Advisors & Jury
Kamal Swaroop
Kamal Swaroop is a two time President’s award and Film fare Award winning film, television and radio director and screenwriter. In 1974 he graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and even his student works met with unusual international acclaim. He continued with postgraduate studies at the Institute. In 1982, he assisted Sir Richard Attenborough in the filming of Gandhi. Om-Dar-B-Dar (1988) is his path-breaking masterpiece.
Swaroop’s career, spanning 42 years, covers a broad range of films. In 2014, he directed The Battle of Benaras, produced by Medient and went on to release Tracing Phalke (2015) for Films Division of India, Pushkar Puran (2017) and Atul (2017), based on the world renowned Dadaist artist Atul Dodiya, in a prolific period of experimentation for the filmmaker. Battle for Benaras was premiered at Cinema Du Reel, Paris and the Dubai Film Festival, Dubai, while Atul premiered at the Cochin Biennale. He is currently working on a musical, Miss Palmolive All Night Cabaret and The Third Police Man, a metaphysical murder mystery.
Aabid Surti
National Award-winning author Aabid Surti has won critical acclaim for multiple creative talents. As an author his output has been prolific. He has written around 80 books till date, which have been translated into almost every Indian language. As a screen writer he has been associated with internationally known directors like Raj Khosla and Raj Kapoor on film projects and as a playwright, he has penned 7 plays. ‘Radhe Radhe Hum Sub Aadhe’ is one of his most successful play of 1980 and still going strong in other metropolis.
In 1971 The Films Division (Government of India), commissioned a short film titled ABID to showcase his creative work. As a cartoonist, he created the lovable simpleton Dhabbuji. This highly original and the most popular cartoon strip of an uncommon man was published without a break in the Times of India’s Hindi periodical Dharmayug and still going strong in comic form.
Sidharth Jain
Sidharth Jain is Founder and Chief Storyteller of India’s First Story Company – The Story Ink, which is India’s No.1 Book to Screen Company, with over 150 book to screen adaptation deals. He recently launched a boutique development and production company – House of Talkies, which has a slate of 5 projects in the pipeline. His last stint was Hostar.com, India’s largest premium OTT platform owned by Disney. He has worked as a producer in Hollywood & Bollywood since over 15 years now. He is a collector of pop-culture memorabilia, shoes and speaks at 15+ forums a year, hosts a monthly talk series at Soho House Mumbai, hosts his own Podcast show and is a TEDx Speaker.
Piyush Roy
Dr Piyush Roy is an Indian National Film Award winning critic-columnist, and an international author, curator, filmmaker and professor in film and liberal arts.
Former editor of popular film magazine, Stardust and film- weekly, StarWeek, he has worked at senior reporting positions in leading Indian dailies (The Indian Express, Hindustan Times) and has been published in The Times of India Crest Edition and The Speaking Tree, The Asian Age, Society magazine, Screen and The New Indian Express, authoring over 500 media publications and a near-decade-long popular film column, ‘Sunday Talkies’ with Orissa Post.
Author of two fiction works – Never Say Never Again (2007) and Alexander – An Epic Love Story (2007) and an online novel series, The Millennium Batch (2020); in 2019, he made his non-fiction and feature film debut with Bollywood FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Greatest Film Story Never Told (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, USA), and a critically acclaimed documentary, Pleasures Prejudice & Pride: An Indian Way of Filmmaking. It was the first Indian documentary in the new millennium to be the focus of an exclusive multi-city global seminar screening tour, across seven universities in the United Kingdom in September-October 2019.
Honoured with “Special Mention” for Best Critic at the 60th Indian National Film Awards (2013) by President of India Pranab Mukherjee, he was invited by Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh to the UK-India Year of Culture’s official inauguration at the Buckingham Palace on 27 February 2017 featuring eminent Indians from the nation’s civil society, politics, sports, arts and culture.
