Abbas Muzaffar: Delhi, Singapore, Kabul

Abbas Muzaffar has spent decades building TV channels and video teams across India, Singapore, Afghanistan and Central Asia. Today he teaches media in Tashkent. In this conversation, he talks about launching a channel in wartime Kabul, what working abroad as an Indian taught him, how filmmaking has changed, and why India is still home.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

From social work to film school

You studied social work first and then film. How did you get into television?

I did my graduation in social work, and after that I went to film school, the Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. I did my master's there in film and TV production. I started out as a camera person, a very technical resource, and that too for news. The brief was specific: interviews, shots of any event or newsworthy happening.

Within a few months I was a bit bored. And I started getting opportunities that were difficult and challenging to execute. It wasn't by choice that I took on tougher work, and it was not up my alley. But I decided to do it. I struggled with that firefighting kind of work, but in the bargain I learnt things I could not have learnt at university. It expanded the area of my work, and I came out with additional exposure, experience and competence in my portfolio.

TV18, 1999: the first story

How did you land your first content development role?

That was at TV18, my first job creating content rather than being on the technical side. They gave me a three-week trial. The brief was to make a story for one of the leading magazine shows, the Amul India Show, which was the longest-running magazine show on Indian satellite TV at the time. This was 1999, right after I finished film school.

I had no idea what the story would be. I came with technical competence: how to handle a camera, how to light, how to edit. The first story I tried, I spent time, energy and resources on, and I failed. I could not pull it off. Then the person supervising me suggested that I cover an event and turn it into a story. It was an invite to a fashion show by a new fashion institute called Pearl Academy. The students were putting on the show at a larger scale because the institute wanted to publicise itself and give them a bigger platform.

I went there and didn't know what to do. I used to shoot myself, and now I had a camera person to direct and I didn't know what to direct. So I went backstage and started asking random questions, and that's how I got into conversations with the models and the students. It wasn't planned at all. The camera person supported me very well and created very nice frames. I spent time putting it together, and it was a fantastic story about young fashion designers ready to introduce something experimental and new to the fashion industry.

Kabul, 2009: the assignment

What was the most challenging assignment of your career?

The most challenging was a project that came from Afghanistan, to set up a TV channel in 2009. It was the roughest period in Afghanistan. The war was on, and it was extremely risky. I was excited, but I was also worried. I asked my father, and he was very supportive. He said, if you really want to do this job, do it. If you have to die, nothing can save you, and if you don't, nothing can kill you. So don't worry.

So I went. Within the first hour of setting foot in Kabul, I saw more arms and ammunition than I had seen in my whole life. On the first night there was an explosion behind my house, rocket fire. Then it became routine. After a few days it was, okay, carry on with what you're doing.

On my first day in the office, things were mixed up. The equipment was half digital, half analog, which was one big challenge. The owner of the channel wanted to put more money in only after the channel started, because he had already spent a lot. The team was young, boys and girls aged 14, 15 to 25, with a few senior people, but none of them seasoned TV professionals. I had a lot of people to train, in content and in technical work, and everything needed fixing. I just got into it and started cleaning everything up. Every time you are about to start and everything looks fine, suddenly the political or war situation interferes.

So I proposed a heritage and history series, even though the monuments were in ruins after decades of war. Even those ruins had history and stories to tell. There was a palace built by an Afghan king, Amanullah, before the Taliban. It was very beautiful, and it has been rebuilt since, in the heart of Kabul, at an altitude. Even the ruins looked amazing, so imagine how it looked as a palace.

I went there with a documentary filmmaker's habit of getting curious and recording anything I found interesting, and suddenly somebody started shouting. It was the guards. I asked my camera person what he was saying, and he said I was walking in areas marked with mines. I said, I've already walked all over and nothing happened, so it's all good.

Then one day, on the way to the office, a car moved past us. Within a few minutes we heard an explosion, and it was the same car that had overtaken us ten minutes earlier.

What Kabul gave back

What was the most fulfilling part of the Kabul experience?

