Pakistani creatives who made headlines in 2025

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani artists, architects, and filmmakers achieved unprecedented recognition on international platforms in 2025, marking a transformative period for the country's creative industries.

Music and Sound

Taurees Habib made history as the second Pakistani to win a Grammy Award, receiving the honor for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for his sound engineering work on Dune: Part Two. The Karachi-born engineer publicly announced his achievement in September 2025, generating widespread acclaim in Pakistan's entertainment sector.

Streaming data also shaped the year’s narrative. Rapper Talha Anjum maintained his position as Pakistan's most-streamed artist on Spotify for the second consecutive year, according to the platform's 2025 Wrapped data. His continued dominance reflects the growing influence of Pakistani hip-hop and rap culture on listeners.

Meanwhile, Arooj Aftab sustained her international momentum with multiple Grammy nominations for 2025, including Best Alternative Jazz Album for Night Reign and Best Global Music Performance, solidifying her standing in the global jazz and fusion music community.

The year's most popular track domestically came from Maanu and Annural Khalid, whose collaboration "Jhol" became the most-streamed Pakistani song of 2025, according to streaming data, signaling a shift toward indie-pop in the local market.

In classical music, Ustad Naseeruddin Saami was nominated for the Aga Khan Music Award 2025, drawing renewed attention to his mastery of the 49-note microtonal surti scale and the khayal genre.

Film and Documentary

Pakistani cinema achieved notable international success across multiple festivals. Jawad Sharif's documentary "Moklani – The Last Mohanas" won the Global Voices Award at the Jackson Wild Media Awards in Wyoming, often referred to as the "Oscars of nature filmmaking." The film documents the endangered boat-dwelling Mohana community of Lake Manchhar and represents the first Pakistani win at this event.

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Film Festival in China, "Nayab," directed by Umair Nasir Ali and starring Yumna Zaidi, received the Special Jury Award. Zaidi's portrayal of a young woman breaking barriers in cricket demonstrated the international appeal of locally rooted narratives.

Rafay Rashdi's psychological horror film "Deemak" won Best Editing at the same festival, marking significant recognition for Pakistani genre cinema.

In Azerbaijan, Shehzad Rafique's "Welcome to Punjab" captured the Best Audience Award at the Baku Cinema Breeze Film Festival, showcasing the cross-cultural potential of Punjabi-centric Pakistani cinema.

Architecture and Design

Yasmeen Lari, Pakistan's first female architect, received the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Lifetime Achievement Award in October 2025 in Portugal. The international jury recognized her six-decade career and her “zero-carbon” humanitarian work rebuilding flood-resilient communities in Sindh. She became one of the few South Asian architects to receive this European honor.

Talent that resonates across boundaries

The achievements of 2025 represent not only individual successes but also a collective elevation of Pakistan's creative sectors on the world stage. From Grammy stages to European architecture awards, Pakistani talent has demonstrated both artistic excellence and the ability to tell stories that resonate across cultural boundaries.