Produced By - #30 - Neha Lalani: When Multitalented Artist From Dubai Explores Different Forms of Art

Starting point is 00:00:02 Neha Lalani is a film graduate from Dubai currently working as a digital experience associate at Informa Connect Middle East. Although Neha is of Pakistani descent, she has lived her entire life in Dubai, United Arab and Reds, where she grew up and found her love of films. This passion was ignited after watching Stevens Wilberg's The Adventures of Tintin and persisted since then. Neha decided to do media studies before enrolling in university and in her spare time continued to hone her film-related skills. The global pandemic affected her academic experience, but in spite of that, her final short film found some success at film festivals throughout the world and continues competing.

Starting point is 00:00:45 After her graduation, Neha joined Informa, where she now works as a digital experience associate creating various forms of online content. Along with some helpful advice, we also talk about Neha's future plans, favorite projects as well as artists and her own online content. Listen to this episode, to discover more about life in Dubai and the United Earth Emirates, get inspired by Neha's keen enthusiasm for exploring different kinds of art, and learn more about how her work was shown on the tallest building in the world, Burjkhali. Enjoy.

Starting point is 00:01:21 Hello, Neha, thank you for Jirnav's today and welcome to the show. Can you please introduce yourself? Yeah, sure. So my name is Neha Lalani. I'm from Pakistan, but I live in Dubai, UAE. I've been here my whole life, studied here as well, school as well as university. In school, I went to Cambridge International School, where I studied mainly business, but then I also did media studies course. And then I went on to do film in Middlesex University here in the By as well. And yeah, now I'm doing content work at an company called Informa.

Starting point is 00:01:56 It's a UK-based company where they manage events and conferences. So I do their live streaming and some of the conference stuff as well. You said you studied at Cambridge, so before you studied in the UK? No, no, no. It's Cambridge here in Dubai. There's a school that's called Cambridge International. It's a British curriculum. Yeah, okay, that makes sense.

Starting point is 00:02:18 So you are probably the first person who studies in Dubai, and I guess the audience is primarily UK-based. So why Dubai, why not London, actually? Sure, so, I mean, I had plans on going to UK instead. same university middle sex but because of some personal issues and reasons and it was before COVID had started and all that I stayed in Dubai

Starting point is 00:02:40 and I planned on transferring in my second year to UK and then continuing there but I made such nice friends in my uni I decided I'll just stay here and then finish my degree and maybe let's start with your background so you said you were born in Pakistan right yeah and I'm sorry I'm not born

Starting point is 00:02:58 in Pakistan I'm from Pakistan but I've born and brought up here in Dubai Ah, okay. So you spent so far the whole life in Dubai, right? Yeah, yeah, pretty much. Oh, can you tell us more about what is it like living in Dubai? I've never been now. Then I'm really curious.

Starting point is 00:03:15 Yeah, sure. So Dubai is, I mean, it's not as glamorous as you may have seen on TV with like, you know, Porsche cars and all that. I mean, it has its glamour. It's a city. It has its amazing buildings. We have the Borghalifa and all of those. But you have like with any city you live and you have.

Starting point is 00:03:32 different types of people. So I'm a very middle-class person. I live like a normal human being. I don't have a very lavish lifestyle, as you may think, that majority of people in Dubai have, but we're all normal people. But yeah, it's a very nice place to live. You have all sorts of cultures, all sorts of people here that have come here either to study or do their business or whatever, their families, and there's just solo people who have come here. And it's a nice place. And I guess definitely destination worth visiting for tourists. Yeah, definitely, definitely. We recently had the Expo 2020 that took place here. So we had a lot of people come in and then we had a lot of countries that were represented at the Expo and it was a really nice event. So as someone who lives there, what would be like a site that you would recommend for a tourist to visit?

Starting point is 00:04:21 Sure. So definitely the Bursh Khalifa. It's the tallest building in the world. Right next to the Bursh Khalifa is Dubai Mall, which is one of the largest malls, I believe, in the region. Or maybe in the world, I'm not sure. That's a great mall to go to. Otherwise, I mean, because the weather is always so hot here. Yeah, it's horrible. And like we're in summer right now, it's really, really misty outside. But I think majority of the activities here are all indoors. Even like our theme parks and stuff, we have indoor theme parks because we heavily rely on AC.

Starting point is 00:04:55 Yeah. Aren't there even ski resorts inside? Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's ski to buy. That's in a mall. Again, one of the first in the region having a ski resort in a desert. But yeah, that is also a nice place for tourists to ski Dubai. And there is also this beautiful hotel. I forget the name.

Starting point is 00:05:14 It looks like yore. Yep, Georgia, Arab? Oh, yeah. Yeah. That one is also there, yeah. But I will say that Dubai, obviously, Dubai is not the capital. Dubai is the one you always hear about. But Abu Dhabi is the main capital.

Starting point is 00:05:27 And that one has some amazing features as well. Lots of concerts and events. take place there. The F1 race takes place there as well. And we have Yas Water World and we have like Ferrari World as well. So that's also a good place too. And can you maybe compare these two cities? Because I feel like that Dubai is probably more well known. But as you said, Abu Dhabi is the capital. So can you do a little comparison between them? Sure, sure. I will try to do justice. I haven't spent that much time in Abu Dhabi. I just for work mainly. But I think Abu Dhabi comparatively is not as populated. It has its population, but like Dubai is, like, you could think of it as like a New York

Starting point is 00:06:08 city, Dubai, where maybe Abu Dhabi is like a more, I don't know, torn down version of that. There's not a lot of traffic there, which we find a lot in Dubai, which is pretty annoying in the mornings and the evenings from work. But yeah, Abu Dhabi is a very calm place. It's a nice place to live. And it's more like, I don't know, like it's a little more, like less fast-paced, I would say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I guess still wouldn't be worth visiting for a tourist as well? Definitely, definitely. Definitely. So the UAE, United Arab Emirates, is made up of seven different Emirates. So we have Abu Dhabi, which is the capital. Then we have Dubai. And then we have also Sharja, which is a more culturally rich place. So that's where you'll see the complete other side of the glamour and the tall buildings and all that. If you really want to experience the country and experience the people, I would suggest going to like the old Dubai side or the shabye.

Starting point is 00:06:59 charger side, but you can have some really good food, you can buy some really cool, like, gold is really big here, even the clothes are really big here as well. So, yeah, I think we have a flavor of everything. We don't have a variety of weathers. We just have hot all the time, but we have a lot of different sites to see. So what would be the lowest temperature? So we, I deal with Celsius. We mainly deal with Celsius here. So it's, I think I would say, 23 maybe, 23 degrees Celsius and the highest it's gone to 50. Honestly, I cannot imagine. It must be crazy.

