Born in Calcutta. Graduated from Calcutta University.
Started making documentaries in 1973. Took active part in group theatre movement in Calcutta.

Also dedicated some time as a Photo Journalist. Shri Ghose made his first documentary– New Earth in 1973 followed by Hungry Autumn which won him the main award at the Oberhausen Film Festival. He has since made significant feature films including Maa Bhoomi, Dakhal, Paar, Antarjali Yatra, Padma Nadir Majhi, Patang, Gudia, Dekha, Abar Aranye, Yatra, Kaalbela, Moner Manush , Shunyo Awnko and Shankhachil.

He has made a number of prominent documentaries including Meeting A Milestone (on Ustad Bismillah Khan), Beyond the Himalayas, Land of Sand Dunes, Ray (On Satyajit Ray), Impermanence (On HH Dalai Lama) Made numerous AD films, corporate and other Short Films.

Shri Ghose has won 19 National Awards besides Filmfare Awards and many International awards like Silver Balloon Award, Nantes Film Festival, UNESCO Award, Cannes Film Festival, Grand Prix – Golden Semurg at Tashkent, UNESCO Award at Venice, Fipresci Awards, Red Cross Award at Verna Film Festival, The Golden Peacock at IFFI. Also the only Indian to win the coveted Vittori Di Sica Award. Was awarded the Knighthood of the Star of the Italian Solidarity in July 2006. Awarded golden peacock for “Moner Manush” at IFFI 2011.

Born on 26th August 1966, is a four times National Award-winning Indian film director, producer and script-writer best known for making hard-hitting realistic cinema that not just has the critical acclaim but also has the best commercial success rate in the country. He is best known for his film such as Chandni Bar (2001), Page 3 (2005), Traffic Signal (2007), Fashion (2008), Jail (2010), Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji (2011) and Heroine (2012). He has been written about many times as the Indian answer to Hollywood filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. He has been conferred with Padma Shree, fourth highest civilian award from the Govt. of India in 2016.

After his first National Award for Chandani Bar, there was no looking back for him. Success of Chandani Bar was followed by another critically successful film, Satta (2003) which won him the All India Human Rights Association Award, New Delhi. Bhandarkar roped in actress Konkona Sen Sharma for his next film, Page 3 (2005). The film was a box office hit, was also favored by the critics, and made him a recipient of National Award for the second time. His next release was the movie Corporate (2006), exposing the dark side of business world, was a critical success with box-office hit. Bhandarkar then made the movie Traffic Signal (2007) based on the lives of the people below poverty line who earn their living at the traffic signals in India. This movie again won the hearts of the critics and the audiences. The 54th National Film Awards Jury had chosen him for Best Director award for Traffic Signal, giving him his third National Film Award. Corporate was chosen as a case study for the business school IIM Ahmedabad and Traffic Signal as a case study for the Students of Ranjit Singh College, Indore, India. 2008 saw the release of his expose of the Fashion world in India, Fashion (2008), starring actresses Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut and Mugdha Godse in lead roles. Both Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut won Best Actress and Best Actress in a supporting role awards respectively at all the major award functions including National Awards for their roles in Fashion.

Bhandarkar then dwelled with a completely different topic in his next film, Jail (2009). The movie, which starred actor Neil Nitin Mukesh, was about an innocent man being framed for the wrong crime. It is needless to say that the movie was critically acclaimed. Bhandarkar then took a break from all seriousness and made his first romantic comedy, Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji (2011). The movie was a slice of life comedy and was a commercial success. The movie starred actors Ajay Devgan, Emraan Hashmi and Omi Vaidya. In July this year, Madhur was awarded another Presidential Award. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, India wanted to acknowledge Madhur’s contributions to Hindi language cinema under the Hindi Service Awards Scheme. The filmmaker was awarded with the Presidential Award, Gangasharan Singh Award, by now-former President Pratibha Patil at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

His next was much talked about ‘Heroine’ (2012) with Kareena Kapoor in lead role that revolved around the life of a film actress and her struggle in life and in film industry.

Bhandarkar’s last release was film Calendar Girls (2015) starring five newcomers. For the first time, five new female leads were cast together in a film. As the name suggests, the film was about girls who become popular after posing for famous calendars.

