are grouped by type and ordered by year of release so the progression of the industry is easy to follow.
| Year | Title | Type | Director(s) | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3 Bahadur | Feature | Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy | Waadi Animations, SOC Films |
| 2016 | 3 Bahadur: The Revenge of Baba Balaam | Feature | Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy | Waadi Animations, SOC Films |
| 2018 | Allahyar and the Legend of Markhor | Feature | Uzair Zaheer Khan | 3rd World Studios |
| 2018 | The Donkey King | Feature | Aziz Jindani | Talisman Animation Studios |
| 2018 | Tick Tock | Feature | Omar Hassan | S4 Solutions Productions |
| 2018 | 3 Bahadur: Rise of the Warriors | Feature | Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy | Waadi Animations, SOC Films |
| 2020 | Sitara: Let Girls Dream | Short | Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy | SOC Films, Netflix |
| 2020 | Shehr e Tabassum | Short | Arafat Mazhar | Puffball Studios |
| 2020 | Swipe | Short | Arafat Mazhar | Puffball Studios |
| 2023 | Allahyar and the 100 Flowers of God | Feature | Uzair Zaheer Khan | 3rd World Studios |
| 2024 | The Glassworker | Feature | Usman Riaz | Mano Animation Studios |
| 2026 (TBA) | My Daddy My Superhero | Feature | Aziz Jindani, Zeeshan Karimi | Talisman Animation Studios |
| TBA | Under the Blaze | Short | Awais Shaukat | Awartsy |
| TBA | The Chronicles of Umro Ayyar | Feature | Arsalan Ali | Ingenuity Productions |
Feature Films
3 Bahadur
Directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and produced by Waadi Animations and SOC Films, 3 Bahadur is Pakistan's first full-length animated feature film.
The story follows three children, Kamil, Saadi and Amna, who stand up against a villain named Mangu after gaining superpowers to save their town, Roshan Basti, from his takeover. Obaid-Chinoy, already known internationally as Pakistan's first Oscar winner, described the project in personal terms, saying, "3 Bahadur is not just a movie. It is a movement."
Film Facts
- Studio: Waadi Animations, SOC Films
- Director: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- Release date: 22 May 2015
- Distributor: ARY Films
- Language: Urdu
- Notable: First full-featured animated film and installment of the 3 Bahadur franchise
3 Bahadur: The Revenge of Baba Balaam
The trilogy's second chapter brought the same trio of children back to face a returning threat.
It served as the second installment in the franchise, continuing the same tone of a children's adventure wrapped around a message about standing up to corruption. The sequel retained Obaid-Chinoy's creative direction while expanding the voice cast with recognizable Pakistani names.
Film Facts
- Studio: Waadi Animations, SOC Films
- Director: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- Distributor: ARY Films
- Language: Urdu
- Cast: Fahad Mustafa, Sarwat Gilani, Ahmad Ali Butt
Allahyar and the Legend of Markhor
Directed by Uzair Zaheer Khan and produced by 3rd World Studios, this film is notable for being the first Pakistani animated movie produced entirely using Unreal Engine.
Set in the northern regions of Pakistan, it follows a young boy named Allahyar as he deals with circumstances tied to the preservation and illegal hunting of wildlife. The environmental message, paired with a visual style unusual for Pakistani animation at the time, made it stand apart from the comedy-driven tone of other local releases that year.
Film Facts
- Studio: 3rd World Studios
- Director: Uzair Zaheer Khan
- Distributor: Mandviwalla Entertainment
- Language: Urdu
- Cast: Arieb Azhar, Natasha Humera Ejaz, Azfar Jafri
The Donkey King
Directed by Aziz Jindani and produced by Talisman Studios, The Donkey King became the highest-grossing animated feature film in Pakistan.
The plot follows a lion ruler deciding that a donkey, rather than another predator, should take over as king of Azad Nagar when he retires. Jindani had been sitting on the concept for years before it reached screens; he revealed that he had the idea for the film since 2003 and began actual work on it in 2013 while still developing his Commander Safeguard animated series.
Of his intentions for the project, Jindani said, "Donkey King is an attempt to redefine the animation film genre in Pakistan."