Starting point is 00:07:36 Yep, cool. So then you said you studied business, right, at Cambridge? Yeah. Was that something you wanted to study and you decided then for a film or why did you study business in the first place? So I actually will wind the clock back to when I was 11 years old and I saw the movie, I don't know if you've heard of the comics tinton the tinton comics yeah yeah so i was a huge fan i still am a huge fan of the tintin but i saw stephen spilberg's movie the adventures of tinton yeah and i was so

Starting point is 00:08:07 fascinated by the animation because it looks so real and to me at that point animation was just like pixar movies and cartoons and all of that and i was so surprised with how real that looks so that kind of was like the start of my oh there's this whole world of film and content and like you know media and all that. But that was when I kind of decided, I want to make movies when I was 11. So it was this one influential film. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I pay my respects to Mr. Spielberg. So then after that, then I think when I came to the time when you have to pick your like subjects for GCSC and all of that, then I pick media studies. I didn't want to do science. Even though I really like science, but I didn't want to do it as a career or just further study it. So then I thought, okay, as a backup, my family

Starting point is 00:08:54 advised me just take business. So I was a full commerce student in my O levels. And then when I went to A levels, I dropped two of them and then I took literature instead and I kept the media. And yeah. And then you decided to study film at university. Yeah, exactly. When it comes to Dubai or UAE in general, are there like a lot of film universities or could you like pick from different ones or what is it like in there? Sadly, I mean, the media industry is still up-and-coming. It's not that developed yet. And there's not a lot of fairness about it.

Starting point is 00:09:29 People don't value it as much, even though it's everywhere and you need it. But yeah, university-wise, there's not a lot of variety. I think I had choices between three and that too. That was also in other Emirates included. So like about three or four. But then Middlesex was the one that was the most convenient for me, close by. And then I like their course as well. And do you know what does the university?

Starting point is 00:09:51 still look like in London or not really? No, no, not at all. Okay, because I was going to ask if you can compare, because I don't know what it's like in Dubai, but if you don't know what in London, you cannot really compare. Yeah, but I'm sure the London campus is huge and it has a lot of different buildings and faculties and all of that.

Starting point is 00:10:10 For us, it was basically just two blocks. We'd block 16 and block 15, which was like about, I think, two floors or two, three floors high. and it was just small blocks and then we just had like our different classes and those. I did get the whole university experience but not as grand as I would have, you know, perhaps in UK. Yeah, yeah, I understand.

Starting point is 00:10:32 And what about the students? Is it like in UK that the students are international or does the majority of students come from Emirates or what is it like? No, it's international because mainly away here, the large population percentage is not Emirati, which are the locals, the Emirati, they have a very small percentage but a lot of them are just people

Starting point is 00:10:52 have come from abroad and then just raise their families here and all that. So even the students, a lot of the students may not have even lived in Dubai or UAE to begin with and they've traveled to that campus and then they studied there.

Starting point is 00:11:04 So yeah, we have a lot of international students that come in. A lot of my friends are also international students. Yeah. So just out of curiosity, I guess is the language spoken in their Arabic in UAE? No, no, it's a mix. So Arabic is the national.

Starting point is 00:11:19 language, but everyone speaks English here. And we actually, a lot of the percentage of the population is either Indian or Pakistani. So we speak our, like, native tongues, which is Urdu for Pakistanis and Hindi for Indians a lot of the time. So it kind of feels like home for me. Because everyone, I could just speak Urdu to anyone. And they'll understand what I'm saying. But everyone speaks English here. Arabic, yes, because it is an Arab country. But everyone understands English. And do you also speak Arabic? No, I don't. I was forced to study it in school, but sadly the teachers are not that great. Yeah, and I guess it's also a bit difficult because of the alphabet and the way from the other side, right? Yeah, exactly. But luckily for me, because the way Urdu is written is also the same like Arabic,

Starting point is 00:12:08 the letters are very similar. So I can read, I'll be able to read Arabic, like the signs and all of that, but I won't understand what it's like. So if someone is in Dubai, And you come only with knowledge of English, you will be fine, right? Yeah, definitely, definitely. So coming back to your university, how was your experience studying film? Yeah, it was a very nice experience overall. Obviously, it has like its ups and downs with maybe your classes being a bit boring or that your projects being very stressful or whatever.

Starting point is 00:12:39 But it was very nice. I met a lot of nice people that are still my friends now. And we've, you know, working on things like outside of the uni as well. I learned a lot of things even like got a good relationship with my professors, even my seniors I got a lot of opportunities that perhaps I wouldn't have if I

Starting point is 00:12:56 didn't study film because I feel like a lot of the times maybe people pick not to go to film school which is a big debate you go to film school or you do it on your own but I think film school helped me at least which would give me the resources and the opportunity to make short films or work with other people

Starting point is 00:13:13 and keep contacts and can you say how many students? students were in your class? Sure. So it was about 15. It was like a split between guys and girls. I think there were a couple of more guys than girls, but there was like about 15. So it was a very intimate class. And it was nice at times. You didn't have a lot of like people there to, I don't know, it was more customized. Yeah. I mean, at least teachers had more time to pay attention to you and give you more time to. Yeah. Yeah. And before starting unit, did you always? Did you always? already have some film-related experience?

Starting point is 00:13:50 Kind of, because I took media studies in school for like five years from like my O-levels all the way to like graduate school. I had taken media studies. So I had that a bit of a basic understanding. And plus because it became my passion from a very young age. So then I would all the time, in my free time, I would just be researching and watching stuff on YouTube and like doing all of that stuff. I even started editing when I was like 13 or so.

Starting point is 00:14:13 It was just making like, you know, edits and stuff from movies and all that. So yeah, I had a knowledge and that really helped me. But yeah, then university obviously helped with the groundwork and build up there. And what were the projects like or the final projects in each year? I guess did you make short films? Yeah, so we had a lot of different projects. We started with like just really minor things. Like we had this thing called too short because they taught film to the students as if they've never done anything to do with film or content at all.

Starting point is 00:14:45 So it's very basic level. So we had this thing called two short where you just have to pick, shoot two different things on your phone and then edit them together and all that. I think we're headed that's well. Oh, really? Yeah. I'm sure a lot of our projects are the same. So we had this like one minute documentary that we had to film of your friend or something like a story. And then we had short film about space.

Starting point is 00:15:08 We had an advertisement. Yeah, it sounds like something the same actually. It brings me memories. Yeah. When did you graduate from? I graduated just when the COVID happened. Okay, okay. I don't remember what year was it, but I was in a third year and the COVID just happened.

