Prototype Issue
Cool Hollywood: Sheeraz Hasan
By Caroline Horton
(page 1 of 1)Sheeraz Hasan is a cultural phenomenon. Born and raised in London by devout Muslim parents, emigrants from Pakistan, he left school at 16 to manage the family restaurant.
Giving it a Hollywood theme and calling it Tinseltown Café, Hasan kept the café open for 24 hours and created the first in a series of popular successes. He soon headed to LA with a little money from the family and no contacts. A devout Muslim who prays five times a day, Hasan made a pilgrimage to the Hollywood sign to pray.
Within weeks he found himself in the middle of the Hollywood scene interviewing celebrities, covering movies and creating his next success, Tinseltown TV, a show focusing on celebrity spirituality. He produced more than 200 episodes broadcast to 500 million people in 130 countries, creating a bridge between Bollywood and Hollywood, the two largest centers of the film industry in the world.
In the mere three years since Hasan arrived, his accomplishments have been dramatic. Pursuing a vision to unite the largest entertainment sources in the East and West, he founded www.Hollywood.tv and www.sports.tv, connecting sports and entertainment events to an international press and fan base. When Hollywood.tv breaks an entertainment story in the eastern world, it instantly reaches more than 1 billion people.
Intent on promoting a positive image of Muslims around the world, he wrote a book called Sheeraz the Muslim American Dream, which earned him several awards, including the coveted Dr. Zakir Hussain Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts, which U.S. Senator John Kerry presented to him at LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall.
He has been showered with more than 100 awards, and Fortune magazine dedicated a four-page spread to him. A sharp promoter, he has obtained personal commendations from dozens of politicians, among them Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Senator Hilary Clinton and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
When you first came to Hollywood, what exactly did you have in mind? What was your vision? I knew my niche would be something entertainment-related, but I had no clue what it was going to be. So the first thing I was really going to focus on and pursue was to set up a chain of milkshake bars. I have a successful restaurant in London, which is a milkshake bar as well, but then I was going around and seeing the milkshake bars, juices, Jamba Juice and all these different concepts that are already out here, and that kind of set me back a bit, and I was thinking, what else can I do?
Then I was flicking through the American channels on TV. I was looking at so much Hollywood, when an uncle of mine flicked on the Indian channel and I literally put two and two together and said, “Hold on a minute. Why are there no American stars on an Indian network?” And that’s when it struck, although I still didn’t know what to do with it.
If the Indian market is so big, why isn’t an American star or Hollywood star or whoever being showcased to the Indian public? Why is the entertainment business here so arrogant to think that everyone should know these people, yet in an average South Asian household they don’t watch American TV, they watch their own TV. So, how are you meant to know about up-and-coming artists, new movies? The idea was something that could really bridge the gap between different cultures.
Are you finding that the Asian community has more access to projects in film and TV in Hollywood? For the last three years now, I’ve been educating studio heads, distributors, producers, financers. To most people wanting to cross over into the business, their everything is the agent; their everything is the casting director. I’ve been around enough in this town to know that you’ve got to surround yourself with the money people. They’re the ultimate; they are Hollywood, because without them, nothing is going to get made.
So I’ve been surrounding myself with this energy and promoting Bollywood. At first I got laughed at, “What the hell is Bollywood? You’ve got the words mixed up. You don’t know your H and B’s.” But I was persistent and I kept educating people, and then, initially, the show was taking Hollywood to Bollywood, and then we spun it so we were bringing Bollywood content to Hollywood, to the American channels, and then slowly, slowly the studios were giving us more access.
Why did you want to promote spirituality in the entertainment industry? First of all I’m a very spiritual person myself and when I recently performed Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, one of my prayers to God was, “I want to spread your name and give more to the world.” A lot of people follow what celebrity does in regards to fashion, clothing, cars, lifestyle. Why can’t we inspire people through spirituality and not even label it as a religion?
Even though I’m a Muslim myself I promote world spirituality where there is a higher power, and it really worked. On your normal, average TV show you’d only hear gossip and scandal, but now you’re hearing a Snoop Dogg, or a Steven Spielberg or a Catherine Zeta-Jones talking about God and spirituality. And you can see immediately that they’re different people. They’re still playing the cameras, of course, but behind all of that show business, they’re real people. They pray, they meditate, they’re God-fearing, they’re in tune.
And that’s what really gave us a big niche in 130 countries, because it was something no one would ever see with your E! and Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight. They’re just licensing content to countries all over the world and they’re literally just seeing the same thing, the same gossip, the same scandal. Ours was very refreshing because you would find out about the spiritual side of a celebrity.
We really need to have spirituality as something aside from religion, aside from this purely Christian ethic, to unite people. It’s going to take more people spreading the spirituality and really finding your own spirituality, looking in the mirror and saying thank you for all the blessings, but it’s also about stepping up to the table and making a difference, not just getting tangled in the day to day. The reason you’re getting tangled in the day to day is because you don’t have spirituality in your life, because when you do, you’ll find a way to untie the knots, straight away. That’s where faith kicks in.
