July 19, 2003

Today the picture of our local music scene has changed dramatically from what it was a few years ago. The emergence of private music channels is mainly responsible for this. These channels have also given the media some fresh and new faces, which are a perfect combination of talent and youthful charm. Mohammad Ali Charlie aka Dino (remember Flintstones) is one of these young and bright faces.

My first perception of Dino was of yet another young carefree boy with a cute face who has taken the VJ job merely as a pastime. Mind you, I was quite wrong. Dino is a very ambitious person who knows exactly what he is doing and has a very clear picture of what he wants to do in the near future. He is the kind of person who completely believes in himself and is quite confident about his capabilities. Besides this, he is also working really hard to achieve what he has always craved for in life.

I met Dino on one of the hottest days this summer. While I was busy observing the artistic work on the doors and walls and the norms of the Indus Music Office, Dino quickly took me to an isolated room, which was no longer isolated as I started the question-answer session with him. People from IM who were extremely interested in what was going on flocked the room .

Nowadays Dino is just seen hosting a few programmes and live shows on IM, but the 21-year-old VJ has far fledged future plans in the entertainment industry. He never wanted to be a VJ. He just landed as one purely by chance. Actually he was into music since his childhood and it was this craze that took him to where he is today. It all began when he took his demo tape to the Indus Music office to give his flair for music a shot. The auditions for the VJs were in progress and he was asked to try his hand at that as well. Luckily (very luckily indeed) Dino got himself selected within 15 minutes and viola! There stood the future teen sensation.

Dino is one of those few showbiz personalities who have studied till graduation. “I did my BBA after A’ levels but I always wanted to be an artist. I am actually from a showbiz family. My grandfather Noor Mohammad Charlie was one of the most famous comedians of the subcontinent in the 30s. Both my mother and father have been into the acting business for 25 years. I think it was the inspiration from my family and some other people in showbiz, that compelled me to take up this profession,” he explains. He further says that “My parents have complete faith in whatever I do and that’s why they supported my decision to enter the showbiz world, but my father wanted me to do everything on my own. He never used his contacts and sources to help me to get where I am today.”

Nowadays Dino is working on his album. His debut album is near completion and he seems to be very excited about it. “Music is my true passion and I leave my future completely to lady luck. I might become the next Fakhr-e-Alam or if things don’t work out I will shift towards production and the corporate side. I might even venture into advertising. Whatever I do, it would be related to showbiz,” says the guy who looks so young yet is very focussed as to what he plans to do.

Dino has no formal training in music. When asked how he feels working on something which he hasn’t attempted before or has not been trained for, he says that music comes from within him and not all great musicians out there are trained. He hasn’t taken the help of professional musicians for his album. “A friend of mine is doing the composing and the other, who is a wonderful guitarist, is helping with the background music,” he shares with me as his voice endeavours to reach my ears through the chaos in the room.

I promptly asked him if making an album is as easy as bringing a few friends together and the work is done. He replied: “Absolutely not, there are loads of things which one needs to keep in mind and a lot of hard work, dedication and creativity is involved. If I have involved my friends in the making of this album that does not mean that my work has become easier”.

His album is purely a romantic piece. “My album will be a set of 10 romantic songs”. Love is not merely physical attraction but there are many other facets of this emotion as well, for example fights, breakups etc. I am making songs on this particular theme,” says the romantic singer. He further says that his album will be completely devoid of all the social problems and would focus only on fun and entertainment. “It would prove to be a relief for people,” he adds.

Dino thinks that the music channel where he works has changed the vision of our youth completely towards Pakistani music. They no longer wait for Indian albums to be released. “We have helped a lot in bringing the talent from all over the country and making our youth relate to our own entertainers rather than the ones across the border,” claims Dino.

One question often comes to mind, is that why don’t music stores in our country reserve more than one shelf for Pakistani albums? Usually the rest of the store is flooded with foreign CDs, VCDs and DVDs?I guess this is because Pakistani music is not in demand anymore Dino with his usual piquancy was very pleased to answer this question. According to him if the artists do not publicize their albums how can you expect them to fare well in the market. He justified himself with some facts about the business which music albums did previously when they were not publicized and now when some artists are being heavily promoted. He made his point pretty clear that for an album to do well the songs must first be promoted through music channels. With the constant efforts of private channels there seems to be a revamp in the Pakistani music scene and one hopes that its future would be brighter.

Dino is mostly popular among the younger lot of our country. He says his inbox is daily inundated with mails from children and teenagers and the love and admiration that they show towards him is inexplicable. Children take him very seriously and sometimes he is surprised when they refer to something really trivial he said in the show, which he himself does not remember. When the response is this positive he needs to put extra effort in the show. He constantly refers to his viewers as bachchay so I asked him if his sole viewers were bachchas. To this he replied that the show is being watched by the people belonging to 5 to 50 years of age but the youngsters give him the maximum response. This is mainly because of superficial glamour, which attracts them. They are totally unaware of the work, which goes behind the sets to produce this kind of fun and entertainment.

The promotion of Pakistani music by private channels has not only exposed our artists to the local public but also to the ones across the border. “People in India are appreciating our musical talent which is truly evident from the number of emails I receive from there. One of my friends in Bombay is desperate to organize a concert with our recent pop sensation Noori, Aaroh etc. He has sent me almost ten mails in this regard,” he proudly points out. None of the Indian pop album except that of Adnan Sami’s is doing well in Pakistan and now people are switching, though very slowly, towards Pakistani music.

We wish Dino best of luck for his forthcoming album, the title of which he has not yet decided. For the time being he says the album can be referred to as Das Tuk Gaanay, which is inspired from the famous show which he anchors, Das Tuk Charts.

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