Subi Shah is reputed as a British journalist by profession and a documentary maker by passion. Based in UK, she has worked for the BBC, Channel 4, and British Satellite News. Her news stories and documentaries have been broadcast in various international television channels including Al Jazeera, Euro News and Channel 4. Subi Shah is currently in the capital as she is volunteering to conduct a five day workshop on documentary making, organised by Dhaka Film Society at Dhaka Art Centre at Dhanmondi. This is her first visit to Bangladesh. New Age recently caught up with her to . New Age: How many participants are attending the course in documentary making and what are you focusing in the workshop? Subi Shah: I have been working with 12 enthusiastic young learners in the workshop. I am trying to teach them the basics of documentary making. In fact, in a workshop of only a few days, the best one can do is impart knowledge on the fundamentals and ignite the passion of learning further. New Age: You are a journalist and a documentary maker too. Do you see any relation between these two? How did you get into pursuing documentary? Subi Shah: Being a journalist has a great impact on being a documentary-maker. I suppose, documentary is a thing which is closely linked to news story. Whenever I come across an idea or news story which seems to be worth exploring and exploiting in detail further, I think of turning it into a documentary. As to my pursuing documentaries, I have an academic background on documentary making while being a master degree student of journalism at Cardiff University. The passion deepened more with time. New Age: What differentiates documentary from a feature film? Do you feel documentary is not given its due recognition unlike feature film? Subi Shah: There are many major differences between a feature film and a documentary. Feature film more often than not has a fantasy, imaginary story, while documentary is on and about real life. In a feature film, you start with a ready script and you know what the end-product will be; but in a documentary you start with an idea and you search and discover as you proceed. In a documentary, you often reach somewhere you did not even think of when you began. I must agree that documentaries are not as recognised and popular as feature films, nor do I think the opposite will happen. Perhaps, people love to see stars enacting fictitious characters and escaping to a land of fantasies than watching real people in real situations. New Age: Could you tell us about some of the documentaries you have made. Subi Shah: The first documentary of note I made is titled Story of a Community which was broadcast on Channel 4. It was about the Bengali community of the Brick Lane area. I focused simultaneously on the area and the three communities, Jews, Christians and Muslims who had inhabited it at different times. The second one I made was titled Freedom and Unity, broadcast on Channel 4. This one is about the struggles of the Muslims in Bosnia. Currently, I am working on Rat Children of Gujrat, focusing on beggar children in that region for my next documentary. New Age: Most of your documentaries seem to be socio-political in nature, and the Muslim community seems to have a strong presence. Is that a deliberate choice, particularly the community you focus on? Subi Shah: I am not an outsider to the Muslim community. I am an insider, so is my perspective. I am not inundated by the ‘western conception of the Muslim community’, nor am I blind to the ‘idiosyncrasies’ of the community. My hope is to present what is actually happening and what the facts are without distortion. New Age: Coming to documentary-making practices in Bangladesh, did you have a chance to see the documentaries being made locally by Bangladesh? Subi Shah: It would be a lie to say yes. I did not have the opportunity to see any Bangladeshi documentary yet although I wish to. But what I have come to know over the last few days during my stay here, is that documentary-making is still in its ‘embryonic’ stage in Bangladesh. To judge from the workshop I am conducting, I can say that many of the interested are satisfactorily educated, inquisitive and full of brilliant ideas which, I believe, will lead to vibrancy in the local documentary scenario. New Age: Why did you choose to come and volunteer in Bangladesh? Subi Shah: My friend Farrukh Dhondy, a renowned Indian-British writer, who is also famed for his screenplay and producing films, is also conducting a workshop here organised by Dhaka Film Society. This is his third time in Dhaka. He has been a tremendous inspiration for me in coming down to Bangladesh; we both believe sharing skills is extremely important in our industry. New Age: Do you have any other plan of working in Bangladesh in future? Subi Shah: I am thinking of conducting a workshop on television news and journalism next year.
-With New Age input