He’s been a jury and advisory board member of the Global University Film Awards Hong Kong (since 2018), twice judged the Star Writers Program (2017, 2019) organised by Star TV India Pvt. Ltd. and was the Founder-Festival Director of Edinburgh Festival of Indian Films & Documentaries (2016-17). In 2017, he made his public debut as a poet and photographer with a unique Pan-Indian photo-poetry exhibition experiment – ‘The Collector of Characters’ – on the theme of ‘70 years of the Indian independence’.
Manvendra Singh Gohil
Manvendra Singh Gohil is the Crown Prince and 39th direct descendant and custodian of the 650 year old GOHIL Dynasty of Rajpipla in Gujarat. He is the first member of a royal family in the world to openly come out as gay to the media. He has since been an International Advocate for LGBT Rights and fighting for HIV AIDS prevention and awareness.
He is the only Indian to be interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on 3 occasions. He was also featured on the show “Keeping up with the Kardashians” in 2 episodes. He is the Chairman and co founder of Lakshya Trust, the first community based organisation in Gujarat State for LGBT empowerment. He is also the Ambassador Consultant for AIDS Healthcare Foundation India Cares, the world’s largest and oldest non profit organisation for HIV testing and treatment. Currently he is developing a LGBTQA Community campus in his royal establishment of Hanumanteshwar for social and financial empowerment of LGBT community.
Selina Sheth
Selina Sheth is an author, journalist and screenwriter based between Mumbai and New Delhi, India. Her work has featured on platforms such as The New York Times, Scroll, The Wire, Arre, Open Democracy, The Daily Eye, Yoga Journal Singapore, Roli Books, Juggernaut Books, The Bangalore Review, Out Of Print, Literally Stories, Nether Quarterly, The Woman Inc., Spillwords Press, Kitaab International (South Asia), Cosmopolitan India, Star Television, Sony Entertainment, Walt Disney India, Asia Business News, MTV Asia News and BBC World.
Additionally, Selina is the co-creator and co-host of Mixed Roots and Offshoots, a forthcoming limited podcast series, and a Hatha Yoga therapist certified by The Yoga Institute, Mumbai.
Selina is currently working on her first novel. To know more about her, please visit www.selinasheth.com.
Radhavallabh Tripathi
Prof. Radhavallabh Tripathi is one of the senior-most professors of Sanskrit in the country. He has served as Vice-Chancellor of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan (Deemed University) at Delhi, as Vice Chancellor on additional charge at Shri Lal Bahadur Shasri Sanskrit Vidyapeeth and as Vice Chancellor in charge of Dr. H.S. Gour University on a number of occasions. He has been a Visiting Professor at Silpakorn University, Bangkok also. Retired as Professor from Dr. Harisingh Gour University, Sagar (M.P., India) presently he is working on the Karnatak Chair of Orientology at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune. He has also been associated as Fellow with Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla for one year.
Widely acclaimed for his original contributions to the study of Nāṭyaśāstra and Sāhityaśāstra, Prof. Tripathi has published 175 books, 265 research papers and critical essays as well as translations of more than 30 Sanskrit plays and some classics from Sanskrit into Hindi. He has received 37 National and International awards and honours for his literary contributions which include the ‘Sahitya Akademi Award’ for original poetry in Sanskrit, ‘Shankar Puraskar’ for Best Phillosophical writing, ‘UGC Veda-Vyas Samman’, ‘Ramkrishna Sanskriti Samman’ from Canada and ‘Shikhar Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
Radhavallabh Tripathi is a well-known poet, short-story writer and playwright of Sanskrit and Hindi. He has 25 books of original writings in Sanskrit, including six collection of poems, two plays and one collection of one act plays.
He has been referred in various research journals on Indology. Many research for Ph.D. has been completed on his work as well as his creative writings in Sanskrit are being carried on in a number of Universities. Three Journals brought out special numbers on his writings. Seven books comprising studies on his creative and critical writings by other authors have been published.
