Dino’s Interview! ---- VJ of IM

How did the whole journey on IM start for you?
www.mag4you.netYaar I was always a singer, never a VJ and had been singing professionally since age 15. I had made a song called 'Tum Ne' and I took to it Najam-us-Zaman of IM. He really liked the song and when I later received a call from him, I thought it was to shoot a video for the song but he actually wanted me to do a show on IM as the channel was searching for VJs. Around that time I had just dropped out of IBA since I was going to Minneapolis for higher studies. But then 9/11 happened and I took up the job as VJ and the rest is history.

It all took us by surprise when we found out that you guys all left the channel. What exactly happened?
Well, the main reason was that we had been working in IM (as long as we were) without thinking about the money. Whether we were being paid enough or were going to let the authority politics bother us, we just did not care. We, for the longest possible time just cared about the fans and made sure we provided them with the best entertainment available and we did not fail in delivering just that. But when it came down to the facts, at IM we were put in the corner and asked whether we would leave all our other individual passions such as singing, modeling, acting etc and this was the point when we simply refused. If the officials at IM want us to be VJs, that's perfectly alright, we will be VJs, lekin yaar we can't leave everything else! They wanted us to sign a two year contract with IM stating that we (the VJs), are not allowed to do anything outside the channel. No acting, no singing, no salary increments, no guarantees that we won't be thrown off the channel in the future. Besides all this, the people running the channel after the main head were playing backstabbing games so that didn't make it any easier and they said it clearly that we either sign the contract or we leave. There were three days full of meetings where we constantly argued with the IM management trying to resolve the issue because we would never want to leave IM; it was like home to all of us! But sadly at the end nothing could be worked out so we had to put our foot down and sadly, we left.

What exactly do you mean 'backstabbing games?
Like meray aur Anoushey kay khilaf games khilana, instigating us against each other. They were already finding replacements for me and Anoushey before this issue even came up! They found one for both me and her!

After IM, other channels followed suit namely The Musik and lately there's news of Geo launching their own music channel. Could getting better offers from these channels be an inclination towards leaving IM?
The offers were always there. I don't mean to sound pig headed but we have been getting offers from every single channel since day one but we never said yes to anyone and the minute we left IM we started getting calls. And at present, we got an offer from ARY and me, Anoushey and Mani. are going to The Musik.

And what would you say about the new VJs at IM?
Well God bless them man. I mean seriously we; Anoushey, Fazain, Mani, all of us never let anyone down. I mean we say totally go for what u want to do. I mean if these kids think they can take the responsibility of projecting a positive image for our kids of today which by the way, is a massive responsibility, then I say God bless them!

Going back to leaving IM, don't you feel that when you guys entered the mainstream media as new comers, IM gave you the right projection you needed etc. So won't you be leaving something behind?
Yaar honestly speaking, me and Anoushey were literally on the verge of crying when we were walking out of IM because we put our blood, sweat and tears into that place and it will always be like home to us. I mean Ghazanfar Ali is like a father figure for me and I guess when you're in high school you have friends and u have memories but then when you have to move to a bigger and brighter life and you move on to college so you see what I'm talking about. But no matter what happens, Indus Music will forever be home to us and any day after all this ruckus is over if our channel needs us we will be the first ones to go back home.

So can we get a sneak peak on what you guys will be doing for The Musik?
Sir woh aap chordain! (laughs)

You do know that your fans out there would like to know what's in store for them don't you?
(Laughs) Well there's going to be a new show which me and Anoushey are planning to do together so that should be fun. We're going to do a pumped up, funked up version of Das Tak Charts! The promos will probably start running a few days after Eid.

Talking more about your music career, there's a lot controversy about your song Pari, that it is a rip off from a track by Spin Doctors namely Two Princess. What would you say about that?
Yaar gaanay mein Spin Doctors kay Two Princess ka riff hai, but if you look at it that way, then any song can resemble any song. The actual version of Pari is really different. Its actually a slow song, this one accidentally sounds like that. But then again, if you can call Pari a rip off then the entire Noori album is a rip off as well.

Hows work on your album coming along? When can we expect it?
The album is complete. It's going to be released in February. The video for my second song 'Aye Sanam' will be out in January which has been directed by Kamran Yaar Kami.

Good luck with that Dino and all your other future projects. Thanks for taking out time to speak
Not a problem dude. Take care and thanks.