Yamin Rasheed — of talking birds and storytelling 2/2

Yamin's second movie dipped into his savings in both production and marketing, but he managed to finish it in time for Ramadan. Thus, the first ever, fully animated, feature-length cartoon in the Maldives came to life on the silver screen. Another key milestone. President Mohamed Nasheed, the now Speaker, was the chief guest at the movie’s premier. It was such a success that it went on to air on TVM as well, another milestone, further cementing the national achievement that was Yamin’s project.

Part Two: Refining and redefining the process

Yamin's life, however, took another difficult turn. His grandmother passed away, he explained, as he softly adds, “When she was alive, she was my most favourite person in the world. She taught me empathy, she taught me how to be kind, and I have never met anyone like her. She was very wise, very kind, full of wisdom, unfortunately she passed she passed in 2017.” He then told me he felt like something inside him died as well. “She was everything to me. But then, with my daughter and my mum, fortunately I am okay now.”

Yamin’s first successful film gave him a taste of what it would be like to make movies, and so he had the urge to make a second one, titled ‘Bageechaa’. When the project began, he barely had the budget to finish it, but he went ahead anyway. Spending every laari of his savings, Yamin managed to finish the movie but had little to no money for marketing. Disregarding the lack-thereof, he went ahead with the screening — the then President Elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih would officiate the premier as chief guest.

The entire production, however, flopped.

The MVR1.2 million he had spent returned him less than MVR20,000 in ticket sales, and this forced him to go back to working on his commercial project, Maakanaa Show, just to make ends meet. Yamin could always call on a small group of reliable friends to help him “trouble shoot” through his ordeals, but with this failure he was facing more and more difficulties in dealing with clients. According to Yamin, his projects, whether for a client or himself, would take the shape of his own concepts, but some clients, mainly due to exposure to only the traditional approaches, were set in their ways — they could not appreciate nor accept some of his leaps which piled back on him adding to more stress.

Yamin and aindhy would always discuss Yamin making a movie for the international stage, namely to hit the film festivals. “I didn’t think I had it in me to do something like that, I mean, have you seen the animation productions from other people around the world? They’re so good, and I didn’t feel like I had the skill for it,” Yamin continued, adding he would finally be convinced enough to put his efforts into such a project.

Six months prior, Yamin began working on, and developing, a concept. After completing the script, he managed to get his voice actors to complete the audio recordings three months later, and then he got the team together to put the whole production together. A month before completion, he got the storyboard and the animations done; barely sleeping — “I don’t sleep much, I don’t sleep for three or four days before I take my rest and then get back to doing my work again” and all of it was finally completed.

It took him MVR130,000 to get all the computers and systems needed to complete the production and also to pay his animators, but it was finally completed and ready to ship. However, what he didn’t foresee, was how application deadlines for most major film festivals were already closed.

“The application deadlines closed in December, and would only reopen next December. I couldn’t wait that long and do nothing!”, he exclaimed in that energetic demeanour that anyone who has spent time with Yamin would recognise right away. “But thankfully the Singaporean festival closed their applications in January, so I had enough time to send it in. So I sent in my work to as many festivals that were still accepting, and then sat back and took a breath.”

Application in itself was an achievement for the Maldivian film and animation industry, and Yamin felt like he shouldn’t be expecting too much. However, when he got an overseas call, things began to sound a lot more hopeful. “They called me and told me my film got selected for judging, so I was glad that I managed to get through the first part. They called me once again a few weeks later to tell me that the seven minute movie that took a month to make was now a finalist! I was so happy I quickly called aindhy and told him about it.” The joy in remembering the crucial moments is apparent on Yamin’s face as he continues, “We both agreed that becoming a finalist was an achievement itself, and I was already happy about the work we had done. When they called me later to tell me I had won, I didn’t know what to say.”

Yamin recounted how he had to ask them if this was really true, and then regarding the competition his work would have faced. According to them, nearly 4,000 entires were judged, sent in from all corners of the world such as the US, Canada, China, and more, and his work won out. It was almost too good to be true.

Here he finally opened up about himself on a personal level, helping me understand the allegedly elusive character that was Yamin Rasheed. “When I won, I didn’t want to tell anyone about it. I am a very shy and introverted person, I don’t talk about my work with other people and I don’t know how to respond to people when they come up to me and tell me that they admire the work I have done. I didn’t announce it to any news outlets, I didn’t market the achievement, instead, I just posted about it on my Facebook page.”

