Latest news with #Farook
Campaign ME
3 days ago
- Business
- Campaign ME
Magic Mango MENA appoints Chief Marketing Officer to lead Dubai expansion
Advertising agency Magic Mango Group has appointed Roshan Farook as Chief Marketing Officer to lead its Dubai operations starting June 2025. With this move, the agency aims to signal a bold new chapter in its global journey, combining Sri Lankan ingenuity with international ambition. With more than 25 years of experience in marketing and advertising, Farook brings a powerhouse portfolio of regional and global brand experience to the Mango playhouse. His career has spanned high-impact roles across Sri Lanka and the UAE, most recently, leading key portfolios such as Al Habtoor Motors, Arabian Centre Mall, Flora Food Group and VinFast Global. Previously, he managed marquee clients such as Unilever Sri Lanka, Axiata, Ceylon Tobacco Company, British American Tobacco (UAE and London), Farook's strategic acumen has been instrumental in securing breakthrough business wins, including his recent win in public relations (PR) and key opinion leaders (KOL) businesses across the MENA region for VinFast Global. His past achievements include building a consumer engagement unit for Unilever, embedding activation and events as a core pillar of campaign planning, and leading brand growth across diverse sectors including FMCG, tech, and automotive. Co-founders Sugibun Sathiamoorthy and Shehantha Fernando welcomed Farook into this new chapter, saying, 'Roshan is not just a brilliant marketer, he's a builder, a connector and someone who believes in creating meaningful brand stories that deliver results. His leadership in Dubai is central to our goal of building a truly global creative powerhouse.' S R Vickneswaran, Director, Magic Mango MENA, added that Farook's entry to Magic Mango MENA, with a multifaceted outlook on trade and industries in UAE, would certainly enhance current skillsets and enable its efforts to spread its wings in the region and beyond. Ralston Joseph, Group CEO of Magic MANGO MENA, said, 'With Roshan at the helm in Dubai, we are not just expanding — we're evolving. His insight into the region, combined with our collective hunger to do meaningful work, will push us into exciting new territories — both geographically and creatively.' Magic Mango's Dubai office, already buzzing with projects across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, is set to become the agency's hub for cross-continental creativity and client partnership. The move aligns with the agency's strategic vision to grow beyond borders while staying rooted in its people-first, quality-over-quantity philosophy. Commenting on his appointment, Roshan Farook, Chief Marketing Officer, Magic Mango MENA, said, 'I'm truly grateful to the ExCo board for their trust and confidence in me. My focus is to drive meaningful impact in the UAE and the new markets we are preparing to enter. With the exceptional energy and talent within the team, I am confident that Magic Mango MENA will not only meet expectations but consistently exceed them.' With eyes set on Europe and Africa by 2026, Magic Mango Group intends to continue defying conventions, proving that purpose, passion and a bit of 'magic' can turn an idea under a mango tree into a global force.
Scroll.in
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
‘Tales from Qabristan': A novel about a young man's childhood memories is as vivid as a photograph
'Wise are those who listen to the tales from Qabristan for only then can you Admire the flowers bloomed in the garden of the grave.' If I were to describe Sabin Iqbal's Tales From Qabristan, in one sentence, I would say that it is like flipping through the pages of an album of vivid photographs taken through the protagonist Farook's lens that capture his world as it is. However, since a single line wouldn't do the book justice, I'll talk about it with all its quirks and wonders to convince you to read it. The Kayaloram House The novel is a wonderfully done portrait of the inhabitants of the Kayaloram House through Farook's reflections on his life following his father's death. He seems to be scrambling to keep alive the tales that his grandmother and mother have told him and through them, the memories of those who have become tombstones in the graveyard. These stories translate bigger theoretical discussions of grief, feminism, caste, religion, and capitalism that are forgetful of very many people of the country, into the slow-moving, everyday lives of all those that occupied a space – no matter how small – in Farook's life. The Middle-Eastern Oil Boom, the massive immigration that it set off, the families it left behind, neglect, affairs, abuse, alcoholism, death and life that trudges on as if nothing ever happened, all find a fitting place in this novel. I call it a photo album despite its literary medium because of the care and craft that went into its writing, allowing the production of vivid imagery with all of Kerala's visuals, sounds and scents through exquisite language that is far from cliche. Iqbal presents a breath of fresh air through sentences that twist and turn, each one challenged by the next, with descriptions that draw attention to the right details, skillfully capturing a South Indian setting like no other – for instance, he writes: 'Crystal droplets pucker the faces taut with grief; bigger drops patter on plantain and teak leaves, and drip down the eaves and awnings of the mosque, and the mossy cheeks of its twin minarets.' The narrative adapts to Farook growing up and switches between endearing moments of childish indignation, innocence and fascination and a rather world-weary, cynical and at times, regretful young adult. The reader's expectations of encountering perfect characters are challenged through depictions of their human errors and thoughtless decisions. Time and again, the male characters shock readers with the cruel carelessness they subject their wives and children to. Several tales of women married off at youth and abused, and of the eyes that are unthinkingly shut towards their predicament, brought tears to my eyes, at times, for these stories do not stray too far from home. Despite Iqbal's gentle exploration of these issues, alongside those of alcoholism and religious practices, the story rejects a moralistic tone, committing instead to documenting the lives of these people as they were, in all their reality and imperfections, making the book all the more charming. The state of women Despite the book's excellence in more areas than one, there were moments when I wished the lens had tilted slightly – that the angle had changed, or the frame widened, to capture something just out of view. At times, I felt that the descriptiveness of the writing, coupled with the commitment to narrate the everyday, slowed the story down and took perhaps a few pages more than I would've liked to pick the pace up once again. I also found that despite the strong, memorable and nuanced roles that Grandmother and Ma held, other women in the story could've been fleshed out with more details through a retelling of the lives that they lived outside of men. Often, the absence of men in their lives, the abuse that they suffered at their hands, or the sexual relations they shared with them became central to their character, ignoring, in my opinion, their 'everyday' and limiting them to just one aspect of their entire life. I do concede that this might have been a reflection of Farook's small scope of interaction with them, only through stories and gossip, which often interests itself in such matters. Perhaps, it is also a reflection of the devastating and thus central position such events might've taken in their lives or even that of the limited lives that these women were forced to live. In a related but distinct vein, the narrative also explores the compelling experience of a transgender woman in the story that documents cruel violence and the state of rigid and ridiculous gender norms today. Even so, it might be worth noting that such instances of forced conversions as a result of violence, as mentioned in the novel, might not be the truth for most transgender people today, and for them, it may remain voluntary. Nevertheless, this storyline, much like the rest of the book, is moving and quietly arresting. Tales From Qabristan 's strength lies in the way it pieces together fragments of memory, allowing the lives it recounts to remain messy, unresolved, and real, and I think that is what makes it a memorable and worthy read.