Starting point is 00:15:26 Okay, okay, fine, fine. What year? Did you again graduate? I think it was 2021. So it was like the second year of COVID. Yes. Which really impacted one of my projects as well. But yeah, like the projects were really nice.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Obviously, not all of them were super. great. Now that I look back and watch them, they're like, what was I thinking when I was making that? It's all a learning experience. No, I agree. And what are all very focusing on? Yeah, I mean, different things. So,

Starting point is 00:15:57 like, I've come from my heart of being a director or like an editor mainly, but we were obviously rotated around because with this practical work, you're learning about other roles and responsibilities on set and all that. So I was a producer for one of them. I did really like it, but it was fine, I guess.

Starting point is 00:16:13 Then I was a writer for one. I did script supervision for one of them. Then I was an editor and colorist for one. So different things. But in the last year? But last year, I picked the practical project, which is the 10-minute short film that you have to make. Because some of my colleagues in my class,

Starting point is 00:16:31 they got to pick the writing course instead. So they had to write a feature-length script. So I picked the short film one. I was the director. Okay, so I get not going to put myself on a high horse, but I was the director, the writer, the editor, the colorist, the music composer. And I also, I played the music as well. And I acted in it, which is horrible.

Starting point is 00:16:54 Really? Yeah, and it's not great. I was going to say, tell us what you didn't do on that film. It's not because I wanted to be like, no, I can do everything. But it was because you're doing a student project. You didn't have to wear a lot of hats. Because you said there were probably 15 people in your class, it sounds like the crew is not that big. Exactly, exactly.

Starting point is 00:17:18 And because we had to kind of simultaneously do these projects. So we had, I think, four projects in total, the short films. So we had four short films. So each person was kind of working on all of them and helping each other out with different roles. And then we had to simultaneously help each other out. So we didn't really have the manpower to be like, okay, now you can edit and then you will do this and that. and like the luxury. So it had to do a lot of things.

Starting point is 00:17:43 But how did you manage everything? It's so much. Even acting. Acting and directing. They're acting. I'm not an actor at all. I keep telling myself and could maybe like, okay, maybe this time I'll be able to act.

Starting point is 00:17:56 No, I'm not at all. But I had to just out of like, I was trying to be M. Night Shyamalan, you know, and bake my cameo. Okay, okay. But also it was more of like, I didn't have a choice and we needed a character. And like we couldn't find none.

Starting point is 00:18:09 other actors. We were like, okay, fine. Me and my producer were both in one scene together as like extras of sorts. So we're like, okay, fine, we'll just show up in this and then cringe for the rest of our lives while we watched this movie. You're on a speaking role? Yes, it was. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, I had a decent, okay, I wouldn't say decent screen time, but I had like about maybe a minute of screen time. So how was the film Indian? Yeah, the film, the film turned out very nicely. I'll give a bit of a background for the film. So the film's called Swan Song. And because this was my dissertation project and my last one before I get out of uni, I wanted it to be a little bit of sentimental and special. So two things

Starting point is 00:18:49 that I really value or like I'm passionate about is film and then music. I love music. I love composing and writing songs. I play piano and guitars and sing also. So you are for a singer. Yeah. I do sing. So yeah, I wanted to combine both of those. And okay, so this. So this is a singer. So This movie has a lot of different inspirations. So one thing that you find in this region, or like at least with South Asians, perhaps, you may find it everywhere in the world, but it's one thing where a lot of the families, I would say, it's not generalized, obviously, but a lot of the times you find that they don't really value jobs that are in the media field or in art fields.

Starting point is 00:19:28 And they like, okay, pick something that's more serious and pick something that you'll be able to make money from. And they don't see these type of recreational courses as something that is of value. So the story is of this 14-year-old girl, Nina, who wants to pursue her passion for music, but her parents are very conservative and they don't believe in her passion being something valuable. So they want to push her to just continue studying and get good grades because that's all that matters to them. So it's kind of like how she deals with that and like there's a whole story and all. I would recommend that you watch it.

Starting point is 00:20:02 Yeah, I mean, I will get the link. We'll share it. Yeah, definitely. to your performance horrible but yeah it was a nice experience very extremely DIY

Starting point is 00:20:15 it was a self-funded project me and my producer who's also one of my very close friends self-funded it at a very low-budget project we filmed a lot of it in like either my house or my friend's house

Starting point is 00:20:26 so the movie is just a drama film but it kind of jumps in and out of like dream versus reality of sorts so it's a battle between what she wants to be and like her imagination and what her reality is like. So we have a lot of scenes where she's playing the piano or she's like on stage and she's performing and all that. So we wanted to use schools like our own school even just as like a nice tie-in together. But because of COVID,

Starting point is 00:20:53 this is at the height of COVID, they had really strict guidelines and they said no, sorry, we will not let you use the school. So we had to even DIY that. So we took my friend's dad's warehouse and we put like black cloth around and we kind of simulated like an auditorium of sorts. She had a piano there already though I know I'm jumping ahead of myself but like the movie has a lot of different inspirations from other films so one sequence, the one that's at the end of the film I don't want to give any spoilers but she's playing the piano. That one is inspired by Lala Land where

Starting point is 00:21:24 Ryan Gawson's character plays the piano like there's a whole nice sequence some of the film is like inspired by her like the color and Joker as well some parts of it is inspired by Black Swan So there's like different things. So for one of the scenes where she's playing the piano in that warehouse now, because we wanted that light, the spotlight type of effect for the light, we had to get like some fog into it, but we didn't have a fog machine. So my friend, he waked his lungs out trying to get fog.

Starting point is 00:21:51 Oh, okay. That should have been written in a risk assessment via producer. Yeah. But like we didn't have a choice. It wasn't like we forced him. He said it's fine. That was one of them and then one of the lights was about a fall over and burn and all that. So you have these type of situations, but everything was under control.

Starting point is 00:22:14 But it seems like a fun production. Yeah, it was fun. It was fun. Like one of the sad parts is because of COVID, they had really strict guidelines on like the equipment we could take out. We have a small film faculty. I don't know how it is in the UK campus. But because we have a small department, we don't have a lot of equipment. And we mainly use the black magic cinema cameras and the focus. okay once. So at that time, because they had really strict guidelines on the equipment,

Starting point is 00:22:39 they had these rules that they needed to sanitize everything and then give it out to the next group. But our schedules kind of flashed. And so we didn't get to use the nice 4K cameras and we had to use a Sony A7 instead. Oh, yeah, that is sad. Yeah, it was sad. Like I can imagine if we used the 4K would have looked really different. It would have looked more like a proper film. But it doesn't look that bad. Like the E.S. I mean, green and noise on the footage really helps, I guess. It's impressive that despite the conditions, you still managed and, you know, didn't discourage you, didn't stop. Yeah, definitely.

