In Conversation With Kashaaf Iqbal (The Writer)... Interview by Shoby

In Conversation With Kashaaf Iqbal (The Writer)... Interview by Shoby

He started his career with his debut Urdu Novel Zulekha and he has No Stopping from then onward. He went on to write Mohabbat Rooh Ki Ghiza Hai, Mus'haf and Humari Adhoori Kahani... 

He is an emerging talent and believe me guys, he is having this thing called "sheer talent" in loads & loads of volume which speaks itself through his various achievements within the span of minor time that he has spent in the digest writing industry.

Masha ALLAH, he has got a handful of Urdu novels & short stories published in famous digests of the country. Besides this, he is one of those luckiest winners of a famous story writing contest, which was recently held and judged by one of the top most writer of Pakistan. Last but not the least, his novel is all set to be dramatised sooner than soon.

As commuted by us, Shobywod is giving you an opportunity to read the firest ever interview of this writer of romance at our blog... Dont forget, you are reading it first, exclusively at Shobywood.

Shobywood: Tell us something about yourself. Especially your family & educational background???

Kashaaf: I have two sisters and an elder brother. I am in the 3rd year of BE (Chemical Engineering). I live a simple life and love to spend time with family. I don’t enjoy a lot the gathering in my friend’s circle. I love the companionship of my dreams. Dreams that arise while I am awake. Dreams that insist me to pen novels & song’s lyrics.

Shobywood: How you started writing???

Kashaaf: An Indian movie Yaariyan's trailer was launched almost two years back. The film had a song titled Baarish. I was so inspired by the melody & lyrics that from that very moment, I started writing songs & novels. Initially I started writing an English novel titled "A Cocktail of Friendship" but I paused writing it and it still remains as it is. Basically, my interest shifted towards Urdu writing. That is why I left writing that English novel.

Shobywood: Who is your favourite writer, the one who became your inspiration to write.

Kashaaf: I am not inspired on the totality from one specific individual. In one way, I like someone's story line and on another hand, I like someone else's writing style. In the department of writing style I am a big fan of Umera Ahmed and in the case of story line, Nicholas Sparks is my favourite. Their story elements are just wow (Kashaaf literally used the term Ufff :-) ).

As for the lyricist, I love Saeed Quadri. Each & every song that he pens simply touch my heart. Be it Maule Mere Maula, Humnava or Baatein Yeh Kabhi na...

Shobywood: What is the source of inspiration for your own writing?

Kashaaf: With all due respect to him, I always try to write like Mr. Khalil ur Rahman Qamar whenever I write something good.

Shobywood: What writing means to you?

Kashaaf: Writing is a way of expression. It is an expression to convey a nice message through your writing whatever you feel good inside.

Shobywood: As you said, you like writing songs lyrics. What you personally enjoy the most novels or lyrics?

Kashaaf: To be honest, I like writing lyrics way above than writing novels. I love to write romantic lyrics and Insha ALLAH, you will find many songs penned by me, for a big budget Pakistani movie, composed by one of the finest musicians of our country very soon.

Shobywood: Today, reading habit has drastically declined. People has almost stopped reading poetry & even prose. What is your take on it?

Kashaaf: To me, reading habit is something that one heirs from the background. People may have lost the charm in reading because now a days, lyrics of songs are so much rich & excellent that people are no more interested in reading. My personal opinion is that they like listening the composed form of poetry much more now a days.

Shobywood: You belong to the new creed of writers. Something which they call, young blood. Tell us, can we compare today's writers with our legends that belonged to the past times or should we compare them?

Kashaaf: Why not. They can be compared as I believe talent is independent of age and era.

Shobywood: What is the most important thing that triggers the writing???

Kashaaf: Certainly reading. I would say that the most important thing that is mandatory for good writing is habit of better reading. Furthermore, you need to develop an excellent plot. You need to prepare the complete story from A to Z in your mind, before you start writing it. However lyrics writing is an altogether different module. It is necessary to make a sketch of a story line in your mind before writing a song. I believe nice words are not as important as better sentences. You need to concise these sentences for writing the songs. And it is an art that everyone does not possess.