I got to make programmes on the history and heritage of the place, which I may not have done if I had not taken this position. I learnt so much about the history and heritage of Afghanistan. There is so much of it, and it is a connected history, because at some point we were one country, one territory.

Along the way I trained at least a hundred young boys and girls and turned them into semi-professional video producers, filmmakers and camera persons. That made me happy. It added a purpose to what I was doing. I feel happy that I trained them.

Working abroad as an Indian

What was it like working outside India as an Indian?

It was a mixed experience. My first exposure outside India was Singapore, in 2007. As an Indian, I felt I got a more difficult and more tiring schedule. It was again the launch of a channel, which started in Singapore and later moved to India, and I was there to build the content library to keep the channel running. People like us were jacks-of-all-trades. We were there to step into anything, and we worked extra hours without asking for extra payment and without complaints.

That said, among all the people I have worked with, I think the most hospitable were Afghans. It matters what and how you contribute when you go to another country, culture or society. Your importance depends on what you bring to the table. In most of the places I went, I tried to bring the skills and competence they wanted, and that is why they respected and appreciated my presence and were extremely kind.

Then, now and AI

How is learning filmmaking today different from when you started?

There is a massive difference between how we were trained and how the current generation learns. We saw technology take a leap from doing things manually to being computer-driven. We learned the hard way, from the old school through to the new technology, so our learning curve was extremely detailed. Today's generation has it easier, but that also makes some things more challenging for them. We could do some gimmickry with technology to grab attention for the content we made. Now you can't hide behind the technology. The substance matters more, and it always has.

They also don't have the luxury of long-form content that we had. They have to deliver powerful content in the most efficient and interesting way. The technology has become simpler, but some things have become more difficult.

Has AI changed filmmaking?

The basics remain the same. The grammar remains the same. The technology has become simpler, but you must learn the grammar of the medium. Unless you know how the camera functions, or what its different features are, how are you going to control or command the AI if you want to use it? I'm not saying don't use technology. By all means use the freshest, most advanced technology, but also learn the fundamentals. If your basics are strong, you will be able to create content with depth, content that stays in the audience's memory.

That matters because we consume so much content through the day, and how much of it stays with you? Content that has its fundamentals and substance in place, with something innovative in the style, stays. Even with millions of videos floating around on social media, some stay with you, and there are many examples of that.

Advice to aspiring filmmakers

What advice do you have for young people who want a career in video or film production?

Go through the process, every step of pre-production, production and post-production. Learn all the steps, and then learn the tools, the most fundamental ones like the camera, the editing process and lighting. Once you have learned the process and the tools, then use the technology. Use the most advanced technology, use artificial intelligence or anything. But before that, you need a story. The story comes from your concept and ideas, and ideas come from observation. Be more observant and more critical in your analysis when you observe anything, because those small nuances add depth and detail to your stories.

The most important thing is to maintain your identity in what you produce. Every piece of content should be a reflection of you. Don't try to copy anybody's content or style. Figure out your own style and your own substance. Work hard, because it has become extremely difficult to create content and grab attention. Dig deep and don't go for the superficial. The deeper you dive, the better gems you are going to get.

Your IQ (India Quotient)

You have worked and lived in so many countries. What does being Indian mean to you?

We have very deep roots, over generations and centuries. I cannot identify myself as anything but an Indian, regardless of how many countries I go to and work and spend time in. I like traveling, and most of us do, but I always have to come back. My previous generation was generations of freedom fighters. My father and my father's elder brother were quite decorated freedom fighters. Before that, we have a history of being a part of the Awadh Empire, and before that it was Delhi. We have been in India for generations. I cannot think of living anywhere else.

Regardless of whatever struggles and shortcomings we have, India is home. In my city, Allahabad, almost the entire city knows us and our family. Wherever I go, and whatever I contribute to their country, their economy and their companies, I will never have that kind of footprint anywhere else in the world. I have to come back home; home is India, and shall remain so!