Starting point is 00:23:19 Yeah, I think everyone was really, like, I'm thankful that the team and, like, my friends in class were all very, like, wanted to help each other out and, like, sincerely had their whole heart and every project that they were working on. So that really helped. And was it still, if this was the final project? project in the third year, were there still such impacts of COVID if COVID happened in your second year? You're saying like, for example, if it happened second year, then would it still? No, I mean, if it happened in a second year, it would be probably much worse, right? Yes, yeah, yeah. The COVID actually hit us in second year, like towards the end of second year.

Starting point is 00:23:56 So in second year, we had to make like a five-minute short film. But because of COVID had recently started and like the whole lockdown situation happened, we couldn't film that short film so we all we had to do is really submit the documents and then they had some alternative assignment that we had to do. We didn't really film that thing and then it went on for like

Starting point is 00:24:16 as you know for like a couple of years so then third year happened and it was still going on. People are trying to be careful and everything. So with the short film did you send it to any festivals? Yeah I did.

Starting point is 00:24:29 So it's gone to a lot of festivals but it has at the moment about four to five selections It's like still right now Yeah, still right now Yeah So we got one recently At this student world

Starting point is 00:24:40 Impact Film Festival That happens in US So that one We were quarter finalists For the best super short film For that Oh Yeah

Starting point is 00:24:48 I mean You said before it Sounds like It's not such a I don't want to say Shouldn't have big expectations But now what you say It doesn't sound like that

Starting point is 00:24:58 Yeah I mean Regardless of like the Restraints we had With like the equipment or like the locations or whatever. I think it's a decent film. I'm not saying that because it's my child. But it's, it turned out fine.

Starting point is 00:25:10 And I think it strikes a chord with a lot of people because it's a very sensitive topic. If you're like going through that situation, that the main character is going through. Like a lot of the times I've heard that people have actually cried at the end of the movie after they've seen it. Because it is an emotional film and it doesn't end happily.

Starting point is 00:25:26 It ends on a sad note. Then I will reconsider if I will watch it. No, you should. I would love to hear what you think about it. Yes, so it's still on a festival But any awards so far? Yeah, so the awards we got For one of the festivals we got Best Short Film Award for that

Starting point is 00:25:45 Then we got quarter finalists for the best super short For the other festival We've had a couple of selections as well And this year we also got a chance to Show the film at Comic-Con Which happens in the region So at least film in Comic-Con So yeah, we showed it over there

Starting point is 00:26:00 And we had a little panel session about the film It was a film about indie filmmaking in the region. So we had another film as well that the directors come from Pakistan. Which flew in and he was impressive, yeah. Yeah, showing his film were there as well. It was a nice event. And it was nice. I mean, it's because these panels over there at Comic-Con,

Starting point is 00:26:21 they have like community panels where they just, people, part of the pop culture community, they come in and then they talk about, you know, their different topics. So we didn't have like the full crowd of the audience, but it was nice. There were people there asking questions. Yeah, still. It sounds great.

Starting point is 00:26:34 And I sometimes, when I speak to people, I hear that one of the reasons why they don't send films to festivals is budget. But judging from what you said, it sounds like you prepared in advance. Did you have like budget separated for festivals or how did you go about it? Yeah. I mean, when me and my producer, because this was completely self-funded, so we split it like 50-50, the budget for the film. Oh, so you were not raising. No, not at all. It was completely self-funded.

Starting point is 00:27:02 the movie. Why don't? I think in the UK campus, because they have a larger scale, it's part of your curriculum, right? That you need to raise money for it. I think so. Yeah. For us, it wasn't really. So if we wanted to, we could. But it was like not one of the prerequisites that we have to do that.

Starting point is 00:27:20 And can you say what was the budget? Yeah, sure. It was about 2K dirums. So that would be what divided by 4.5. I'm not sure how much that is in pounds. So like about 500 pounds? I guess so. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:27:36 Yeah. Then it makes sense. Yeah. It's, oh my God. It's a low budget and such a successful. Now it's a great example for the listeners that you can make the success with a low budget. Yeah. Honestly, you can.

Starting point is 00:27:51 I think if you have a creative mindset, you can do anything you want. Yeah. All about stepping out of your comfort zone and out of the box. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So when me and my producer were talking about the budget, initially and just deciding how much is going to go and where and what all. So we did discuss that yes, we will be putting some of the budget for film festivals because we wanted this to

Starting point is 00:28:11 circulate. We wanted to get those accolades if that would happen. And so we did set aside and then we looked at a lot of the film festivals. We shorted listed a lot of them. So I think there were 20 or 25 or so. And then we would see, okay, how well known is this? How likely are we to maybe perhaps get a selection in this? And then we shortlisted them. So in total, like we perhaps had to spend a little extra, but it was like a mutual discussion of that. And then we were like, okay, we can afford this. This is like, it became both of our children, like the film. So we both had like a sentimental investment in.

Starting point is 00:28:46 We didn't mind spending a little extra. And what was the criteria based on what you were choosing those festivals? There were different things. We mainly targeted festivals that were like in the region. So like in the GCC region or South Asian film festivals. or just even East Asian ones. We submitted to a couple in Europe and then also just a couple in a US.

Starting point is 00:29:09 But mainly we targeted like our local region because of the story. We felt that perhaps people in the region would more likely relate to the story and then, you know, maybe selected for their film festival because of that. Yeah, it was mainly because that. And when you say in the region, do you mean Middle East or country or what area are we talking about?

Starting point is 00:29:30 Yeah, it's Middle East. So it's Middle East. So it's just that. the GCC region. So you have like you have UAE, you have Saudi Arabia, you have like, mainly the, I mean, when I say in the region, it was mainly UAE and then like our home countries. India, Pakistan, we have Bangladesh as well. And then we have some other countries also. I think we submitted one to China as well. And maybe Japan also. I'm not sure. I don't remember. Yeah. And what does GCC stand for? Gulf something?

Starting point is 00:30:00 Yes. So the GCC stands. for a Gulf Cooperation Council. It's Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and then UAE. So it will be the peninsula, right? Yeah. Yeah, that makes sure it.

Starting point is 00:30:16 Just a quick one. If you enjoy our podcast, please give us a review on your favorite podcast app, subscribe or share it with your friends. For more information, visit the show notes. Thank you and back to the show. So from your time at university, can you share some advice?