Madhur is currently busy with his next titled ‘Indu Sarkar’ starring Kirti Kulhari, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Neil Nitin Mukesh, that is about a stammering poetess who rebels against system during emergency.

Achievements:

International Acclaim:

Chandni Bar, Best Film at Zimbabwe International Film Festival 2003 and Technical Award for Best Background Music Score at Moscow International Film Festival 2003.

Page 3, Official Selection at the Raindance Film Festival, London 2006 and IFFLA Los Angeles 2006. Corporate, Official Selection at the Berlin Asia-Pacific Film Festival 2006.

Fashion, Official Selection at the 31st Moscow International Film Festival 2009, Festival de Festivals, St.Petersburg 2009 and Norway Bollywood Festival 2009.

Retrospective of Page 3,Traffic Signal and Fashion with Russian Sub-Titles held by the Ministry of Culture, Russia and SOVEXPORTFILM in Moscow 2009.

Retrospective of Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate, Traffic Signal, Fashion and Jail at the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival 2009.

Honored by The Office of Public Advocate, City of New York in May 2013.

Sophia Award at the Syracuse International Film Festival in October 2013.

Creative spirit and Visionary Director’s Award at House of Commons, UK (2013 – 14).

Rafi Peer Memorial Award in Lahore, Pakistan in February 2015.

National Acclaim:

Padma Shree by Govt. of India in 2016

National Awards

Chandni Bar – 4 National Awards(Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress) conferred by the then President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Page 3 – 3 National Awards (Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Editing) conferred by the then President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Traffic Signal – 2 National Awards (Best Director, Best Make-up) conferred by the present President of India Smt. Pratibhatai Patil.

Gangasharan Singh Award (2009) – Awarded by the HRD Ministry of India, this Presidential Award was given to him for his contribution to Hindi Cinema.

Appointed on the Steering Committee of IFFI 2013 by the I&B Mnistry, Govt of India

Shri Bhandarkar has been awarded by Kalaranjani Awards – (2005), Mayor of Mumbai – Excellency Award (2006), Pride of Nation Award, Kesari Gaurav Sanman, Lions Gold Award (2005-06) (2008-09), IMPPA Awards, Asian Film Foundation Award (2008), Farsa Award (2009), P L Deshpande Award (2010), Raj Kapoor Smriti Award (2014), Iconic Man of the Decade by Women Economic Forum held in Goa in 2015, Honorary Doctorate Degree in Arts by a Gujarat based Rai University in 2016, Nominated as Member of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata by Information and Broadcasting Ministry in 2017.

Filmography:

Trishakti (1999), Chandni Bar (2001), Satta (2003), Page 3 (2005), Corporate (2006), Traffic Signal (2007), Fashion (2008), Jail (2009), Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji (2011), Heroine (2012), Calendar Girls (2015)

Partha S Ghose, former Professor at the S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences in Calcutta, Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, and the West Bengal Academy of Science & Technology, is an Indian physicist, author, anchorperson, philosopher, musician. He is a currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, and a former Chairman of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata. In a career spanning nearly five decades, Dr Ghose has emerged as a worthy representative of a tradition of scholarship established by his revered teachers and mentors, Satyendranath Bose and the Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam. Another abiding influence on him has been the philosophy and creative genius of Rabindranath Tagore whose opus he explores with analytical rigour and deep passion.

Partha Ghose is widely regarded as one of India’s best known popularizers of modern science. He was an anchorperson in the popular TV shows Quest and Eureka. His popular science book Riddles in Your Tea Cup (co-authored with Dipankar Home) has been hailed as ‘a book that really should be in every science department’. It has been translated into several Indian languages, Italian, Japanese and Turkish. He received the National Award for the Best Science and Technology coverage in the Mass Media of the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) for the period 1986–1990. He was also awarded the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for the popularization of science by the Indian National Science Academy

He has directed many plays and appeared in many media programmes and films including the National Award-winning film ‘The Quantum Indians’, which is about the great Indian scientists Satyendranath Bose, C. V. Raman and Meghnad Saha,

He is best known in the academic physics world for his significant contributions to theoretical physics, particularly the foundations of quantum mechanics. His timely book Testing Quantum Mechanics on New Ground (Cambridge University Press, UK, 1999) has been hailed as a valuable source book for researchers in this rapidly developing area.

