Remember Rob from MAD? Here's what he's doing now and earning more than ever

Dubai: For a generation of children across India and the Gulf, Rob was the man who could turn a plastic bottle into something worth keeping.

Harun Robert hosted M.A.D. on Pogo for nearly a decade, teaching a generation to make things out of whatever was lying around the house. Then he left, moved to Goa, and stopped appearing on television altogether.

He says he is earning more now than he ever did on TV.

The career almost did not happen. His parents wanted a doctor.

"My parents wanted me to become a doctor. I was a science student. I had given Medical Entrance Test," he told Motor Mouth. "Around this time, a friend of mine was joining an arts college and I got excited and I wanted to be there. There was a lot of drama at home. They were very upset, had a proper 3 Idiots scene. They finally got convinced."

The entrance exam for the College of Art in Delhi settled it.

"Everyone told my father that the test is not so easy. My kids got through it in their second and third attempt after taking special coaching," he said, recalling what people had told his father. He passed first time.

The deal was that he had a year to prove himself. He started earning almost immediately.

"During that time, I easily made up to Rs1,000," he said on the podcast Cyrus Says, around Dh42 at today's rates.

That was enough. "When my father saw that I was learning, reading, working and earning all at the same time, he also thought that okay, let it be. End of the day, your parents want your happiness."

After studying at the College of Art and the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, he moved to Mumbai. Within weeks he heard about a show looking for an artist.

He did not want it.

"I went to them with a CD of my animation. When they said I also have to face camera, I was like: 'Okay, bye.' I left," he said. "They called me again. After a lot of calls and push, I went. They gave me a script. I couldn't do that. I went back again, came back with my own script and props and finally gave an audition. It went well. I panicked when they were shortlisting me. But eventually, I agreed."

M.A.D. premiered on Pogo in 2005. He hosted and creative-directed it until 2014.

For years he had no idea how big the show had become.

"We didn't have social media back then, so I didn't get to know that I had become popular or the show had become popular for the longest time," he said.

Then came the detail that explains everything about him: "When the show started, I didn't have a television at my own house. I had to go to my friend's house to see my own show."

The penny dropped in Chennai. "After the first season of the show, I went to Chennai for promotion. When I went on stage, hundreds of kids started chanting my name."

Recognition came with its own hazards. "I go to restaurant, people come to me with a straw and be like: 'Kuch banake dikhao.'" The Hindi means "Make something for us." He said he sometimes obliged, and sometimes politely declined.

He left Mumbai for the coast, where his wife is from.

"It's laid-back, quiet and calm. I stayed in Bombay for a very long time and I wanted to move away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. I wanted peace and thanks to internet, I can work from anywhere. My wife is a Goan, so it felt like the best decision."

He has two children, and keeps them out of public view. "We believe that they don't need that right now. I stay away from talking about my family."

This is the part that runs against expectations.

"I am very blessed as I never have to look for work. I often get work. And fortunately, some of them pay really well. Now, I also do art installations for festivals and events. That is another way I make my money," he said.

The freedom came from leaving. "I can do all of these things because I am not with any channel. If I continued to be with the channels, the contract was such that I couldn't work outside channel for any brands. Now, the freedom is better and I am earning a lot more today compared to then."

His projects since have included Stone Cards, painting pebbles with scenes from Goan villages and leaving them out for people to collect, and large-scale installations including portraits built from thousands of paper cups.

His children are not in school, and he is particular about the wording.

"We don't call it homeschooling, we call it unschooling. We feel it is a more holistic way of teaching. In school, it is all very rigid. I feel it kills the curiosity of a child. At home, we do it in a very playful manner. Like this, they have much more time for other curricular activities, and holidays where they explore new culture."

He was careful to say he is not against conventional schooling, and that plenty of people believe in it. It simply does not suit his family.

He launched his YouTube channel Mad Stuff With Rob in 2014, has appeared on Disney's Imagine That, and continues making work across installations, digital content and workshops.