Our Journey

When our group got the topic of Public TV, we were a bit disappointed. We were thinking as to what we would do with our infamous Public TV, which is the “Pakistan Television Network”. We decided on our strategy which worked in three steps. We decided to make a small documentary (we wanted to do something unique), for which we needed to contact and interview an authorized PTV personnel. Next we decided to interview Mrs. Huma Baqai, an experienced person in the Public TV arena, and then take the public opinion on PTV!

However, this plan looked easier on paper but was much more difficult to execute. Considering the differing timetables of everyone in our group, it was very tricky to set a date to visit PTV. Therefore, I (Minhaj), Yawar and Hataf made the initial visit to our infamous channel. It was a complete disaster; after wasting more than an hour, we walked out of there without any information and being screamed upon by the HR Officer (I don’t remember his name otherwise I would have definitely mentioned it)!!

This was the first impression of our so-called public channel which we, as citizens of Pakistan indirectly own, with the officials over there blatantly refusing to share any information and indeed asking for a letter of permission from our institution addressed to the General Manager who will then grant permission. Well, of course, we didn’t have time for this. I mean, this channel is supposed to be public property and we should be able to have access to any information at any time, any place!! This helped create a very negative image of PTV in our minds and we were now very much siding with private TV channels. So, we consulted our course instructor, Ms. Fauzia Hussain, regarding this issue and we were advised to expose PTV in front of everyone which seemed a very attractive idea at that time helping us to avoid the disgrace of visiting that place again.

However, Ayesha Waseem, one of our group members, came up with another contact (this time a more influential one), Mr. Kamran Wajih, the MD for Sales at PTV. Reluctantly, we decided to give our beloved public channel another chance but this time, all five of us decided to visit so some of us had to skip their classes. This visit, fortunately, had much better results and we were able to collect heaps of information, owing to Mr. Wajih’s complete cooperation and willingness to share important information with us. He answered all of our questions with great detail and utter calmness although some of the questions were quite.

I believe that this gentleman helped change the negative image which had previously developed in our minds about PTV. However, we were disappointed by the fact that we were not allowed to video or audio record the discussion we had with Mr. Wajih; well we can’t have everything our way!

After the information was somehow collected, we went on to record our own hypothetical PTV programme and we named it “Humara Pakistan”. I and Tasneem were the anchors on this show with Ayesha and Hataf playing the roles of reporters and Yawar being responsible for shooting the video, lighting and editing.

However, again we faced hurdles in this phase of our project. Despite approaching the IBA Programme Office repeatedly for an empty room where we could shoot our programme, we were again and again directed here and there but at last Hataf’s determination bore fruit and we were assigned a room in APWA block. Despite its dirty walls, we were able to find a comparatively clean spot where we put a table and a couple of chairs and started shooting.

After many takes, we were done with mine and Tasneem’s part and then went on to the interviews with Ms. Huma Baqai and random people from around IBA. Now came the editing part, which took Yawar three whole days to compile all the videos, synchronize the audio and put in effects, while I was there assisting him in finding data and advising him at various points. Finally, our masterpiece was created or at least we think it to be one, considering the amount of hard work and time that went into its production.

- Minhaj