Faheem Azam

Early life and background

Azam went to Radio Pakistan after his father died. He says he was handed a script as soon as they heard him. He spent his early twenties in Dera Ismail Khan. [1]

Education

Azam studied computer science. He began studying at NUST around 2004 and 2005. He says he has no academic background in media and is mostly self-taught. After his studies he worked as a data analyst. [1]

Career

Azam started doing a little theatre in 2003. Theatre was his starting point in media because it was the only option available then. He began writing, directing and acting in theatre, and played the character Sweety in Bombay Dreams. His first earnings were 1500 rupees, and he says he was a celebrity in Islamabad although nobody knew him personally. [1]

Azam did some radio work and about four to five years of television. He spent about 11 to 12 years in Islamabad trying to build a media career, and says he was in both Islamabad and Karachi because his family was there. In his view, Islamabad radio and television were still regional rather than national in scale. [1]

Teeli

Azam says he gave up completely on his work in 2017, and that he had lost his confidence and self-esteem. He took a break and spent a month in Lahore. He decided to do things his own way even if it took more time. He says that within a week he was meeting people who wanted to make a digital platform. [1]

Stand-up comedy

Azam's first stand-up set was at an outdoor event, and that experience was poor. He and his group built a platform to welcome people who wanted to try stand-up. The platform was called Comedy Scene. He says it was like an open mic that the group curated, and that the group offered writing coaching, light performance guidance and feedback on every performance. The group did its first show in January 2016. [1]

In 2019 Azam started Comedy Square Pakistan in Islamabad. He says about 24 performers have performed or perform with the group, and that at least 100 people in Karachi have performed stand-up at least once. He says Pakistan's stand-up space has not developed yet, and that the growth of stand-up depends on material people can share with family. [1]

Film

Azam says he has been associated with the film Parey Hut Love. He says he worked with DSLR cameras around 2012 and 2013, and that he did not go to cinemas much, even before COVID. [1]

Current work

Azam says he works between Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore, and that Islamabad now invites him because of his work in Karachi. He says he currently works with an entertainment agency, and that he and others want to start an ongoing series of theatre with weekly performances. He goes to judge theatre events and to visit university colleges. He says he meets fresh graduates who make ads because there is little else for them to do. [1]

Views

Azam says Pakistani filmmakers take about 80 of every 100 things for granted. He says the problem in Pakistani filmmaking is that people keep working the way they have always made things, and that filmmakers in Pakistan do not plan for a film to be watched for 50 years. He says Pakistani script writers get little respect, money or time. He says Waar was celebrated but had weak sound and a weak script. [1]

Azam says Pakistan had no film institution before about 2005 or 2007, and that almost nobody in Pakistan knows film storytelling today. He says people who can make films have not yet grasped film as an art, and that the revival of Pakistan's film industry has not happened. In his view the number of films released is what needs to change, and low budget films made sense as a way to start building an industry. He says the film industry will not be built until films generate money. [1]

Azam names Nadeem Baig, Humayun Saeed and Six Sigma as makers of films that work in Pakistan. He cites Namaloom Afraad, Actor in Law and Load Wedding as examples, and says these films were cheap yet effective, with humour pointed in the right direction. He says Pakistan has no shortage of subjects, stories and personalities for films. [1]

Azam says his main strength has always been observation, and that he can see where a work is weak and where it is not. He says demand creation is the hardest part of any industry. He says about 90 percent of the work behind a success happens under the radar, and that people do not think about the eight or nine years of hardship someone went through earlier. [1]

Azam says Pakistanis suffer from low self-esteem, and that people in Pakistan accept content that offers them a specific kind of validation. He says corporations back TV content that carries their advertising, and that there is a big case study behind House of Cards showing it was built on data. He says Ertugrul was of great quality. [1]

Azam says Musharraf was the only person in 30 to 40 years with a real connection to art. He says the CDA started pumping in money and permissions, that corporate money came rushing in once an environment had formed in which everything was permitted, and that once attention was withdrawn, the energy went out of Islamabad. He says theatre in Karachi and maybe Lahore is growing, and that talent he had not expected turns up in places like Multan once work starts there. [1]

Timeline

2003

Started doing a little theatre.[1]

2004

Began studying at NUST around 2004 and 2005.[1]

2012

Worked with DSLR cameras around 2012 and 2013.[1]

2016

His group did its first stand-up show in January.[1]

2017

Says he gave up completely on his work.[1]

2019

Started Comedy Square Pakistan in Islamabad.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Making Teeli Pakistan's top platform . Thought Behind Things , 2021-03-17.