Recreating the life of the renowned British explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger could not have been easy.
Wilfred, who made the Arab Bedouins his family, was the last and greatest of a handful of explorers who crossed The Empty Quarter in the '50s on camel back without modern technology, aided only by his Bedouin friends – Salem Bin Kabina and Salem Bin Ghubaisha.
Majid Abdulrazak's film was inspired by Wilfred – or Mubarak bin London as he was called by the Bedouins – and his bestselling book Arabian Sands. The film of the same name had Abdulrazak donning the hats of scriptwriter, producer, director and actor.
His first celluloid outing, Eqaab, was based on The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, a novel that has fascinated him since childhood. Although the film made history as the first full-length Emirati film, he lost millions on it. But Abdulrazak remained undeterred in his passion to make more films.
A self-confessed loner and nature lover, Wilfred Thesiger's Arabian Sands resonated with 54-year-old Abdulrazak in such a way that he decided on a screen adaptation, casting himself in the lead.
Today, Abdulrazak is the first Emirati to have made two full-length feature films. When not spending time with his family (wife Shirin Abdulrazak, three daughters and one grandchild), he can be found at his Al Aweer farm tending his menagerie of camels, dogs, peacocks, cows and cats. His day job, however, is as a businessman and owner of The Living Zone chain of stores.
Sitting in his Dubai office that overlooks a sun-dappled courtyard filled with dozens of plump, pretty pigeons that remain his favourite pets, he recounts how he decided to turn filmmaker.
After suffering a string of harrowing business failures, he decided to make Eqaab as a gift to himself. The filmmaking bug took hold and he ended up making Arabian Sands, a film in English and Arabic.
"I am a practical person. In the past I have made many mistakes, but history doesn't mean much to me.
I am an optimist who believes that our future is very bright," he says.
I
I have always had the sense of being different from others. As a child, nothing made me happier than spending time in the desert with my goats and dog. I am still a loner. Even today, I spend weekends alone at my farm, with my books and animals.
I love nature and being with animals. When I was asked what I wanted to do when I grow up, I would answer, "I want to be a farmer." In fact, one of the first things I did after establishing my business was buy a farm for myself.
I am a great pigeon lover and I've always had pigeons around me. I don't breed or train them, but take joy in their company. As a child, I kept pigeons as pets, even when we lived in an apartment. And now, even the logo of my company sports pigeons.
I've made many mistakes both in business and filmmaking. It would seem I don't learn from my mistakes.
I tend to follow my heart rather than my mind. I don't heed advice, but listen to my instincts.
Me
Me and growing up
I was born in Bastakiya in Dubai. My childhood memories are not very distinct. (It was so long ago!)
The creek was our life: we swam and played in it. I remember attending Makhtaba, the local Quranic classes with my cousins.
Back in the day, families in the Gulf had business connections in India or Pakistan. My family, part of the pearl industry, used to buy pearls in Dubai and sell them in India; we had a house in Mumbai. We imported tea, rice and textiles from India.
I went to Mumbai when I was seven and returned at 13. The years I spent there had a great influence on my personality. For starters, we switched from an Arabic Quranic school to an English one. My cousin and I were the only Arabs in school. We stayed in Bandra, which was a leafy suburb with almost no cars on the road, but plenty of buffalo and monkeys around.
After returning from school, I would take my goats to the jungle near Mount Mary's Church, set them free to graze, and then bring them back home by evening. In Mumbai, I started keeping pigeons, and also grew to love Indian movies. I still retain some habits that I picked up in India – like having a tea break with biscuits in the evening.
I completed my education in Dubai with a commercial course at the Trade School.
Me and getting down to business
My first job was in a bank at 16; I lied about my age on the application form. I worked in banking till 24 before turning entrepreneur. I started my own furniture business with a capital of Dh50,000 (all my own savings) and a fashion boutique.
I didn't want to join the family business, but I contributed by spending a few hours in the evening at our family shop in the Bur Dubai souq.