Dr. Ghose’s exposition of Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophy and music has found expression in several scholarly papers and CDs. He served as the Hon. Secretary of the Visva-Bharati Music Board for a few years. He received training in Rabindra Sangeet under veterans like Debabrata Biswas and Santidev Ghosh (a direct disciple of Tagore).

He also served as a member of the Working Group on National Language Policy, Knowledge Commission, Govt of India

Reena Mohan is an award winning independent documentary filmmaker and editor who has worked out of Dubai, India, Kathmandu and London.

A graduate from the Film & Television Institute of India, she has edited several features, television serials and over 50 documentaries. She produced and directed her first award-winning documentary Kamlabai in 1991 and since then has directed more than 10 documentaries, many of which have received international recognition.

She has researched extensively on the silent cinema of India and published a paper Of Wayward Girls and Wicked Women on the contributions of pioneering women to early cinema. She has conducted workshops on documentary practice for over two decades and has also served as jury member of several international film festivals.

She has been the Managing Trustee of the India Chapter of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) and also Co-Director of the IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival, New Delhi.

Graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Have produced more than 100 documentaries, short films and TV programmes on various social & development issues. Many of the films have been shown in various National and International Film Festivals and have won awards; Shri Chadha’s documentaries have also been screened at the Global conference on Poliomyelitis in Zurich, Millennium summit on poverty elimination in Washingtonand at the Summit on Climate Change in Paris.

Won, NATIONAL AWARD, ‘Rajat Kamal’ for the best documentary; Won twice, ‘GOLDEN CONCH’ awardsfor the best documentary films at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) and 1st prize for the Best Film at the International documentary Film festival, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

In the past, served as a Jury Member for National & International Film Festivals. This including, the International Film Festival on Human Rights, International Documentary Film Festival, “Jeevika’& 1st International Film Festival on Persons with Disabilities organized by the Govt. of India. Held, Master Classes on documentary films at the International Film Festivals & conducted workshops in various Mass Communication Institutes.

Attended workshop and presented paper on the use of media for health communication, Bologna, Italy- organized by AIFO & Govt. of Italy.

Anwar Jamal is a multiple national and international award-winning filmmaker based in New Delhi. He has made critically acclaimed short and documentary films on an array of social, political and cultural themes. He also wrote, produced and directed a feature film, Swaraaj – The Little Republic, on the theme of women’s empowerment and the politics of water in rural India.

All through his eventful filmmaking career, which began well over two decades ago, Anwar has trained his camera on the sociopolitical realities of India and probed areas of hope and despair that rarely, if ever, receive the attention of the mainstream media. His sharply insightful films, which narrate stories that matter and eventually make a difference, have been applauded and awarded around the world. He joined the Mass Communications Research Centre at Jamia Millia Islamia on the invitation of its founder Chairperson, the late AJ Kidwai, and came close to the world-renowned documentary filmmaker James Beveridge.

His first few short films, made along with Sehjo Singh, were made for Doordarshan (India’s national broadcaster) on the subject of the Deorala Sati incident and the phenomenon of child marriages. Anwar made his first independent documentary on the question of development and big dams, ‘The Call of Bhagirathi’. This documentary featured in the Indian Panorama and won the National Award for Best Investigative Film in 1992

Shri Jamal received the I&B ministry’s Visioning India PSBT 2010 fellowship to make Dil Ki Basti Mein, a documentary film on the life and culture of Old Delhi. He recently completed a series of ten short films promoting heritage conservation for the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities. His second feature-length fiction film as director is currently in development. Anwar’s work has been screened in more than 200 film festivals around the world. In 2013-2014, he served as an Adviser to Doordarshan’s Urdu Channel, where he was engaged in commissioning and quality control of more than of programming produced with a budget of over Rs 100 crore.

