Zubair Baloch

On the eve of Independence Day, Zainab learns that she has to find a lawyer for a case that has been going on about her family’s ancestral land which had been unlawfully seized by a powerful political tycoon — thrusting her into a fight against a corrupt system that mirrors the very freedom being celebrated.

Garm Roti, Thandi Soch follows a single day in the life of Bashir, a tired, working-class man in Karachi navigating a world shaped by corruption, class divides, and quiet domestic expectations. What begins as a simple request from his wife—to bring home warm roti—turns into a symbol of everything denied to him. Throughout the day, Bashir endures the suffocating monotony of his government job, the intrusion of a performative NGO crew, and the daily humiliations of a city where the powerful move freely and the powerless wait in silence. His offhand remark, “Mulk ke halat garam hain, par roti thandi hai,” becomes an accidental viral soundbite. By nightfall, he returns home emptied, carrying only cold roti and the weight of unseen struggles. His silence at the end captures a life swallowed by a society that overlooks him, offering no transformation—only the stillness of enduring what cannot be changed.