Shobywood: Do you think it is mandatory to have the basic knowledge of poetry for writing songs lyrics?

Kashaaf: It is like it is important and not at all at the same time. We have many lyricists who are established poets like Gulzar sb, Javed Akhtar, Manoj Muntashir & we have lyricist who are not conventional poets like Amitabh Bhattacharya, Rashmi Virag and Kausar Munir.

Shobywood: How you differentiate between writing prose & poetry?

Kashaaf: There is a big difference between the two. Poetry is something like a very much concise form of prose that is presented in a rhyming way. Prose, on the other hand, is a sort of statement that does not relies upon rhyming words, couplets and also expression of feelings in a musical way (mostly).

Shobywood: Songs that are being written now a days are not considered to be evergreen. Their charm fades away within days, weeks or may be a couple of months. Why is this so? Is there something lacking in poetry or the musical compositions?

Kashaaf: No doubt, in terms of music we are going way above and we have witnessed excellent advancement in music or should I say it is like a complete transformation. As far as poetry is concerned, yes I agree, we get to listen those excellent lyrics seldom now a days. Compositions, Melody, in fact everything is good but in most of the songs, good lyrics are lacking. We should come up with new ideas in lyrics as anyone can write normal lyrics. Have u seen the Filmfare awards nominations for Best Lyrics? They always nominate songs with unique lyrics. Come up with something unique in your lyrics. Make a list of different qaaafiyas in your pass time and come up with a story element.

Shobywood: What is the importance of detailing in a story? How you make sure that your reader does not get bore of detailing?

Kashaaf: It is way too important for a writer. Every writer wants his readers to see the characters living around him while reading the story, the way he has sketched & conceived them. Readers like to think what was the atmosphere & ambience of a particular scene. I would stress that the start and end of the novel should have an elaborated scene detailing.

Shobyood: What is the biggest success of Kashaaf Iqbal till date?

Kashaaf: Sahir Ali Bagga appreciated my lyrics. Getting appreciation from the musician of such a class & caliber is may be my best achievement. Secondly, Umera Ahmed not only selected my novel "Bas Ishq Ho..." & enlisted it in the winner's list but also shortlisted it for the script.

Shobywood: What was your position at Alif Kitaab contest?

Kashaaf: As stated earlier I was selected by Ms. Umera as one of the winners in the list and Alhamdo LILLAH, I am satisfied that I am standing in the winner's bracket along with such seniors & big names of digest writings and my story was selected for a script.

Shobywood: Will you like writing for dramas & movies scripts in future?

Kashaaf: Insha ALLAH... For sure... I am not an astrologer and don’t believe in astronomy as well but I believe that we all are astronomers of our own fate. I get a feeling that year 2017 will be a successful year for me in terms of lyrics and screenplay.

Shobywood: Kashaaf I (Shoby) have reviewed many of your novels earlier and I always get a feeling that you are more attracted towards romance or horror/ thriller domains. Please tell us, what else genre you want to discover.

Kashaaf: (Smiles) You are right up to some extent... Actually I don’t like getting out of romantic genre. But I would definitely love to write some romance plus mystery in future.

Shobywood: If you have been given a chance to be one artist, what will you prefer to be? World's best novelist or world's best lyricist?

Kashaaf: Definitely, world's best lyricist. I would further like to add that my goals include a nice Chemical Engineering job. To write script for a movie or drama in a year and to make my parents proud by doing all this.

Shobywood: Besides being a writer, you are a student as well. How you take time for all this?

Kashaaf: Believe me, if you have the intention, it you are confident & focused on your objectives, you always get that time, that chance to do whatever you like. Regardless of whether you are studying a tough thing like Chemical Engineering.

Shobywood: Can you please share your thoughts on my blog Shobywood and our regular visitors?

Kashaaf: I personally like your reviews at Shobywood, especially yours English. For followers, I have just one message. Dream, no matter how bigger the dream is. Don’t quit the dreaming part. As every dream has the tendency to come true at some time. You just need to be focused on your dream and work hard.

On this note, we thanked him a lot for his kind favour, for giving us his time for this exclusive chit-chat. We wish him all the luck for the success of his future endeavours. May he achieves the best of what he deserves.