Shri Jamal won many national and international awards including – 1992: Call of the Bhagirathi – National Award for Best Investigative Film (Director and Producer); 1994: The Women Betrayed – National Award for Best Non-Fiction Film on Social Issues (Producer); 1996: Sona Maati – National Award – Special Jury Prize (Producer); 1996: Sona Maati – Golden Lotus in the Mumbai International Film Festival; 1998: Kol Tales, International Jury Prize, Mumbai International Film Festival; 2003: Swaraaj – The Little Republic received the Golden Prize in IRIB – International Film Festival, Isfahan, Iran (Producer and Director); 2003: Swaraaj – National Award for Best Feature Film on Social Issues; 2004: Swaraaj – Audience Favorite Award in Palm Springs International Film Festival (California, USA) 2004; 2004 Swaraaj – Best Director and Netpac (critic) award for the best film Dhaka international film festival; 2010 “Anwar – Dream of a Dark Night”-International jury mention at Mumbai International Film Festival; 2010 Harvest of Grief” received an award certificate in 2010 Los Angeles Reel Film Festival.

Professor Amaresh Chakrabarti obtained PG Diploma in Cinema with specialization in Film Direction form Film & Television Institute, Pune in 1985. He has been heading the Direction and Screenplay Writing department of Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata from 1999. Worked as practicing filmmaker based in Kolkata, India. He has written & directed television serials, corporate documentaries, advertisement films and UGC educational films.

Visiting Faculty for Refresher’s Courses for teachers and lecturers at North Bengal University, Burdwan University and Jadavpur University. Academic Committee member for the Film Studies department of Calcutta University & West Bengal State University. Delivered numerous talks and lectures on cinema and film education in national and international film schools and seminars.

Prof. Shambhu Nath Singh has had two decades of experience in the field of journalism and more than a decade long experience as a media academic.

As a media professional he has worked in positions like Political Editor, Associate Editor, Executive Editor, Assistant Editor, etc., and regular columnist in well- known newspapers such as the Hindustan, the Nav Bharat Times, the Jansatta, the Dainik Bhaskar etc., besides being editor and regular contributor to many journals and magazines.

In the field of academics, Prof. Singh has held senior positions such as Vice-Chancellor, Director, Professor, Senior Professor and Visiting Professor.

A winner of Sahityakar Award (2002-2003) and Harmony Award (1997) for noteworthy contribution in the field of Hindi Journalism. Prof. Singh has also represented India in prestigious ‘International Leadership Visitor Programme in the United States in 2007′ and addressed a prestigious gathering of senior journalists at International Press Centre, New York.

A Doctorate from JNU, he has also served as a Vice-Chancellor of Patna University, Bihar, India from August, 2011 to August, 2013. He has also been the Visitor’s nominee for a few Universities and the Chancellor’s nominee for another few. He has served as Member of Selection Committees for senior faculty positions in various other universities/academic institutions. Also he has been Member of Curriculum Design Committees, Finance Committees etc., of Central / State Universities.

He has a more than thousand articles to his credit in national dailies, magazines and journals. Prof. Singh has been Key resource person for many workshops and chaired many seminars on media, media literacy and communication conducted by organisations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, UGC, Discovery Channel, etc.

He has been associated with National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) as member/ expert of peer team for assessment of universities and resource person for training the assessors. He was a Member of Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of Ministry of Minority Affairs.

He has also served in various Committees like Advisory Panel, Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Media for Science & Environment, Hindi Advisory Committee, Task Force on Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill and the Content Code, Core Committee on Standardisation of Media Education-an initiative by Press Council of India for development of National Media curriculum framework, Evaluation Committee of Central Hindi Directorate, M.H.R.D. GOI to select outstanding books (published) for “Education Award (Shiksha Puraskar)”.

He is the founder Director and Professor, School of Journalism and New Media Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. He has set forth the vision, mission and road map which included Centres for Research & Repository and Professional Training, a Standing Media Congress to reflect on all issues that pertains to media in South Asia besides academic cooperation /collaboration with international institutions of repute.

He initiated as a Director of SOJNMS of IGNOU certain MoUs / MoAs with UNESCO; Deutche Welle, Germany; Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA); Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), etc.
Presently he holds the position of the Director in the School.

Professor Syamal Chakrabarti did his M.Sc. from the Department of Chemistry, University of Calcutta. He joined research in the Bose Institute where he obtained his doctoral degree. He started his teaching career in the St. Xaviers College, Kolkata. Later he went to the United States for post doctoral research. Presently he is Professor of Chemistry, University of Calcutta.