Starting point is 00:30:32 for either students or people who want to study at university? Sure, so film-related or just in general? You can say both or whatever it comes to your mind. Yeah, so I think university is a great experience. I feel like maybe perhaps some people may choose not to go to university and all that's up to them. But I would recommend going to university. Compared to school, it's a more freeing experience. You feel more independent.

Starting point is 00:30:58 If you get a chance to study abroad from where you've grown up, then that's added bonus, I guess. I feel like an adult, finally. But yeah, it's a nice place. You get to meet new people. You can reinvent yourself, you know, and just start fresh if you really need that from school. And film related, I think, again, like,

Starting point is 00:31:17 like I was saying, it's like some people may, you know, just maybe rely on online courses and, like, YouTube and then just practically practice their skills and then make sure films are like on and on. Or then people then go to film school or do, like, degrees and stuff like that instead. and then learn the skills there. For me, I think it worked out. It has helped me just gain connections and network with people.

Starting point is 00:31:38 And then just practice my skills and then use equipment that I probably wouldn't have had access to if I didn't go to film school and then learn a software. Like, because of going to film school, I learned about DaVinci, a result, the editing software. I used to edit on like Sony Vegas and not even Premiere Pro because it was paid. And I was like, I'm not going to get the shady, and I'm not going to get the shady way of getting the software. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, and like I, you know, there were other resources as well that I got a chance to.

Starting point is 00:32:10 Yeah, I was about to ask, why did you actually pick to study a student instead of learning by yourself about what you just said. It makes sense to me. Yeah, I think it helps, I feel. Like, yes, sure, you maybe perhaps in the time that, like, you know, I had three years of studying, there was a lot of stuff that we did a lot of theoretical work in our thing. It wasn't just learning about the film skills and then going out filming and then coming back.

Starting point is 00:32:32 And it was a lot of theoretical parts. We learned we watched movies, which when I described this to my friends, they're like, wow, your course is so easy. Like, we'd watch movies in class, talk about the movies, write a couple of essays. That was literally like our classes. But like that also was enlightening. And it kind of, you realize like maybe to people on the outside who don't understand the process as much, they may just think, oh, you just grab your camera and there's film something.

Starting point is 00:32:56 Wow, voila, it's over. But there's like a lot of thought process that goes behind it. And there's, you could say, sign. behind making movies. Do you learn to appreciate it then when you look at them in a more detail? Yeah, and also I feel like it makes you think about films different. Because we also watched films and then we did analysis, focused on different topics and before I wouldn't do that before.

Starting point is 00:33:19 Exactly, exactly. It makes you look different. And can you say some films that you watched just to see if we watched the same one? Yeah, sure. We watched a Vertigo by Alfred in Chicago. Yeah. We watched 2001 A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick as well. That was the first film we watched in class that everyone was horrified after watching it because it's so long.

Starting point is 00:33:41 And they're like, it doesn't make sense, but it's a great film. It's a classic. It sounds the same. Yeah, yeah. I think we didn't change the course much. And I think we maybe had like a year gap. Like you would have been my senior if I went to the UK campus. Yes, yes.

Starting point is 00:33:56 Like one year above. Okay. It sounds like the same curriculum. It's cool. I didn't expect it, Subiot. So then, how did you start leading your way into the industry of the university? Yeah, so I think while I was at university, I got the chance to, one of my professors actually helped me out with this, but I got the chance to work at a small internship for four months with a company called Namshy.

Starting point is 00:34:20 Namshy is kind of like a mini Amazon, but it just deals with retail. So they deal with like selling clothes and makeup and like accessories and all those. So different brands, so they just have a lot of brands. I was the videographer, video editor for them for these four months. I'm just working on their campaigns and their content, fashion videos mainly. And so is it regional or worldwide? It's mainly in the region. So mainly in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and all, like the GCC region.

Starting point is 00:34:49 But I think they do also ship worldwide with that. But yeah, so the projects, like they had a marketing campaign for it. They were launching like a sportswear brand. So I worked on that. And then one of the projects I really liked was, on the Bursh Khalifa when it's new years, what they do is they put a lot of videos. So companies can buy slots, like advertising slots, basically. And then they can put videos up on the Bersh Khalifa and project them.

Starting point is 00:35:12 So like entire scale of the Burskhalifa, you can have your ad play, for example. Is it like projected on a building? Yeah. It's not projected on, but it has like screens. So the Burshalifa has screens on it, like on the outside. If you search up LED show Burskhalifa, it's fine. Like we have. So Bersh Khalifa and the book.

Starting point is 00:35:31 by a mall are like right next to each other. You have the mall and then right next to what you have the Bush Khalifa. So they have this fire and water fountain show. It's super grand one with like opera music and all that and all that. And then sometimes they have this light show as well, which is the fountain show and it's kind of choreographed with the Bush Khalifa as well. So the projection kind of matches. It's a cool thing.

Starting point is 00:35:51 So for Numshi, they had a New Year's Eve video advertisement. So I got a chance to edit that advertisement and they put it up on. Oh, so you're at first. It was shown. Yeah, it was up on the virtuality. I mean, I worked with, it was not just me. It was me and my line manager and then another person in our team. All three of us were editing it together.

Starting point is 00:36:12 But yeah, it was nice to see that video just on the big building. Yeah. That sounds great achievement. Not everyone can say that my work was created. Yeah. Then after that, I still had uni. Then I had my third year. And then after third year, then I took a break for a bit.

Starting point is 00:36:31 because my dissertation project sucked the life out of me. So yeah, so then I took a break and then I started applying for jobs, mainly videographer, video editor jobs, because I knew that I probably wouldn't find a lot of film production or production house-related jobs here in this country or the city at least. Because again, like I said, like it's not that up-and-coming. It's still very niche. A lot of the movies here that are locally made are all mainly indie films.

Starting point is 00:36:55 They're not big-budgeted, proper films. So, yeah, so then I started just applying in different companies. and I saw this opening for the Informa job opening. And I applied there and then, yeah, that's where I'm still now, a year and a half later. I wonder, because from my experience or what I hear from people, what it works like in the UK, it's like you get plenty of rejections and you are lucky if you find something.

Starting point is 00:37:18 Is it the same there or? So in my case, I'm very thankful. I did not have that tough time to find a job. So this was one, the informer job that I have now is one of the first few that I kind of applied for. I applied for many simultaneously, and some didn't answer, some just flat out, just rejected without even calling me up or anything. But the Informa one was like, you know, one of the first few.

Starting point is 00:37:40 But like, I have friends who have gone through hell trying to find a job. Yeah. They've hop-jobbed a lot in the past like year or so. They've like skipped like five, six jobs. Yeah, I'm glad this on their stand up. So can you introduce your job? What is it that you do in there? Yeah, sure.

