| Mrinal Sen |
|
|
Having directed twenty-eight feature films and four documentaries in languages varying from Bengali, Oriya, Hindi to Telugu -- the list of the awards and accolades bestowed on the inimitable filmmaker Mrinal Sen – is rather long-winding.
|
|
|
A recipient of numerous National Awards (Swarna Kamal four times, Rajat Kamal several times) and Lifetime Achievement Awards -- his international renown is as mind-blowing - bagging Gold, Silver, Bronze in the film festivals at Avillino, Berlin, Cairo, Cannes, Chicago, Carthage, Colombo, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Mannheim, Montreal, Moscow, Naples, Venice, Valladolid, et al.
|
|
|
Other laurels include the Nehru Soviet Land Award (1979), Padma Bhushan (1981), Commandeur de Ordre des Art et Lettres (France-1983), D. Litt (Honoris Causa): Burdwan University (1993), Jadavpur University (1996), Rabindra Bharati University (1999), Order of Friendship, Russian Federation (2000).
|
|
|
Invariably, he’s been on the International Jury at Berlin, Cannes, Leipzig, Moscow, Oberhausen, Tokyo, Tehran, Tunis, Venice, to name a few. And held positions as the Chairman of Film & Television Institute, Pune; President of International Federation of Film Societies, with its office at London-Bern for three consecutive tenures, i.e. nine years (1990-99).
|
|
He’s also been the Nominated Member of Rajya Sabha (1997-2003).
|
|
|
| Vasant Sathe |
|
|
Vasant Sathe had his early education at Bhonsle Military School, Nasik, and did his Masters in Economics and Political Science from Nagpur Mahavidyalaya, followed by a degree in Law. He was member of the Consultative Committee of the Planning Commission in 1972, before holding key portfolios as the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting in 1980, Chemicals and Fertilisers in 1982, Steel, Mines & Coal in 1985, and Energy in 1986, with the additional charge of Communication during 1988 up to 1989. He was also the Chairman of Indo-Japan Study Committee from 1992-95, and became the President of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, with Cabinet Rank, in 1993. He has represented India at UNESCO, World Peace Congress and Inter-Parliamentary Union. Given his academic interest in economics and political restructuring, he has authored six books.
|
|
| ¤ Towards Social Revolution – A Case for Economic Democracy (1984) |
| ¤ Restructuring of Public Sector in India (1988) |
| ¤ The Challenge of Changes (1989) |
| ¤ Two Swords in One Scabbard (1989) |
| ¤ National Government – Agenda for New India (1991) |
| ¤ Tax Without Tears (1994) |
|
|
| Nina Sood |
|
|
Nina Sood has had her education in England, Canada and the United States, travelling with her father on his postings abroad. After her return to India, she lived in Kolkata for twenty years, where she taught at Modern High School for Girls, and subsequently at Loreto House.
|
|
Her first book, Turbulence and Tranquillity, narrates her struggle with grief at the demise of her son and the final acceptance of death. She resides in New Delhi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anjan Ray is an alumnus of IIT, New Delhi, and holds a doctorate in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania under the guidance of the noted Nobel Laureate, Prof. Alan MacDiarmid. He has since worked in the chemical lubricants to textile processing and flexible packaging. In his non-existent spare time over the years, he has anchored several hundred broadcasts on All India Radio at New Delhi and Mumbai, taught journalism at the Xavier Institute of Communication in Mumbai, written occasionally for various newspapers and magazines in India and the US; and lectured extensively across India with Sabrang, a non-profit organisation dedicated to demystification of the Classical Arts.
|
| Ray lives in New Delhi with his wife Arunima and daughter Aleya. |
|
|
| Dhruva Chak |
|
|
Dhruva Chak is an alumnus of La Martiniere College, Lucknow, and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Over the last three decades, he has held senior positions with various companies, including Shaw Wallace and also headed GATI, one of India’s pioneering cargo companies. Currently, he’s a management consultant and visiting faculty, at Western International University, New Delhi Campus of the University of Arizona. His other published works include an adventure fantasy, Wizard’s Winter, and its sequel, Sorcerer’s Spring, besides a book of poetry, The Toadstool Saga and other poems. He lives in DLF City, Gurgaon, with his wife Vandana, son Dhananjaya and daughter Arushi.
|
|
|
| Madhoor Kapur |
|
|
Madhoor Kapur is an artist and writer living in New Delhi. He has held 47 one-person exhibitions of his paintings since 1964 in India, Paris and Hong Kong. He has earlier published one title, Pradakshina: Travels in India.
|
|
|
|
|
| Manosi Lahiri |
|
|
Manosi Lahiri holds a doctorate in Urban Geography. Born in Calcutta, she studied at the Universities of Calcutta, Delhi and London. A pioneer in the field of Geographic Information System (GIS), she is the Chief Executive of ML Infomap, an Information Technology Company she founded in 1993. A GIS consultant of international repute, she has contributed to several prestigious projects of the Government of India and UN organisations. Digital map products and IT solutions developed by her company are widely used by corporations and research institutes.
|
|
|
Simply passionate about trekking and the survey of remote destinations, she has travelled extensively in Tibet and China. And enjoys reading maps, novels, biographies and travelogues. She lives with her two daughters in DLF, Gurgaon.
|
|
|
| Upendra Tankha |
|
|
Born in the valley town of Dehra Dun in the last years of the Raj, in a Kashmiri Pandit family, Upendra Tankha had his education at the Doon School. He did rather well in history, taught by an Englishman, who smoked a pipe and bred Labradors, besides being a double blue at Oxford – in cricket and soccer. He graduated from Allahabad University in the days when a score or so of successful IAS candidates always hailed from there. Being a laidback city, distinguished by its learned judges and some brilliant professors, it was hardly the place to sow one’s wild oats with barely any bars.
|
|
|
Eventually, he got his break in journalism after a test taken by M Chelapathi Rau, the legendary editor, who was a great friend of Pt Nehru, and edited The National Herald . Rau’s famous words were: “We can teach you subbing, but not English. I’m taking you on as you seem to know some English.” Subsequently, he spent long years with The Financial Express and The Economic Times without having a clue on money matters, but bang on when it came to words and their usage. He still believes it’s far simpler to write something than to edit it. He also made a mark as a film critic with various publications, notably The Statesman , and hugely enjoyed sitting through film festivals simply because he was paid to do so.
|
|
|
| Chetan Joshi |
|
|
Chétan Joshi is a Pune-based writer with a flair for fiction…from the absurd to stark raving reality. A software graduate, he abandoned his career in IT after 12 years, to take up writing as his mainstream profession. Completely dedicated to the written word, he is a copywriter by day, screenplay writer by evening and story writer by night...then again it’s morning. His penchant for creative experiments has made him write in almost every genre, for he thinks that no idea should be wasted by just talking about it…let those notations make social statements or question morals. Currently, he’s working on a novel and two international film projects.
|
|
|