Professor Chakrabarti is a distinguished science writer and has published around one hundred and fifty books till date. His main interest lies in the field of philosophy and history of science but he has also written books on Paul Robson, Abbasuddin Ahmed , Sachin Devbarman, Pratima Barua, Debabrata Biswas and Dhirendrakrishna Debbarman. He has received a number of honours and recognitions some of which are listed below:

1. Satyendranath Basu Award presented by the Govt. of West Bengal in 1999
2. Gopalchandra Bhattacharya Award presented by the magazine ‘Kishor Jnan Vijnan’ in 2000
3. Gopalchandra Bhattacharya Award presented by the ‘Science Association of Bengal’ in 2001
4. Selected as Best Writer of the Year 2001 by ‘Bharitya Yuktibadi Samiti’
5. Jnan Bichitra Award, 2005
6. Sachin Deb Burman Centenary Award, 2006
7. Rabindra Puraskar, 2009
8. Muzaffar Ahmed Smriti Puraskar,2012
9. National Award for outstanding effort in science and technology communication through print media(Books and Magazines),2012 by Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India
10. Prestigious ‘Narsinghadas Award’2014 from Delhi University for his book ‘Ganeet Prativa Srinibas Ramanujan’.

He was the founder editor of widely circulated ‘Ejuger Kishore Vigyani’, a juvenile science magazine in Bengali published by Paschimbanga Vigyan Mancha . Presntly he is the editor of ‘Janavigyaner Istahar’, a journal on science, technology society and culture published by Paschimbanga Vigyan Mancha. Prof. Chakrabarti is a member of the editorial board of ‘Science and Culture’ published by the ‘Indian Science News Association’ founded by Acharya Prafullachandra Ray and Prof. Meghnad Saha. He is also a member of the editorial board of ‘Jnan o Bijnan’ the oldest science journal in Bengali published by the ‘Bangiya Bijnan Parisad’ founded by Prof. Satyendranath Bose. Prof. Chakrabarti is a regular contributor in Akashvani , Doordarshan and other electronic media.

Smriti Nevatia has worked as a film and theatre critic, and as film researcher, scriptwriter and co-director. She has been writer, director and executive producer for a range of fiction and non-fiction shows on TV, and was a core team member on Bharat ki Chhap, a 13-part series on the history of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent, directed by Chandita Mukherjee, produced by the Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, and telecast on Doordarshan in 1989. She wrote the copy for three of the historical galleries in the permanent Discovery of India exhibition housed at the Nehru Centre, Bombay. Since 2004, Smriti has collaborated with filmmaker Nishtha Jain on award-winning documentaries such as City of Photos, 6 Yards to Democracy, At My Doorstep, Lakshmi and Me, and Gulabi Gang.

Smriti has been Curator of several film festivals. She co-curated an international queer film festival, Queer Nazariya, held in Bombay in 2010, and is Curator of the Our Lives…To Live film festival series presented by the India chapter of IAWRT (the International Association of Women in Radio and Television), of which there have been two travelling editions so far: NO! to gender violence (2012 onwards) and seeking a JUST world! (2014 onwards). She also curated the Men and Boys for Gender Justice Film Festival (New Delhi, 2014) for the MenEngage Global Symposium on masculinities, and Doosra Chashma, a gender-themed travelling film festival for film and media students initiated by the NGO Population First. She was co-curator of IAWRT India’s Asian Women’s Film Festival (New Delhi, 2016). She has also served on the jury of national and international film festivals – most recently, the Afghanistan International Women’s Film Festival (Kabul, 2016).

She has participated in conferences on media and cultural studies, and feminist concerns, presenting papers in Mysore, Istanbul, Kathmandu, Kolkata. She conducts film appreciation and scriptwriting workshops with film and media students and for NGOs, speaks in academic and activist spaces on issues of gender and sexuality, and freelances as a text editor and translator in English and Hindi.

Smriti was co-editor of Sites and Practices: An Exercise in Cultural Pedagogy (Majlis 2006); co-researcher and co-author of the research report Breaking the Binary: understanding concerns and realities of queer persons assigned gender female at birth across a spectrum of lived gender identities (2013); and co-author of a longer book based on the same four-year-long research and its findings, No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy (Zubaan 2015).