Shab kottarath Interview
Q. To begin with, who is Al Shab Kottarath beyond the creator behind @shabvlogs?
I'm from Kottakkal, a small town in Malappuram, Kerala. I just finished my bachelor's degree in Multimedia. So editing and making videos is not only my passion, it's also what I studied. Outside of @shabvlogs, I'm a pretty normal guy. I've always been curious about how things work, like gadgets, movies, and how big scenes in films are made. Even now, when I sit in a classroom or walk on the road, my mind keeps thinking, "What if something crazy happened here?" Most of my ideas start like that.
My family means everything to me. My father, M.K. Humayaun Kabir, is a TV technician in our hometown, and my mother, Sameera E, is a housewife. My father supported me from the time he understood how much I loved this. My mother is always there for me and takes care of everything at home, so I can focus on my work. My friends also help me a lot. They act in my videos, do so many retakes without complaining (okay, sometimes they complain), and always tell me honestly if something looks fake. I'm still the same guy from Kottakkal. A video getting 1,000 views or 100 million doesn't change who I am.
Q. How did your journey from tech vlogs at 13 to creating realistic VFX reels begin?
I started in 2018, when I was 13. I was crazy about gadgets, so I started making tech vlogs. There was no big plan. I just liked making videos and uploading them.
Slowly I realised I was enjoying the editing more than the talking part. While watching movies, I started wondering how they made those effects, and I really wanted to try making them myself. My father noticed how much I loved this. Because of my passion, he bought me a camera and a computer. He didn't have to, but he did it because he believed in me. Not every parent does that, and I'm really thankful to him.
After he bought them, I really started. I watched YouTube tutorials and tried to recreate shots from movies. Most of the time it didn't work. But whenever one shot finally looked real, I felt so happy that I wanted to try the next one. I learned Premiere Pro and After Effects mostly by myself, just by trying and making mistakes. Slowly my videos changed from tech reviews to VFX. When Reels came, it felt perfect for me, because it's short and visual and one "wow" moment is enough to make people watch. People only see the viral reel, but it took me almost 9 years to get here. It wasn't overnight. There were so many videos that nobody watched, so many failed edits, and many times I felt like nothing was working. But I kept going.
Q. Your classroom VFX reel crossed 108 million views. What was your reaction when you realised it had gone viral?
I was in shock. I was just 19, and I had never even seen any video with 100 million views. I didn't plan it to go viral at all.
It was a normal day in college. Our professor was playing a movie on the TV in class, and suddenly I got an idea. What if I pretended to pass a pen to my friend, but it "accidentally" hit the TV and broke it? So I threw the pen in a different direction, not at the TV, and later edited it to look like it broke the screen. The VFX was not the hardest part. Getting my friends to react properly was. Their reactions didn't look real, so I had to take it again and again. All this was happening while the teacher was in the class, and at one point the teacher told me to stop. So I stopped, went home, edited it, and posted it.
Then it went viral, mainly because people thought it actually happened. In the comments everyone was asking if the student got suspended. The college management even called our principal and told him to take action. Only then did they find out it was VFX, made by a multimedia student from their own college. The principal called me to his office. I was scared, I won't lie. But he didn't scold me. He appreciated my work, said it looked completely real, and even gave me a gift. He told me his friends were sending him the reel and asking if this really happened in his college.
What I liked most was that the same teacher who told me to stop in class came to me after the reel went viral and appreciated me. That really stayed with me. But the happiest part was my parents. My father and mother were so happy and proud. And the funny thing is, my father is a TV technician. He repairs TVs for a living, and his son went viral for "breaking" one. Seeing them that happy meant more to me than the views. The numbers still don't feel real. Kerala has around 3.5 crore people, and the reel got 108 million views. The total watch time was more than 31 years. I was 19 when I made it, so people watched that small clip for longer than I had been alive. It also came on News18 with the headline "Shabvlogs is going viral." Seeing my name in the news was something I never expected.
That video taught me one thing. When people really believe something is real, they keep sharing it. It wasn't only the VFX. It was the classroom, my friends' reactions, and the effect together.
Q. You're self-taught and work without a professional studio. How do you turn ordinary places into extraordinary visual experiences?
First, I want to be honest. I'm not a professional VFX artist. I don't even know if the way I do VFX is the "proper" way or not. I'm sure a professional would do many things differently. I just learned by watching tutorials and trying things until they looked real to me. So I see myself as a creator who uses VFX to tell small stories, not a VFX expert. I don't have a studio either. My classroom, my house, and the roads in my town are my sets. Honestly, I think that helps me more than it stops me.