Do you do anything other than work? That’s all I do. I do this and travel for business within the United States, to India and to the Middle East.
What do you do in the Middle East? I have deals all over the Middle East, promoting Hollywood.
How is that going? It’s going very well. I’m their voice over here when I’m talking to the industry about that area. Even though they have all the money in the world, they don’t have the access. So I give them access, promote them on www.Hollywood.tv and educate them about investing in Hollywood movies and projects.
Have you encountered any resistance to what you are trying to achieve? Not resistance, no, but negativity. Not racial. I’ve never had any problems because of race, but people will give you a hundred reasons why you shouldn’t do it because of all the money at stake. And this is why when I pitch something, I’m not just pitching creativity. I have to pitch the whole business thing, because they’re going to ask you, why should I give you 50 million dollars? I don’t know you. So you have to think of a reason why this guy should give you 50 million dollars. You have to convince him that you can make more money for him than having it sitting in a bank.
He doesn’t give a damn about your talent or your spirituality or your effort to bridge the cultural divide. All he wants to know is what am I going to get back on my investment? And when am I going to get it? If you can answer those two questions and he likes your answers, then you’ll get your money. India is very different. Bollywood is funded totally by families. So you get doctors, dentists, lawyers, whatever, all putting their $2 million into the movie. In Dubai and the Middle East, the right people will cut you a check for whatever amount you want before you’ve even taken a second sip of your cappuccino. Can you imagine if it was like that here? But it’s not, so you have to make it easier for the investor.
Who has been a positive business example for you? Joe Roth, the CEO of Revolution Studios. I had an office next door to him when I first came here, and I would look and I would watch how they were running the business. They were a really friendly company and I would be outside asking all these questions and they’d looked at me like I was a little kid: “Here’s the answer.” It’s like I’m coming with my school book, and saying what about this? And what about this?. These guys were making movies. They were doing it. It’s not like it was just being taught to me; these guys literally had million-dollar budgets with scripts and everything.
At first I got laughed at, “What the hell is Bollywood? You’ve got the words mixed up. You don’t know your H and B’s.” But I was persistent and I kept educating people.’ —Sheeraz Hasan
It’s easy to use words like “will” and “faith,” but what did you do on day one, from a practical standpoint, when you had a show to put out and had no money? Well, at the very beginning. ...You know those sad guys who go around restaurants selling flowers? Well, I was one of them. I’m a good businessman and I would get all these bunches of flowers and sell them, and then I worked for the restaurant Mrs. Fields and sold cookies. I turned that around and things started happening. But the first show I shot on my friend’s roof and we had no lighting or anything. Our lighting was, “Please God, let it be sunny.” But it worked. The secret to success is gratitude and putting full faith and trust in God. When you are aware of these secrets, all one has to do is show up on time and magic happens.
Of the numerous awards you have earned, which one means the most? Definitely being appointed as Hollywood’s Official Ambassador to Bollywood, which happened at the 2005 Bollywood Awards. I’m the gatekeeper for two-way traffic between Bollywood and Hollywood. I’m also very proud of my California Resolution Award, which is the highest award you can get from the state of California.
That was for my work in bringing together so many racially diverse groups, especially Hollywood, Bollywood and Lollywood [the Pakistani equivalent]. But my favorite award is the American Dream. I always said I’d bring my mum to America when I was successful, and I brought her over for the Bollywood Awards ceremony held in Atlantic City. My friend tricked her by saying I was at a party and he was going to bring her to me. She had no idea that I was about to receive the award. I brought her up on stage with me in front of millions of people and I gave her my award because she is truly my “American Dream.”
I was going to ask you what you think your limitations are, but it doesn’t seem like you believe in that concept? No, not really. My only limitation is if God stops me. I’ve been rich, poor, rich, poor. In this life, it’s up and down. And I just get up and dust myself off and think, “I’m exactly where God wants me to be.”
Sheeraz on Sheeraz
Websites: www.sheeraz.com, www.hollywood.tv, www.sports.tv Lives: Beverly Hills Fave Web sites: Google and the BBC Fave places in LA County: Zuma Beach, The Grove, Star Walk at Hollywood & Highland. Fave restaurants: Bilal, an Indian restaurant at LAX on Manchester Blvd. It has really authentic Indian food. Hookah, on Melrose and La Cienega, and Urth Café. Fave music: Mostly Indian music, some R&B Books/culture: Spiritual self-help books, Remarkable Healings: A Psychiatrist Discovers Unsuspected Roots of Mental and Physical Illness by Shakuntala Modi, and entertainment books Fave quotation: “God’s delays are never God’s denials” —Tony Robbins
GREAT DJS OF THE WORLD Posted by DJ Psycosmiley 504 days ago
Nicely done article! Peace & Breakbeatz DJ Psycosmiley
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