Yamin Rasheed — of talking birds and storytelling 1/2

On a sleepy Wednesday afternoon, something historic happened. “I don’t like giving interviews,” Yamin started off, “I feel like it is quite boring and bland, and I don’t want to be on the same platform as just about everyone else. But when one of my closest friends asked me for this interview, I obviously accepted.” He then added on later that this was probably his first proper interview in over a decade.

Part One: The Maakanaa story

The world knows Yamin Rasheed as an animator, a pioneer in the field of animation in the Maldives, and most recently the winner of the prestigious Critics Choice Award at the World Film Carnival Singapore. As he spoke of his experience with the production, his eyes light up, with a sense of joy and accomplishment, especially given how he has now become the first ever Maldivian to achieve such an award, against another three or four thousand participants from all over the world.

But this was not the crux of the discussion. As I typed away, sitting across from this inspirational, iconic man, in his office with sunlight drifting across the room, he told me his story. This was the story that not many people know about, yet once he began, it was easy to tell that this is a tale he was proud of, of the journey he began at the tender age at 16.

“I didn’t want to be an artist when I was younger,” he says, making me raise my eyebrows. “I was more interested in science! I still am, and when I was younger I would be so curious about circuits and electricity, to pull things apart and figure out how they work. I was tripping the circuit breaker so many times my dad actually cut off the electricity for my room at some point! However, when I began middle school I was, to my utter dismay, put into the business stream!”

Regardless of his love for engineering, his father had enrolled him in business studies and Yamin did not enjoy a single moment of it. He admitted he was rebellious, didn’t even show up for classes or exams, and when he asked his school administration if he could switch to the science stream, they told him he would have to restart his schooling from scratch. With all these issues, he finally spoke to his father, and admitted that maybe he could give the arts stream a go.

Yamin was 16 years old when he realised he could do something interesting using a whiteboard and a motion camera. He drew on his board, took a shot, erased, and then drew another frame, repeating the process, until he realised what he was doing — his personal journey home to animation. Inspired by the greats such as Walt Disney, he delved into it more and discovered he had a knack for animation and storytelling, and he asked his father for the chance to go further in this field.

As is the sad case for most youth, his father enrolled him in hospitality studies instead. “My dad told me there was no market for animation and making cartoons in the Maldives, so he wanted me to go into tourism. I understand where he’s coming from, of course, tourism was where the big bucks were made, but on my first day of hospitality school, I got bored.”

His father finally heard him out, and listening to the suggestions of friends, decided to see if Television Maldives, TVM, had any opportunities for him. As chance may have it, they did not, but they were impressed by his talent and took him on as a producer. That was where he met one of his truest and closest friends, Ibrahim Hussain Shihab*, or, as he’s known to his friends, aindhy.

“When I told aindhy what I wanted to do, he told me to go ahead and do it, but there were no computers I could access at that time at TVM. So, with aindhy’s suggestion, I wrote up a proposal, presented it to my bosses, and they told me I could go home and work on an animation if I like, and to bring it to them later.” With a slight hint of pride, he added, “In three months, I put together the first ever Maldivian cartoon and pitched it to them.”

The plot of the cartoon revolved around a boy called Abu who was abducted by aliens curious to learn more about humanity — Abu would be their only source of information. While this was already a tip of the hat in the direction of Yamin’s personal interest in science, the producers at TVM also loved it. When he asked them for airtime, they responded by asking him to make it into a series instead. He graciously accepted the opportunity, but then was promptly shipped off for further studies in animation and art. He was only 17 when Abu aired on national television — his first milestone of many.

This was quite a turn in events for Yamin, as he repeatedly stated that he was not learning anything new during his time in Malaysia. The highlight of his time was when they aired his cartoon creation on national TV, the first ever fully Maldivian made cartoon, marking a significant milestone in his life. He was immensely proud, especially for the fact that his parents were proud of him as well.

He did finish his foundation and advanced studies, but throughout the ordeal he kept wondering why he felt it was such a waste go time. “If I wanted the certificate, I’d have to wait two more years! I couldn’t sit and do that for so long, I wanted to do something else, anything! So I dropped out and came back to Malé.”

As soon as he touched land on the white sands of Maldives, he reached out to his friend to establish their own animation studio, Cellmin Animation Studio. Together, he was hoping to break the norm and establish Maldivian animation as a reputed and sought-after field, yet, as with most struggling artists, they had their own unique challenges to overcome.

When aindhy was offered a once in a lifetime opportunity elsewhere they both parted ways — amicably on the professional plane, and Yamin continued to push forward. Without any clients to invest in him, he felt like he’d hit a dead-end, until he was asked to do a 3D model.

The proposition was to do a 3D model of a building, but not being a graphics designer, he asked his clients if he could instead do a virtual tour of said building. He didn’t care about the money, so they agreed to let him do it his way. He reached his second significant milestone when the virtual tour was unveiled in 2004, at an event attended by the President and other high level officials. This was a historic moment, as this virtual tour was the first of its kind in the Maldives, and this opportunity catapulted Yamin into recognition.

“I got more opportunities to do adverts and virtual tours, but I couldn’t take on everything because my studio couldn’t afford any other animators. I still wanted to do something different as this still was not my plan, this was what I had to do to make money.” Yamin reflects on his tale and then brings focus to a very topical point. “One day, as I was wondering if there was anything I could work on that I could do on my own, I saw a stork sitting on a harbour light. I thought to myself, I could make that bird talk if I animated him.” Thus, the concept for Maakanaa Show was born.

A satirical talkshow where two birds were sitting at a table and speaking did not require much locomotion or animation expenses, so that allowed him to work on this himself. He pitched the idea to TVM, but for something like this, they could not afford him at his asking price. Instead of accepting their lower offer, he pitched it to Qasim Ibrahim, owner of Villa Television, VTV, and he struck gold. Qasim was so impressed that not only did he accept the price Yamin pitched him, but took him onboard on a contract that could get him to make Maakanaa Show into a series. Yamin was elated, and quickly hired animators from abroad.

However, as Yamin explained morosely, “The animators that I could afford to hire were all new to the field, barely finished their certificates, and that meant I could not work as I would’ve liked. I had to spend a whole year actually teaching them the necessary skills, which meant I only managed to develop one episode in a year’s time.”

When he finally showed the finished pilot product to the VTV producers, they were hooked. “When I told them that it would take a lot more time for the next episode, they said they had contracted me to provide one episode each week, so I had to change the way we were working. I had to make my animators work double time, and gave them the pay to make up for it.”

In this way, Yamin managed to produce more content as per the demands, but soon enough he wanted to do something different once more. He still wasn’t making the impact that he’d hoped to make, and it was clear to see that his story was leading up to yet another milestone achievement. “I spoke to aindhy, who I had been keeping in touch with, and we came up with the idea to make a feature length animated movie. By this time I was now working with TVM, which now allowed me to make a profit out of the production — as much as I needed to sustain the studio — so I felt this was the time to work on my movie.”