Starting point is 00:37:59 So at Informa, so Informa has multiple divisions. So we're an event conferences and trainings business. So we manage training courses for different companies or events and conferences you have all across the world. They have lots of different branches, but the main head office is in UK in London. And then we have one that's over here in Dubai and then we have multiple. So the one here, so Informa is like the mother company and then we have multiple divisions. So I'm in Informa Connect.

Starting point is 00:38:25 And in Informa Connect, my job is, this is my land. this is my land manager came up with this term himself, is digital experience associate, and then now it's kind of turned into delivery coordinator. So I'm basically, it's a very vague title, to be honest, but I was basically hired to do like content work, create marketing campaigns or like then edit videos and all of that. And initially we had a lot of plans of making these like funny Saturday night live,

Starting point is 00:38:52 the office kind of sketches to kind of market one of our products, which was an online live streamed digital event platform. Because after COVID, what happened? They kind of transformed because all of their events before were in person. And then COVID happened. And then that defeats like you can't really do in person events anymore. So they were like, okay, let's adapt and make our events online now. And then they started this thing called fast forums.

Starting point is 00:39:16 But then events that were like in a couple of hours. In two hours, you'll be able to watch an event about finance or something. But then that kind of died out because, now everyone's going back to it in person. Because they do not want to think about COVID anymore. So that has completely cancelled out. So I'm not really doing content stuff as much anymore, which is a little sad.

Starting point is 00:39:37 So the film stuff is died down a bit. But I'm doing mainly live streaming and then just helping out with actual conference. And did it include also social media? Kind of, yes. So just mainly YouTube and then Instagram, because those are the two main channels that they have and like Facebook, LinkedIn, all those. But yeah, mainly just the typical you find like in business, PR edits, very like corporatey. Not really a lot of room for creativity.

Starting point is 00:40:05 Yeah, yeah. I guess. So can you describe what does your average day look like? What do you do? Sure. So as much as I would have hoped after uni to go out and film and like, you know, like have. Yeah, we a director have very unpredictable hours. I have a 95 job now, which is.

Starting point is 00:40:25 literally. Very typical office job. But yeah, my typical day is answering emails, going on meeting, doing edits here and there. We do a lot of webinars. So just preparing for that, coordinating with people. A lot of talking to different people and just keeping tracks of everything. But yeah, it does get repetitive at times, as you can imagine with an office job. But sometimes you have a little spark of like, oh, there's something new going on, which is nice. And do you work from home or do you go through office? it's a mix so we work three times a week in the office and then two times from home what do you prefer i actually prefer the office i don't know i think home is i'm as soon as i'm at home i'm already like half of my brain is turned off because i'm in my comfort zone when i'm in the office i'm like okay

Starting point is 00:41:13 yeah this is office i need to get my work done and do you still edit in da vinci or what program you use yeah i know i still do so it's kind of a mix so if it's mainly for work then i do i use premier But it's mainly for my projects. I use Da Vinci because I love the color grading features that DaVinci has. So yeah, I mainly use DaVinci for like the main edits. And then there's any audio stuff, then I do audition. Otherwise it's, yeah, mainly. And since you've got experience with different softwares,

Starting point is 00:41:41 can you say maybe what are the biggest differences or if someone wanted to start editing? Maybe which one would you recommend and why? Okay. So between like Premiere and DaVinci? So I would recommend DaVinci because it's free. Yeah, that's a good point.

Starting point is 00:41:59 Yeah, it's free. And anyone with a good computer that it's able to install on, you can use Da Vinci, you can start using it, and it's literally all the features are free. It's just certain things that you have to pay for, which you're rarely going to use. And once, if you know Da Vinci, then you can easily go on to Premiere and vice versa. The software is very, very similar, and the way the interface also looks like is very, very similar.

Starting point is 00:42:23 So I would say start with Da Vinci Once you're comfortable with that Then you can go to Premiere if you want Yeah that sounds like a good point And at your work How much creativity do you have or do you need to use I don't have that much to be honest When I started out in the job

Starting point is 00:42:42 When things were still about like content And like you know creating like Advertising for like a platform and all that Then it was like a little more creative And I have some of the videos actually on my YouTube channel That we shot in the office with my call colleagues. But now it's not as creative, which is kind of like silver lining that it allows me to stay creative with my own content. Because, you know, when you do have like a night to fudge or someone

Starting point is 00:43:05 listening is like in uni still and they're, you know, maybe going to step out and do their job, it does eat a lot of your time. Like you spend more time in the office than you do like at home with your family. So your whole week is gone with just doing your work and your job. And then you only have the weekends. And then for me, because I'm very introverted, I use the week. weekends just to recharge my social battery so I can get ready for the next week so that it's like I don't have a lot of time to do my own projects but like thankfully maybe because I don't do like the creative stuff for my work it gives me like a push to keep doing my creative stuff in my free time so at least I channel that and I don't lose it. Yeah yeah I was going to say that at least

Starting point is 00:43:45 you don't drain your creative energy and then it's left out for your personal project so it sounds Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And what is like your maybe next position or your future goal when it comes to career? Do you have any? Yeah, I have some job prospects that are currently going on at the moment within the same company, but perhaps somewhere else in another location. But I plan to move from Dubai. I don't want to stay here, just see the world and maybe perhaps settle somewhere else. Job-wise, my dream job is to work for Pixar. Oh, that sounds beautiful. Yeah, it's been for many years. Like, it's my dream, like, to get into Pixar and work for Pixar. But if I had to do something on my own, I want to start my own production house and just do that. And that production house primarily work to help fund indie films and indie projects and just back them up.

Starting point is 00:44:43 So it's kind of like counterintuitive where it's a production house, but you're doing indie films. But yeah, that's the idea. And do you know a location where would you want to move to? Probably U.S. I have a lot of family there. So maybe there. But honestly, UK, U.S., Australia, Canada, wherever. But yeah, just to see what place would give me the most benefit.

Starting point is 00:45:08 I think probably U.S. because that's the home of film. So would it be somewhere around L.A.? Yeah, maybe, yeah. So my family is in, like, California area. So it'll be somewhere there, most likely. Yeah. And if you worked in a Pixar, what position would you want to do there? I would love to, like, direct a film, like a Pixar film.

Starting point is 00:45:32 It's always a good. Yeah, one of the films that I actually didn't get a chance to film because of COVID, this was part of my uni. That was kind of a very Pixar-y kind of concept. It was a very, like, wholesome type of story. But, you know, like how Pixar always uses different concepts. to tell a very unique, wholesome story. So it was kind of like that.