He carried on in a rush, “That was where the news outlets heard about it and started once again calling me for interviews and the like.” He shook his head amusedly as he continued, “TVM wanted to do a segment on me but I finally told them, okay, here’s my clip, do whatever you’d want to report on it, but only show it once. They took the clip and made a report about it, and like I mentioned earlier, I don’t like giving interviews, so no one else has gotten to ask me any more questions about it.”

I asked him about any followup plans and he mentioned his friend aindhy had been doing the same. “aindhy asked me to make more and send them to even more film festivals, but I realised that I had not really taken a break in four years. I have been working since I was 17 and now I am 40, I don’t have the same energy as I did before, staying up for three days straight just working and still having enough energy to get back to it after a nap. I realised I was letting a lot of things get away from me, and my biggest priority, my family, takes centre stage.”

Yamin Rasheed is not an inspiration only due to his seemingly endless work, but also because of his dedication to his family. Here as he starts opening up you can see the happy memories light up his face — as he speaks about his daughter. “My daughter is everything to me, I am obsessed when it comes to her, she’s just turned 12 and I make sure I spend as much time as I can with her. I am very much a family man, and when I felt like (with my unhealthy lifestyle) I was going to die, I decided to get things back on track.” The pride he felt was more present now as he went on, “I started working out, I go to the gym with my daughter, and as a result I have been regaining my energy and sleeping better too.”

As he continued on with his family life, he continued to inspire a lot of emotions even in myself. “I love my daughter, I love my mum, whenever I see them I give them a hug, we’re very close actually. That’s how my personal life is.”

Yamin Rasheed went on to explain how he is the way he is, and the contentment he felt with life today. “I am a very introverted person and I don’t have many friends that understand my process and what I do inside out; only two. One of them is aindhy, and then I have my family who I love so much, and then I have my work. I don’t need more than this, I am more than happy the way things are. I am a very spiritual person, my Grandma inspired me that way — she taught me to have faith, how to recite, how to be good to people and more, and I want to be more like her.”

He then told me about his love for science and philosophy, “I feel like the world would be a more ethical, more compassionate, and progressive place if people took science studies more seriously. Not everyone has to become a scientist, but to learn about the world like that would give everyone the chance to be curious and more grounded.” We also spoke at length about the many notable scientists and philosophers that he admires and reads about — and how Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein are his favourite scientists (and in that order). It was clear his love for inventing and tinkering never faded, and this inspired the child within me as well.

As the hour came to a close, Yamin mentioned that his break was probably going to last until March. “That is when the other film festivals will be finalising their selections, and opening for more applicants, so based on what happens by then would I know if I am going to do such an ambitious project. Until then,” he added cheekily, “I’ll be making the bird talk show, as my clients are even more happier to work with me given the international award I have achieved.”

Yamin Rasheed once won the National Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in 2010, and I remember sitting across him at his table wondering at who this genius behind the Maakanaa Show really was. I was attending the event as part of the entertainment industry when I was just 15, so little did I know this was someone who had already been working on his craft for over a decade and half, almost since before I was born!

Having gotten the chance to finally sit down with Yamin on Wednesday afternoon has left me with so much more than just a recount of his inspirational life. The lessons that were entwined with his tale, the hardships, the determination, and the dedication to family showed me that this outstanding man is a national treasure. As we bid farewell, he mentioned, “I told my daughter she could be anything she wanted in life as long as she was not a politician or an artist.”

I jokingly asked him his logic behind this, and he said what hit me the most. “I don’t want her to face the struggles that I did, and I want her to be able to do the things that I didn’t have the chance to do. I want to support her all the way in the dreams she may have, but when anyone tells me I can’t force her to avoid art and politics I tell them she’s just 12, she doesn’t know all the rights and wrongs nor the struggles and drawbacks of such ambitions. I want her to be curious, to learn, and to appreciate the world like I do, and I hope she gets to do that with her life.”

Why not politics, I asked. With a cheeky smile, “I don’t want her to sit and do nothing for hours on end, that’s why! That’s just how I feel about it, my personal opinion, but you know what I mean?”

Yamin Rasheed was the first Maldivian to garner an international film festival award for an animated production, and he, as do I, hopes that more will follow in the path he has laid behind him — although I am sure the more philosophical musings in him will also aspire others to forge their forks in that road.