If you shoot in a fancy set, people already expect something. But when it's a normal classroom or a normal street, nobody expects anything. So when something unbelievable happens, it hits harder. People feel like it could happen to them too, and that's why it looks real. Before I shoot, I already have the final video in my head. I think about the angle, the timing, and how the effect will match the light in that place. In realistic VFX, small mistakes are easy to catch. If the shadow or lighting is a little wrong, or if someone's reaction looks fake, people notice immediately.
That's why I take reactions very seriously. I'll do as many takes as it needs. After that I edit in Premiere Pro and After Effects and try to mix the effect into the real footage so it looks like it really happened. Being self-taught also means I had to find my own ways to solve problems. When you don't have big resources, you start thinking smarter. I'm still learning every day, and I think that made me a better creator. Maybe I'm not doing it the professional way, but people believe what they see, and for me that's what matters.
Q. How do you come up with relatable POV ideas that make people laugh, rewatch, and share your content?
Most of my ideas come from normal life: college, home, friends, and things everyone has gone through. The classroom reel happened just because a movie was playing in class. I wasn't even looking for an idea that day. I keep asking myself "what if?" about normal situations and then take it a little too far. What if a small mistake became something huge? What if something we imagined as kids actually happened?
I've seen that people share a video when they can relate to it, like "this is me" or "this is my friend." When the twist is unexpected, they get that "wait, what?" feeling. And when it looks real, they watch it again to check if it's real or how I did it. If a video has all of these, it usually travels. I also read the comments a lot. People tell me what they found funny and what they didn't get, and that helps me with the next idea.
Q. What's your biggest dream as a creator, and what advice would you give someone who wants to start creating with limited resources?
My biggest dream is to become a full-time content creator. This isn't just a hobby for me anymore. It's what I want to do every day. I also want to make my own kind of content, not just follow trends. Right now everyone uses the same audio and the same format because it's trending. Trends die fast, and when everyone does the same thing, nobody stands out. I want people to see my video and feel, "I haven't seen this before." My classroom reel didn't follow any trend. It was my own idea, shot in my own college, with my own friends. That's why people connected with it, and that gave me the confidence to keep doing original stuff.
I also want to work on big projects one day, like films, big brand campaigns, and bigger productions, where I can push my VFX much further. I'd love to work with good teams and learn from experienced people. Right now I make everything with whatever I have around me, so I'm really excited to see what I can do with bigger opportunities. And I want to show that someone from a small town like Kottakkal can make something that reaches the whole world, and make my parents even prouder. To anyone starting with very little, start with what you have. I don't have a studio or big equipment. I just have the camera and computer my father got me, and the places around me. Almost everything I know, I learned from free YouTube tutorials and a lot of mistakes. Copying shots you like is a good way to learn, but after some time, bring your own ideas. Don't only follow trends. Use the places around you, like your room, your classroom, or your street. Normal places make the most relatable videos.
Be patient. Not every video will go viral, and that's okay. I started in 2018, and it took me almost 9 years to reach where I am today. My viral reel wasn't planned. It happened because I kept making videos all those years. And if someone believes in you, like my parents did, don't waste that.
Don't wait for the perfect time, because it doesn't come. Just start.
Bio
Al Shab Kottarath is a self-taught content creator from Kerala, India, known for his realistic visual effects (VFX) and relatable point-of-view (POV) reels inspired by everyday experiences. His creative journey began in 2018, when he was 13 years old. With the support of his father, who bought him his first computer, Al Shab started experimenting with tech vlogs, video shooting, and editing, which later evolved into a passion for visual storytelling. He earned a BA in Multimedia from GEMS College, Kerala, where he continued honing his skills through campus-inspired content.
Al Shab's ability to turn ordinary situations into unexpected visual moments has earned his content millions of views. His viral classroom VFX reel, depicting a student seemingly breaking a television with a pen, crossed 108 million views and was featured by News18. Other popular videos include his ₹5,000 2BHK rental POV reel (25M+ views) and a superhero VFX breakdown (9M+ views). Through his Instagram handle, @shabvlogs, Al Shab continues to push creative boundaries while proving that imagination matters far more than an elaborate setup.
Interviewed by Anushka Agarwal
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