Starting point is 00:45:53 But I think for Pixar job-wise, either maybe something editing-related or if not directing, because that's shooting for the stars. You never know in many years in a few years. Yeah, honestly. Never know. But yeah, editing or even just concept,

Starting point is 00:46:06 like writing even. It is. And what is then your favorite film from Pixar? Toy Story. Yeah, it's very subtle well for me. They brainwashed me to think that my toys were alive. No, if you consider what the first one went out,

Starting point is 00:46:26 it's been such a long time and it's such a beautiful film and such a good one. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Even in my adult years, I go back and watch some movies when I would be like it. I recently watched the new one Elemental that came out. Oh, I haven't seen it. Yeah, it's a nice one. So this time they asked the question, what if elements had emotions? So, yeah, they had the fire, water, earth.

Starting point is 00:46:49 and all of that. It was nice. They tackled like a serious topic about minorities and like racism and all that. But then you know like how they did it with inside out as well. I don't know if you've watched that movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they talked about like personality and dreams and all of that and like how a child's mind works. But in a very simple and very easy to understand about anyone. Yeah, I really like the way they tell this. Yeah, it went cast to this. I completely agree with you because despite my age, I also like to watch animation films. and because I grew up with it, I agree that the Pixar is just amazing. Yeah. I completely agree with your dream.

Starting point is 00:47:26 Cool. So can we discuss your personal projects? What do you do in your free time? Yeah, sure. So at the moment, I've kind of taken up an interest in music production. So I'm working on finally my album. So after making the songs. I didn't expect that.

Starting point is 00:47:45 Yeah. I've had like my songs written for you. years and I'm like okay you know what it's time let me start making yeah so yeah I'm getting into that and the another reason for that is like I'm a very like jack of all trades type of person like I want to know how to do everything as overachieving as that sounds but I like learning new softwares and I thought okay let me try to learn Ableton which is the software I'm learning now Ableton yeah actually I spoke with I think it was episode six with Simon and he mentioned Ableton that he uses that as well.

Starting point is 00:48:18 Because I've never heard of it before. Just like, okay, wow. And now you mention it. It's probably good software. Yeah, yeah. It's going good. I really like it. So, yeah, that's on the side.

Starting point is 00:48:28 I had gotten into CGI and visual effects at one point with that whole other world. So I started learning Blender. And then I'm sure you know about this Andrew Price. I believe that's his name. He makes a donut. There's a YouTube tutorial series of make a donut with me. I don't know. I will have a little.

Starting point is 00:48:47 Yeah, it's a cool series for like beginners if they want to learn how to use Blender. You follow along and he teaches you like the basic aspects of the visual effects and all that. And then he just, in the end, you end up with a donut as in a project. You know, I did episode with someone else who was learning CG as well. And they mentioned donut as well. And I didn't know the context, but now it makes sense. Listening back to this, I will probably be embarrassed. but now it oh no no not at all but yeah i started like i really wanted to go into that again because i wanted

Starting point is 00:49:23 learn about that but that's like a whole other world like it's crazy and it's like so much respect honestly for people who are in visual effects but yeah then i i kind of it was too daunting for me so i gave that up and then i was like okay let me just do music instead i know a bit of it anyways at least you can devote more time to the music yeah yeah exactly other than that like video edits and all of the content-wise, yeah, I have my YouTube channel. So I post different things. Honestly, different things. So it's like, some of it's vlogs.

Starting point is 00:49:54 I have like this poetic anthology series. So it's just poems that I iterate with like some stock footage that I filmed on like my trips and stuff. Other than that, I have like this horror found footage kind of series. It's like these one minute videos, but it's just like horror like found footage with with my like old family camcorder that I have. It's just random things to be honest. It's things that I, you know, come up with.

Starting point is 00:50:16 randomly. Are you then YouTuber or even influencer? Well, influencer, I'm not too sure. Honestly, I don't put the stuff on YouTube so that, you know, like I earn money or become. Like, that'll be a means source of income. I don't think I

Starting point is 00:50:32 can ever see myself doing that. Because it's so difficult and it's so competitive. That you're really, like, it's, a lot of it just comes down to luck. That something just strikes with people and then it becomes trending and then you're a hit suddenly. And I guess a lot of time, as well, well, not just overnight success with free videos, but takes

Starting point is 00:50:50 plenty of videos, yeah. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I know, like, a lot of YouTubers, they claim that they've, like, cracked the code and they know how the algorithm works and all that, which I mean, sure. Maybe it works for them. I would say maybe on TikTok. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Algorithm works differently.

Starting point is 00:51:08 Yeah, and on TikTok, you can easily blow up, like, compared to YouTube at least. It's very easy for you to get, like, a million. Yeah, I heard. I started posting short clips from podcast as well on TikTok. And I can say that the number of views is much bigger than when I post views on YouTube. Yeah, yeah. I think that's just how the nature of that platform is. Very fast-based consuming content type.

Starting point is 00:51:37 I'm still waiting for those millions, but maybe one day. Yeah, maybe one day, definitely. And with your album, What is it that you do there actually? Do you sing, play the piano, do everything? Everything. Really? Yeah, kind of, yeah.

Starting point is 00:51:55 So, I mean, it started, like, the songs I have are just, like, voice notes of my phone that I've recorded with me playing the piano and just composing the lyrics and all that. But now I'm like, as I learn the software, like Ableton, I'm starting to then, I want to convert those into, like, actual songs, ideas. So do you actually want to, like, release even physical album? Yeah, yeah, that's the plan. I mean, like, physical album, probably not. I don't know.

Starting point is 00:52:20 But I want my music, like, on Spotify and all of that. Like, I have plans for that. Not this year, probably. It's too soon. Maybe sometime next year, once I've finished. But maybe that may be a career for the future. Yeah, maybe. Maybe I'll just pack my bags on film and be like, yeah, I'm going to become a singer.

Starting point is 00:52:39 And what is the genre of the music? It's, like, all it. I don't know, it's like pop of sorts. It's very indie. I don't know how to describe it. It's not R&B or anything like that, not at all. I can't wrap to speak. That'll be cool.

Starting point is 00:52:57 Not at all. But yeah, I think it will be like, it's not rock, really, at least at the moment. It's very like indie pop, I would say. Is it in English? Yeah, it's in English. And I show you what language do speak at home with your family? English. English.

Starting point is 00:53:14 It's a funny thing. So, like, I'm from Pakistan, so we speak Urdu as our main. We have multiple languages in Pakistan, but Urdu is the main one. So my parents speak in Urdu to us and like English. They know English very well. But I cannot speak Urdu. I don't have the consonants to speak it. So I just speak in English.