Film Facts
- Studio: Talisman Animation Studios
- Director: Aziz Jindani
- Release date: 13 October 2018
- Distributor: Geo Films
- Cast: Jan Rambo, Ismail Tara, Hina Dilpazeer, Ghulam Mohiuddin, Jawed Sheikh
- Box office: Rs 40.20 crore (US$1.4 million)
- Notable: Highest-grossing animated feature film in Pakistani history
Tick Tock
A family-friendly animated film directed by Omar Hassan and produced by S4 Solutions Productions.
Tick Tock blends adventure and comedy, featuring popular actors like Ahsan Khan, Alyy Khan, and Maria Memon, and marking a new direction for Pakistani animation by incorporating live-action elements. That hybrid approach set it apart from the fully animated releases dominating the same year, giving it a distinct identity even if it didn't match the commercial reach of its competitors.
Film Facts
- Studio: S4 Solutions Productions
- Director: Omar Hassan
- Distributor: Hum Films
- Language: Urdu
- Cast: Ahsan Khan, Alyy Khan, Maria Memon
3 Bahadur: Rise of the Warriors
This was the third and last installment of the franchise, closing out the trilogy that effectively launched feature animation in Pakistan. It kept the same creative team and studio partnership, giving the series a consistent visual identity across all three films even as the production landscape around it got more competitive.
Film Facts
- Studio: Waadi Animations, SOC Films
- Director: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- Distributor: ARY Films
- Language: Urdu
Allahyar and the 100 Flowers of God
A sequel to the 2018 film Allahyar and the Legend of Markhor, this installment again came from 3rd World Studios, with voices supplied by Ali Zafar, Iqra Aziz, Humayun Saeed, Meera, and Bushra Ansari.
The story follows Allahyar and his friend Hero as they travel to a new world to rescue his father from tree-poaching robots, continuing the original's environmental themes. The production also carried a technical first for Pakistani cinema: it was billed as the first-ever Pakistani stereoscopic 3D film.
Film Facts
- Studio: 3rd World Studios
- Director: Uzair Zaheer Khan
- Release date: 28 June 2023
- Distributor: Mandviwalla Entertainment
- Cast: Ali Zafar, Iqra Aziz, Humayun Saeed, Meera, Bushra Ansari
The Glassworker
Usman Riaz spent roughly a decade building this film from scratch, and the result is unlike anything else on this list.
It looks and feels like a distant cousin to a Studio Ghibli film, but it's actually the first fully hand-drawn animated feature created in Pakistan. Riaz co-founded Mano Animation Studios, the country's first dedicated hand-drawn animation facility, with his wife Mariam Paracha and his cousin Khizer Riaz serving as CEO.
Reflecting on why he started the studio, Riaz said, "I realized there must be many people like me who loved animation but worked on their own." The film also made history on the awards circuit, becoming the first Pakistani entry long-listed at the 97th Academy Awards.
Film Facts
- Studio: Mano Animation Studios
- Director: Usman Riaz
- Release: Premiered in NYC and Toronto theaters on August 15, with a wide release on September 5
- Distributor: Geo Films
- Cast: Art Malik, Sacha Dhawan, Anjli Mohindra, Tony Jayawardena
- Notable: First fully hand-drawn animated feature made in Pakistan; longlisted for the 97th Academy Awards
Short Films
Sitara: Let Girls Dream
This short tells the story of Pari, a 14-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a pilot while growing up in a society that doesn't allow her to dream.
Released through Netflix and SOC Films, it focuses on the social issue of child marriage, giving Obaid-Chinoy a second animated outlet for themes she had previously explored through documentary filmmaking.
Film Facts
- Studio: SOC Films, Netflix
- Director: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- Runtime: 15 minutes
- Platform: Netflix
- Notable: Addresses child marriage and the limits placed on girls' ambitions
Shehr e Tabassum
Directed by Arafat Mazhar for Puffball Studios, this short imagines a very different Pakistan decades from now.
It is a sci-fi film set in Pakistan in 2071, and according to the studio's own framing, it uses that future setting to comment on surveillance and technology in ways a straightforward drama couldn't easily manage. An exact public release date for the short isn't widely documented, so it's best treated as part of Puffball Studios' early slate rather than tied to a specific year.