In a brief period of time, the furniture business started to do well, and we expanded. Majid Abdulrazak Furniture continued to be a big name for nearly 25 years.
Rather than continue importing furniture, I forayed into manufacturing in a big way, building a massive factory in Al Aweer. At 19,000 square metres, it was one of the biggest of its kind in the Middle East. We made furniture for our showrooms and for export. Things began to change towards the end of the '90s.
I was getting tired of having worked so hard for so long. There was a lot of competition from cheaper furniture flooding the market. I paid heavily for my strategy of manufacturing my own furniture and retailing it. The stock inventory didn't move as quickly and I couldn't match the competitive prices in the market.
Other showrooms that imported furniture had the advantage of offering customers better variety, prices and styles. Perhaps my business might have worked in a place like Iran, which has high import duties. But here, the imported furniture was retailed at almost the same prices as the local products. Increasingly I found myself unable to compete.
I was tired and stressed and eventually decided to sell the furniture business. I was also unlucky in my timing. The real estate boom in the region took off after I had closed down the business and sold my factory for peanuts. Had I still owned the factory, we would have had enough business given the boom.
After we sold the factory, my stress reduced. About five years ago, we embarked on our next venture: the franchise for Living Zone, interior accessories and furniture stores Zone and Bombay. We opened standalone stores in leading malls. And suddenly, I had time to think about realising
my dreams.
Me and Eqaab
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas has been the most influential book of my life. I have read it countless times; I always had it on my bedside table, carried it on my travels, and even bought several copies. (I have more than 40!) And at some point, it inspired me to adapt it to film. It was going to be a gift to myself.
The film, Eqaab, was going to be made for three countries, with three different star casts and in three different languages, but shot in the same locations. Someone with experience wouldn't have undertaken such a huge project. But I did.
In 2004, we started shooting the three films, which would be released in Iran, UAE and Pakistan. I would be the main lead in all three, speaking in Urdu, Farsi and Arabic. It wasn't easy, and I am no actor. We were unable to complete the Farsi film. The Arabic version had a climax scene shot on top of the Burj Al Arab.
Eqaab (the Arabic version) and Wapisi (the Urdu version) were completed and released in 2006. Eqaab became the first Emirati feature film.
I got the gift – my films – that I had wanted for myself and a lot of publicity, but commercially, the films didn't do well in the UAE and Pakistan.
The films were technically great, but cinema is an expensive business and I ended up losing millions (Dh5 million for each version). Still it was money well spent.
Me and my family
I met my wife, Shirin, in my furniture showroom, where she had come with her mother and sister to buy furniture. She was interested in starting a fashion business. We got married in 1981. We have three daughters, Rasha, 25, Hind, 23, and Sara, 21.
My wife, a very organised and intelligent lady, handled the home and our children. I had no worries about our children's upbringing because Shirin is strong and capable. For my part, I never brought business worries home.
Not many are fond of filmmaking as a profession. My parents didn't want to hear about it. Shirin was supportive, as she comes from a creative family; her mother is an author and diplomat and her sister, Shahnaz Pakravan, a television anchorperson.
Myself
Can you put Sir Wilfred Thesiger's greatness in perspective?
He was a brave explorer who loved the desert. He travelled with camels and had to find water sources to survive.
In those days, desert areas were lawless. Being a Christian foreigner would have been even harder, as many of the natives resented foreigners. But Wilfred had the heart to attempt this, and loved it, and did it again and again.
His photographs were superb. As a writer, he was one of the best. He had the choice to live a lavish lifestyle in London, but he chose to live in isolation. I met him several times when he visited the UAE for conference events and book signings.
Once, Wilfred came to visit me at home. It's a strange story. Shirin and my mother-in-law met Wilfred Thesiger at a book-signing event. I couldn't attend because I was unwell and was at home. Shirin told Wilfred how much I admired him, and he decided to come to our home. When I awoke, I found Wilfred standing by my bedside. We spoke for a long time.
I have photographs of this unforgettable meeting.