Starting point is 00:53:33 I don't know. It's like, because I've grown up here. My environment, I wasn't grown like that hometown environment. So I can understand it completely. And I can, to some extent, read it. it and write a bit, but then I'll just respond to you in English. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, and with the music, is it already, like, on your YouTube as well,

Starting point is 00:53:55 or you are still in a process of recording everything? No, it's not on my YouTube, so it's literally just in, like, my voice notes at the moment. Okay, okay. And what about the lyrics? What do you write about? Just different things. I think sometimes it's quite sad, my music. it's a way of channeling my emotions,

Starting point is 00:54:16 not saying that I'm very emotionally depressed or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Not that sad. Yeah, but different things. Some of it's like not really from my life, but it's just inspired by other things like I've seen or, you know, like other songs that I've heard. It's a mix.

Starting point is 00:54:33 And is there maybe a singer who's your like a big inspiration or motivation? Yeah, there are multiple singers. but I think I really like this artist called Eden. He's indie artist from Ireland. And to be honest, his music is very, like, very different. Like, if you'd hear it, you'd probably be like, what is this? Usually, it's just like a mix of sounds. I guess a general person will just think that.

Starting point is 00:55:00 But his music is nice. It's very experiment. Yeah. I don't need to have milk I, honestly, if no idea. I like a lot of indie artists. And then I like a lot of music from the 17. in the 80s. One of my favorite bands is, like, Led Zeppelin.

Starting point is 00:55:14 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, different types. I love music in general. And if you were to pick film or music, which one would you pick? Oh, that's tough. Like, if I can only do one for the rest of my life? Yeah, or which one, maybe for a career.

Starting point is 00:55:32 Okay. Probably film, to be honest. Because film, you can have music and film. But you can't have film in music. Have you got favorite composer for films? For films? I think the pickle Hans Zimmer. Sure.

Starting point is 00:55:48 I agree. Sure. Like classic. Yes, he's really famous. That's the one name everyone knows. But I really like it. Sometimes when I'm just sitting, working, and I eat some noise in the background.

Starting point is 00:55:58 I just put some of his scores on. But yeah, there are other composers that I really like. But like from there, like, just their music or a particular film, perhaps. Can you mention a film? where we enjoyed the music? Well, let's say the score to sound more proficient.

Starting point is 00:56:16 Yeah. I really like the music from Logan, the one with Hugh Jackman, the Wolverine. The one, supposedly the last one. Yeah, exactly. Supposedly. Yeah. Joker had really nice music.

Starting point is 00:56:30 It's very nice. Then Batman, also the recent one with Robert Pattinson, had some good music as well. Even Tenet, Christopher Nolan's Tenet, also had, even though Hans Zimmer didn't do the music. There's like multiple. Yeah, it's good, at least some examples of those. Cool.

Starting point is 00:56:47 And as we'll be approaching the end, you can promote yourself, your work, where people can find you, where people can follow you. So I'm on YouTube, for sure. So you just search up my name, Neha Lalani. You'll find me. Please like and subscribe. I'm there on LinkedIn as well for any, like, collaborations I think at all.

Starting point is 00:57:09 Work related. I have Instagram. Yeah, so I have like a portfolio type of one. And then I have like my own personal blog page. Yeah, but my Instagram, which is lonely light motif, that one has some of my graphic work. So I've done like some graphic design work. I used to just for my free time mess around and Photoshop and make book covers and like

Starting point is 00:57:30 film posters, fake ones. Yeah, so that has like some of my graphics. Sounds like a multi-talented artist from. what I heard. And that like you've got a lot of time or good time management. Yeah, this is like my passion. This is my love for doing stuff like this. Like not saying that I'm horrible at other things, but like I enjoy it. It's great if you've got more skills and you like broaden your perspective because then you will be able to stand out from the others when you look in a career or somewhere. Yeah. And it's especially in this industry if you're trying to

Starting point is 00:58:07 make your name for yourself or even just, you know, put your work out there. It's very difficult because it's very competitive, you know. Now anyone with a phone can film something or anyone with a computer can download a software and just learn how to use it. I agree. I'm just making this film industry. Yeah, exactly, exactly. And I think it's just to anyone, I would say, just be authentic and just be yourself.

Starting point is 00:58:29 You as a person are as unique. So you don't need to pretend to be someone else. Even if it's not a big fan following, you will. have someone who likes to watch your video. Yeah, some good inspiring words. Yeah, but what is the film industry like in the area where we live? Because you said it's still growing, but I feel like that there are many international productions that film there, because you can see plenty of films from there.

Starting point is 00:58:58 Yeah, yeah, no, definitely. Like, we have a lot of Hollywood films that come here and film. Or just to mention, like, the new Mission Impossible. I just watched it last night. Oh, wow. How was it? Yeah, it was good. It was nice. I'm looking forward to the second part. But yeah, they had a whole scene in the Abu Dhabi airport, which quite frankly, I don't think that was the Abu Dhabi airport.

Starting point is 00:59:18 That was, I think, at the airport in Dubai that they were saying it was Abu Dhabi. Okay. To all the listeners, that was not Abidabi. But yeah, no, like we have a lot of, like, I think even Dune, they filmed here. I heard as well, yeah. Yeah, so they have a lot of things. But locally, yes, there are many filmmakers here. But they're not, perhaps not as marketed as like you have other films, for example.

Starting point is 00:59:41 But yeah, I personally got a chance to work. So one of my professors at uni was, is film director. She has made one of our films in the region. So it's their Netflix as well. So she was working on another. Yeah, it was a nice experience. But she was working on another feature film that she wanted to make locally as well and film it here. So she asked me if I'd want to work on it with her with the scripts and then go on to production.

Starting point is 01:00:05 So right now, it's on hold at the moment, the project. But yeah, it was nice working with her closely, and I was really looking forward to working. Yeah, that sounds great. I would then finish it for today. Thank you very much for a time. It was a pleasure to meet you.

Starting point is 01:00:21 It was inspiring story. Thank you for sharing that. And yeah, thank you very much. Thank you so much, is that how you pronounce your name? Yes, yes. Yeah, perfect. Okay, great. Thank you so much.

Starting point is 01:00:32 This was a lovely, lovely opportunity. and looking forward to your future projects. Thank you. And your million views. Oh, one day, one day, hopefully. Definitely. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

Starting point is 01:00:47 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Produce Bye. Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast at, leave a review or send us your feedback. For more information about the host, links from the episode and ways to connect with us, visit the show notes. If you know someone who would be an ideal guest for our podcast,

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Produced By - #30 - Neha Lalani: When Multitalented Artist From Dubai Explores Different Forms of Art

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