Muhammad Kashan

Early life and background

Kashan says he has a madrasa background. He says he completed his schooling at a government school and college near his home. His parents wanted him to study engineering rather than commerce. He also says his mother gave him a digital camera as a birthday gift, and that his brother took it to Germany, where it was stolen. [1]

Education

Kashan studied at Sir Syed University. He says he chose computer science after a friend told him he wanted to study it. His parents told him to apply for a scholarship every semester. He says he and his friends passed out of university with good GPAs and got decent jobs. [1]

The Idiotz

Kashan says the group had been making videos since 2009. He recalls a friend telling him that he had seen one of his videos, shared an interest in video and wanted to do something together. He says he and others made a short lip-sync video based on the Bollywood film Luck, and that it became popular among his university colleagues. According to Kashan, the early videos were built around characters from the group's own class. [1]

Kashan says the group's page name combined Three Idiots with the members' first names, which he describes as a very long name. A friend suggested moving their videos from personal profiles to a Facebook page. Kashan recalls the group celebrating 500 likes with a meal. He says the first Facebook page was deleted after it reached about 20,000 likes, and that Facebook also removed a second page, which had close to 20,000. Some early videos were lost when the page was deleted, and he says the group rebuilt the page by sending personal messages asking people to like it. He says the group has made around 450 to 500 videos. [1]

Kashan says the group won a DSLR as part of a prize in a competition held at PNCA Islamabad. He says the group recorded early audio through the camera's internal microphone, without a separate mic, and now uses Sony cameras. The group also built a university platform called Idiots Tube. [1]

Kashan thinks YouTube officially launched in Pakistan in 2016. He says the group kept Facebook while starting to upload videos to YouTube, and that YouTube is now its major platform because it has a good number of subscribers. He says the group made an Aamir Liaquat parody that went extremely viral, and recalls shares rising by 400 to 500 in a single refresh after it was published. A man told him he had earned dollars by uploading the parody to his own YouTube channel, and Kashan says there was no way to claim or strike copies of their videos on YouTube at the time. He says the group joined Instagram late, which he calls a mistake. [1]

Kashan says he shoots and edits the group's videos, while one friend writes them and another manages the talent. He thinks the group's first international trip was to Dubai in 2017, and that a sponsor funded it. He says the trips have covered eight countries. Kashan describes the audience as around 18 to 24 years old and mostly in Pakistan, with a split of about 70 to 30 by gender. He says the group wants to take its web series to a bigger level, and that it has had several scripts ready for about six years. [1]

Connect Kaashan

Kashan says he started the channel Connect Kaashan around 2018. He started it because content was changing and he wanted to try other formats. He says the channel had about 330,000 subscribers. He says he played older games such as Super Mario and GTA Vice City with his own commentary. Kashan says he tries to post weekly, but sometimes posts daily vlogs when he is motivated. [1]

Kashan says vlogs create an intimate connection with viewers, which is why the channel is called Connect Kaashan. He says he wants to explore different categories of content, and that he is considering courses in software such as Blender and After Effects. [1]

Employment

Kashan says he worked at a software house. He says he and his team decided to leave their jobs and work full time on the channel, because the jobs could not fit alongside the work on it. He says the decision was not because the job or its pay was poor. Kashan says he and others emailed their manager to say they wanted to resign, and that he recently quit his job, around March or April. He says quitting brought a big change, both financially and in peace of mind. He also says he is married and has children. [1]

Views

Kashan says he tried many things and failed at many of them, which showed him what suited him. He says the most important thing is to stay updated. In his view, if one keeps following whatever the audience demands, one stays under the audience's control. He says one should make the content one wants, since if one in ten pieces becomes a hit, one can then continue with it. [1]

Kashan says the group stayed grounded by remembering that it started from zero and its early problems. He says that when a dispute arises the group apologises and ends it, without making reply videos or hashtags. He says the aim is to keep the focus on the work. He says he cannot yet say exactly what he will be doing in ten years. [1]

Timeline

2009

Kashan says the group had been making videos since this year.[1]

2016

Kashan thinks YouTube officially launched in Pakistan in this year.[1]

2017

Kashan thinks the group's first international trip, to Dubai, took place, funded by a sponsor.[1]

2018

Kashan says he started the channel Connect Kaashan around this year.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Twelve years of grace: how The Idiots stayed grounded . Thought Behind Things , 2021-11-17.