Arab News
31-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Emirati artist Rami Farook on his Jeddah solo show ‘A Muslim Man': ‘This is a living exhibition'
JEDDAH: Rami Farook's solo exhibition 'A Muslim Man,' which runs at Jeddah's ATHR Gallery until March 25, is a deeply personal sequel of sorts to a film he made in 2015, and traces the evolution of his life, identity and creative practice over the past decade. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ The original project, a 64-minute conceptual feature comprising 16 vignettes, has now been reimagined as a labyrinth-like multimedia experience featuring 85 pieces, each of which is based on a scene from that film. The self-taught Emirati artist was 20 in 2001 when he lost his best friend. Four months later, while living in the US, the events of 9/11 drastically altered his life. As a Muslim, Arab-looking man, he recalls: 'I became noticed, vilified… it shifted everything.' These events inspired a deeper exploration of his faith and identity, themes that are central to this show. 'It's about a Muslim man's relationship with God, self, society and family,' he tells Arab News. Following the events of Oct. 7, 2023, and the outbreak of genocidal violence in Palestine, Farook turned to painting as a coping mechanism. 'I painted daily, summarizing the news,' he says. This renewed urgency also shaped the exhibition's tone. The 'Muslim Man' is portrayed as both a victim and a hero. Farook describes the show as 'an immersive, intermedia experience.' It is his first attempt at blending multiple mediums into one cohesive journey. 'For me, this was a fun curatorial process, way more magical than just watching the film,' he says. The 'docufictional' exhibition is structured like a film, however, and unfolds across seven sections: context, protagonist, cause of conflict, conflict, response to conflict, climax, and moral, Farook explains. Here, he talks us through several works from the show. 'Aerial View' This is the poster for the show; the reason I like it as the poster is you can look at it in any of the seven sections I mentioned earlier — context, protagonist, cause of conflict, conflict, response to conflict, climax, and moral — and it could be in any of them. The character is a Muslim man. This shot presents him as a hero — because we've seen the villain side too many times in the last 25 years or more. This show is showing the other side. He's on a ladder that looks like it's not in the greatest shape. The village he's looking at: is it alive? Is it dead? There's the mystery. And whether he is looking to see what's going on to eventually maybe protect it, we don't know. So there's a lot of mystery. 'Caring for His Father' This is a closeup of me holding my dad's hand. He wears white, I wear black. My dad cannot see; he lost around 50 percent of his eyesight in the last 40 years, and then he lost another maybe 40 percent in the last four or five years. He just sees light at this point. So, I care for him, especially recently. And I just felt like I wanted it to be here. This exhibition is docufictional — it can be about me, but it's also general. 'Alone' I made a mattress that's exactly my height, my width and my depth. It literally just fits me. It's the idea that rest, contemplation… it all happens lying down in bed. Later, I thought it also kind of looks like a casket. Originally, it was going to have a fitted sheet or a cover, and a pillow; I made a pillow that's just the size of my head. I try to strip things down as much as possible to just the absolute basics. Maybe I'll add it later. This is a living exhibition; I wouldn't be surprised if I end up adding things later — there are some things here that weren't planned. 'The Siege of Jeddah/A Determined Defense' This captures the moment the Portuguese tried to invade Jeddah. The commander at the time, they put up a determined defense for about 30 to 35 days. It's significant to showcase it here because there's only two works in the show that are Jeddah-specific. So for me, it's beautiful. Jeddah is a city that I love very much. It makes you wonder, if the Portuguese did occupy Jeddah, how everything would be different now. 'Allah So Determined And Did As He Willed' This, honestly, is a (phrase) that is my cure to any worry. We all look back at our lives — especially at the big things that we invested time, money, or whatever, into, and we could always ask: how could we guarantee that things — business, relationships, or anything — would have been better if we changed something? This phrase actually helps me to not live with regrets.
