Miyan Imad-Ur-Rehman, 32, works as a sales director at KEMOS Facilities Management in Dubai. He has started a vlog that records and uploads videos about daily life.
Son of a businessman and a resident of Lal Bazar (Srinagar), Imad is now a well known Vlogger from Kashmir, who is using the newer technologies to keep his vlog modern and better. Vlog is usually being seen as a web TV.
Imad Clicks, his vlog on Facebook, is getting popular in a select class. Imad says he earns a healthy amount out of it. His FB page has led him to get into the lucrative fat Kashmir weddings for photography, an area that apparently funds his vlogging as well
In 2001, after finishing his senior secondary class in Srinagar, Imad shifted to Delhi for pursuing his higher studies and did his graduation in BBA from New Delhi Institute of Management. He then joined Indian Institute of Planning and Management for post-graduation and later opted for planning and entrepreneurship programme and completed in 2010.
A decade later, he bagged a scholarship to Cambridge University England for one year course- Global Strategic Management. The same year, he also got a job at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and worked there as Assistant Manager in Facility Management department for three years.
In early 2014, he left his job and went to Dubai and joined the same facility management industry into sales. It was there, Imad started interacting with many Kashmiris working in Gulf countries.
“Kashmiri youngsters in Dubai mostly prefer to play cricket on weekends and I too joined them,” Imad said. “We all used to play at Sharjah in Dubai and we were almost 50 Kashmiris playing the tournament.”
Imad had then a FB page called pro sports, and he used to shoot videos and then upload them on his page. Soon, he acquired around 1500 subscribers which led him to gain the internet space in video shooting.
In 2015, Kashmiri Diaspora from different gulf countries stared a cricket league Kashmir Super League (KSL). The diaspora sponsored the game. They invited various Kashmiris to witness the finals as well. Within a few months, his FB page led the organizers to approach him for the participation. He eventually started managing the KSL social media. The KSL page had 60,000 followers. The organisers did not pay him but funded his hardware like camera, tripod, batteries and much more.
The League continued for two more years and the response from the audience on the page was overwhelming. “One day while watching some random videos on YouTube, I spotted two vloggers Casey Owen Neistat – an American vlogger and Peter McKinnon-Canadian photographer who educate viewers about photography and cinematography, and I got inspired from both and switched to vlogging,” Imad said. “I created a YouTube channel called Imad Clicks and uploaded my daily life videos. The vlog has around 613 subscribers on Youtube,” Imad says. The channel gets around 10,000 views per month.
Last April, after around 16 years, Imad came back to Kashmir to see his parents and thought of going back after some time. But later he made a mind not to go back. “From last five months, I have been visiting, many places in Kashmir for shooting my videos for the Vlog, and I am earning a good money also,” Imad says.
Mesmerised by the beauty of Kashmir, Imad has visited many tourist destination for the shoot. He shares his experience describing Kashmir as one of the most stunning and picturesque places. “I always tell audience to not only portray the beauty but also a positive aspect of Kashmir,” he said.
Now some Companies from outside Kashmir have started approaching him for the promotion. Earlier, Imad was offered a BMW cycle by a Surat company for the promotion, suggesting him to ride on it while shooting the videos for the market. “Last time, I got the invitation to shoot the wedding in Srinagar.
“We are eight people for the shoot and we had shot the whole wedding in a cinematic way by drone and high-quality cameras,” Imad said. “We are going to edit it in a very professional way, as it should look like a proper short movie.” He claims the wedding was the first one in Kashmir to use drone cameras.
Seeing a future in a new market, Imad has cancelled his plans of going back to Dubai. “I am planning to set up a studio where I can work for the video promotion content,” he said. He has bagged some projects from outside Kashmir also. He is also planning to open a restaurant and a textile boutique in Srinagar.
