INTERNATIONAL film-maker and social media star Haris Effendi has worked with some of the biggest names in the world but when he decided to move back to the UK from Dubai his career- and life- fell apart.
By Anila Baig
He tells Bradford Means Business how he battled depression and bereavement to re-build his brand and why, despite the struggles, he is glad he came back home to the city he calls a ‘diamond in the rough’.
In Dubai where he had been living for the past five years, Haris, 30, was enjoying the high life. Home was a spacious five-bedroom villa with a pool, he was working with companies like Rolls Royce and Formula One.
He also filmed events for the likes of Mike Tyson, Kim Kardashian, Mariah Carey and rapper Rick Ross and when he moved to Dubai from the UK, his vlogs about life in the UAE have notched up thousands of views on YouTube and netted him tens of thousands of subscribers.
But then his dad’s brother died suddenly.
“I was always Skyping my family back in the UK and then my father’s brother died. The fact that he just dropped dead one day made me realise I needed to move back to be with my family because life is so short and you just never know.
“Yes, I had a good life in Dubai but I didn’t want to have regrets about my parents.”
It came at a price.
When he moved back to Bradford with his wife and three children all the work he had built up evaporated.
Haris was distraught.
“In Dubai I was at the top of my game but suddenly there was no work at all. It was a very difficult time. I was back with a family to support and no means of doing that.”
In Dubai the life was fast-paced with glamorous events taking place constantly which offered plenty of work opportunities for Haris.
“There wasn’t the same social life here. I was terrified of how I was going to pay the bills.”
But Haris persevered. He knew that if he went back to Dubai he would miss out on seeing his family and he wasn’t willing to sacrifice that.
“I started doing odd jobs, filming small things for small companies and restaurants just low paid and not challenging, just to get by. It was really hard and no-one cared but I kept going.”
For Haris the disappointment exacerbated his already fragile mental condition.
“Ever since I was a child I was aware that I was different. I didn’t feel that same sense of happiness as other people. Even when good things happened to me I didn’t feel joy. I felt like I had a dark cloud hanging over me.”
When he was in Dubai and living the highlife but still not experiencing any actual feelings of happiness or accomplishment his wife, Holly, encouraged him to see a doctor who diagnosed him with depression and prescribed medication.
“It took quite a few goes to get the dose right but they helped a lot.”
Haris also began self-medicating with Gabapentin, a powerful painkiller, in a bid to lift his mood further.
“My anti-depressants helped a lot but they didn’t give me a buzz that I was craving from life so I started taking my mum’s prescription.”
He began working for Enkhanz, a Bradford-based company specialising in customising cars and from then more work began to trickle in.
Soon he was able to earn a good living again but then something which was to shatter his world- his mum passed away suddenly in July last year.
“It was and still is completely devastating. I was very close to my mum and losing her left me an emotional wreck.”
Inevitably it took a toll on his mental health and he began questioning everything about his life.
Despite his loving wife by his side and three children aged three, four and eleven months, Haris felt bereft and in an attempt to cope he upped his use of Gabapentin which resulted in a near death situation.
“I was at home and my heart started racing, I thought I was going to die. Holly called the ambulance and I was told my heart rate was 280 beats a minute which is phenomenally high. I felt like someone had reached into me and was squeezing my heart. It was a life or death situation.”
He spent a few days in hospital and vowed to change his life. He came off all the drugs cold turkey including the anti-depressants.
He still suffers from low mood and had a particularly difficult Christmas without his mum.
“She was English and we always celebrated Christmas in a big way. It was hard without her.”
Instead Haris put all his focus onto his work.
“Luckily after two hard years I am back to where I was in Dubai.”
He is flying all over the world making videos for Alchemy Project which is the biggest events company in the Middle East, Rich List, Formula One and his partnership with Enkhanz, who supported him in his darkest hour, has possibly netted him a new television series.
“I was recently approached by Channel 4 who are moving their HQ up north and they are very interested in diversity. There are very few programmes and films based around Asian, Muslim culture and the youth of today and this is a group that I have a lot of access to, so I’d love to use this and make exciting content for television. So watch this space!”
The prevalence of Instagram has also changed the way Haris works.
“In the past people would ask me to film long videos for their companies but now everyone just wants a 60 second clip which they can upload to Instagram.”
He has advice for anyone starting out in business.
“Whatever your passion is in life just go for that because it means you will enjoy it and be good at it.”
Haris Effendi
In Haris’s case his obsession with film began when he was given a camcorder by his father at the age of seven.
“I struggled at school with reading and writing but found it really easy to communicate through film so while other kids were playing on their bikes I was out filming and making mini-movies.”
By the time he graduated with a degree in Film Studies from Leeds Met University he already had set up his own media company, FND.tv and was working with some of the biggest celebrities in the world.
“I’ve lost it all and rebuilt it up and I am happy to say I am back on top. It’s been hard especially coping with the loss of my mum but my wife has been amazing.
“It’s been hard but I feel like coming back to England meant that I got to spend the year with my mum and I would have been devastated if she had gone while I was in Dubai. So for me coming back here even when I wasn’t earning was worth it.”
Originally from Leeds Haris has become an honorary Bradfordian due to the fact that Holly hails from Haworth but he sees the city in all its beauty.
“Bradford is an amazing city, with so many exciting businesses and opportunities. It was Jeremy Clarkson who said the most supercars in the UK are in Bradford. It’s got that young vibrant Asian community, young lads who want to be successful and live a luxurious lifestyle. This is partly why such a large number of my following are young, Pakistani, Muslim lads. They saw what I was doing out in Dubai and they loved it, they got inspiration from it.
“While living here, I have noticed such a tight knit community, so many vibrant characters and above all there are amazing successful businesses based in this small city.
“You come to Bradford to taste the best curry, you come here to rent the best supercars, if you need some car customisation, you’ll go see my friend Nav at Enkahnz and shisha lounges were here before shisha was even popular!
“It’s an amazing city, a diamond in the rough.”
Follow Haris on Instagram @fndtv
“Now I am filming for international companies, travelling all over the world and I am back at the top of my game. It’s been very hard but I am proof that you can start again.”