Film Facts
- Studio: Puffball Studios
- Director: Arafat Mazhar
- Language: Urdu, English
Swipe
The second of Mazhar's shorts for Puffball Studios takes a much more satirical angle. It centers on the addiction to an app called iFatwa, poking at how quickly technology and religious authority can become intertwined in everyday life. Like its companion short, the exact release window remains unconfirmed in public records.
Film Facts
- Studio: Puffball Studios
- Director: Arafat Mazhar
- Language: Urdu
- Notable: Satirical short about compulsive use of a fictional religious app
Upcoming Films
My Daddy My Superhero
This one has had a bumpier road to release than any other film on this list.
Announced by the makers of The Donkey King with a teaser featuring the voice of Fahad Mustafa, it was co-produced by Talisman Animation Studios and Geo Films and originally planned for worldwide theatrical release in 2025. That timeline slipped. The film was postponed in 2025 to a summer 2026 release, and director Aziz Jindani has since said the release has been pushed again to the end of 2026.
As of the most recent update, roughly 80 percent of production is finished, with post-production running in parallel.
Film Facts
- Studio: Talisman Animation Studios, Geo Films
- Director: Aziz Jindani, Zeeshan Karimi
- Cast: Fahad Mustafa
- Status: In production, targeting late 2026
Under the Blaze
Directed by Awais Shaukat and produced by Awartsy, Under the Blaze addresses the issue of child labor in Pakistan's brick kilns, aiming to raise awareness through powerful storytelling and visually striking animation. It's a smaller-scale project than most entries here, built as a hand-drawn 2D animated short rather than a theatrical feature, which fits a subject matter better suited to a focused, issue-driven format than a sprawling franchise.
Film Facts
- Studio: Awartsy
- Director: Awais Shaukat
- Format: Hand-drawn 2D short film
- Language: Urdu
- Notable: First Pakistani animated project built around the issue of child labor in brick kilns
The Chronicles of Umro Ayyar
Based on the legendary character Umro Ayyar from South Asian folklore, this film promises an adventurous tale filled with magic, mystery, and action, directed by Arsalan Ali and produced by Ingenuity Productions.
It remains one of the more ambitious announced projects on this list simply because of the scale of the source material, a centuries-old trickster-hero epic that has never been adapted into animation before in Pakistan.
Film Facts
- Studio: Ingenuity Productions
- Director: Arsalan Ali
- Status: In development, release date to be announced
- Language: Urdu
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the first Pakistani animated film?
3 Bahadur, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and released on 22 May 2015, was Pakistan's first full-length animated feature film. It followed three children who gain superpowers to save their fictional hometown of Roshan Basti from a villain named Mangu.
Which Pakistani animated film made the most money?
The Donkey King, directed by Aziz Jindani and released in 2018, is the highest-grossing Pakistani animated film ever, earning Rs 40.20 crore (approximately US$1.4 million) at the box office.
Has any Pakistani animated film been nominated for an Oscar?
No Pakistani animated film has received an Oscar nomination, but The Glassworker made history by becoming Pakistan's first animated film to be longlisted at the 97th Academy Awards — in both the Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature Film categories.
What is the best Pakistani animated film?
The Glassworker, directed by Usman Riaz, is widely regarded as the most accomplished Pakistani animated film to date. It is the country's first fully hand-drawn animated feature and the first Pakistani animated film to qualify for Oscar consideration.
Who is the most prominent director in Pakistani animation?
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has the largest footprint, having directed all three films in the 3 Bahadur franchise. Usman Riaz, director of The Glassworker, has earned the most international attention of any Pakistani animation filmmaker to date.
Is Pakistani animation still active or has it slowed down?
The industry is still active. At least two animated features are currently in production or development — My Daddy My Superhero from Talisman Animation Studios and The Chronicles of Umro Ayyar from Ingenuity Productions — alongside several short films in various stages of completion.
Which Pakistani animated film was the first to use Unreal Engine?
Allahyar and the Legend of Markhor, directed by Uzair Zaheer Khan and released in 2018, was the first Pakistani animated feature built entirely using Unreal Engine, giving it a visual style that stood apart from other local productions at the time.
What was Pakistan's first stereoscopic 3D animated film?
Allahyar and the 100 Flowers of God, the 2023 sequel from 3rd World Studios, holds that distinction. Directed again by Uzair Zaheer Khan, it was billed as the first Pakistani film to use stereoscopic 3D technology.
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