Magid / Zafar: the Bifa-winning short film set in a Pakistani takeaway
Screenwriter Sufiyaan Salam on exploring British Pakistani masculinity and winning best short at the British Independent Film Awards
The short film Magid / Zafar begins with a familiar scene for many British Pakistanis: qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s voice drifts from a battered cassette player, and conversations in Urdu and English take place across the counter in the busy takeaway. It is “the Muslim version of going to the pub”, says co-writer Sufiyaan Salam.
“So many of my earliest memories are just of being on the motorway to get to Manchester and then eating on the curry mile,” says Salam, who grew up in Blackburn. “The takeaway is the British-Asian version of what a barbershop might be in a Black story.”
Co-written with director Luís Hindman, Magid / Zafar won best British short at the British Independent Film Awards (Bifa) in 2025, making Salam the second British Pakistani to receive the prize after Riz Ahmed’s win for The Long Goodbye in 2020.
“I’m so grateful that we won,” says Salam. “It’s in a very Pakistani setting, and that’s the thing that feels so gratifying — that the Pakistani restaurant is as British as if we set it in a fish and chip shop.”
Magid / Zafar is their first project together. The pair met online in 2014 during their teens and bonded over their love of films.
Backed by Film4 and the BFI’s Future Takes initiative, Magid / Zafar unfolds over a single night inside a Pakistani takeaway. Tensions rise as we see Magid, who initially appears defensive and emotionally closed off, grapple with his future and identity.
“Magid is this idea of a British bad boy, someone with bravado,” says Salam. “We wanted to focus on this guy who has this masculine performance, and over the course of the film we find out who he really is.
“We knew there was something about this character that was interesting — this idea of language and swagger being a mask.”
As the short unfolds, everything the audience assumes about Magid is turned on its head, revealing the protagonist’s tenderness and vulnerability.
“I want to tell interesting stories that are also exploding stereotypes,” Salam says. “We were reacting against a lot of stuff we felt wasn’t being done right in other TV shows or films. We really wanted to show British Asian characters afforded the level of respect that a properly cinematic experience gives.”
Salam was influenced by works such as Chungking Express and the films of the Safdie brothers. “They’ll take a jewellery shop or an eatery and make it very beautiful and full of texture,” he says.
“I hadn’t really seen that done in a Pakistani takeaway. Instead of it being a generic fried chicken shop, we wanted a beautiful, lively location with characters who talk and dress like me, who get to feel like they’re part of a cinematic world and taken seriously.”
Salam adds: “I don’t want Magid / Zafar to be a brown film, or a Muslim film. What I hope for is a good film that just so happens to have Asian characters in it.”
Magid / Zafar will be available to stream on All4 and BFI Player later this year.