Prof. Radhavallabh Tripathi is specializes in Nāṭyaśāstra and Sāhityaśāstra. His publications in these areas include – Nāṭyaśāstraviśvakośa (an Enclopaedic Distionary of Nāṭyaśāstra), Nāṭyalalitakalāsaṁgraha (an Anthology of Texts on Performing and Plastic Arts), Lectures on Nāṭyaśāstra, Aspects of Nāṭyaśāstra, Bhāratīya Sāhityaśāstra kī Ācāryaparamparā, Nayāsāhitya Nayā Sahityaśāstra etc.
He has visited various institutions at UK, USA, Germany, Holland, Vienna, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia, Iran etc. for delivering lectures/ presentations in Conferences or delivering lectures under cultural/academic exchange programmes.
Sanjay Masoom
Sanjay Masoom is a award winning script, screenplay, dialogue writer, author, lyricist and a poet. A film is incomplete if its dialogues are not effective and Sanjay Masoom makes it sure to make a film hit by such world-class and incomparable dialogues that it leaves a strong impact on the audience. “Writing is not something one has to learn but it comes from within, and any passionate writer can do that he does now and reach great heights, says a journalist turn successful dialogue writer Sanjay Masoom.
He has some of the most popular work in his name from recent webseries ‘Ashram & Ashram2’ to many successful films like ‘Kaabil’, ‘Ghayal Once Again’, ‘Gunday’, ‘Aashiqui 2’, ‘Krrish & Krrish 3’, ‘Murder 3’, ‘Blood Money’, ‘Jannat & Jannat 2’, ‘23rd March 1931: Shaheed’ and many more.
Be it any film, Sanjay Masoom has written the dialogues so perfectly that now he is the most wanted dialogue writer of Bollywood. He was a consultant for a socially relevant film ‘Saand Ki Aankh’. Apart from writing Sanjay spends his time with nature, he says, I am an environmentalist and want to create and spread awareness about the environment, nature, and forests.
Brahmanand S Siingh
All his films explore spaces, worlds and mindsets that make you think and see people & their lives, success, failures, and life itself, in a very different and inspirational way, as something that we all carry inside us and need to tap it within our own selves.
His current feature project, ready to go on floor, is Surmayee Shaam, a father-son relationship story around Alzheimer’s. In the pipeline is the international feature film; Rumi’s Secret, a journey from knowledge to knowing, with Rumi as a backdrop; The Dream Teller, with an occult world backdrop of Spiritual communication in everyday life; Kindness Series, Legacy Series and a series of feature-length, well- researched, and well- told Biopics Series of Iconic figures under two path-breaking verticals, Mobius Biopics and Mobius Highlife.
Singh often brings out insightful, exploring and reflective dimensions in the subjects that excite him, bringing out its core essence in a soulful and captivating manner. He has also been invited to be on the Jury on many International Film Festivals and is a consultant on selection of films in a few film festivals and award platforms.
Even Brahmanand Siingh’s earlier works like Ragpickers; Uncaging the Body (Apsara Award for Best Short Film, 2003-2004 | 54 mins); A Burden of Love (on Alzheimer’s disease | 37 mins); Ashgari Bai (on an octogenarian legendary dhrupad singer | 45 mins) and a whole lot of other short, corporate and documentary films have drawn great response, highly recognized for their sensitivity, authenticity and engaging quality.
He is best known for his films like Jhalki (IMDb 8.3 | Feature |103 min), based on the backdrop of bonded child-trafficking and lavery; Kaagaz Ki Kashti (IMDb 9.2 | Feature- documentary | 127 min), a biopic on the legendary ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh;and the National Award winning biopic on RD Burman, Pancham Unmixed: Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai, (IMDb 8.7 | Feature-Documentary | 113 min); Riding on a Sunbeam: Journeys through Space, Time, Life & Love (108 min); Through Our Eyes (85 min); Ragpickers; Uncaging the Body (Apsara Award for Best Short Film | 54 mins); A Burden of Love (37 mins); Ashgari Bai (45 mins) and a whole lot of other short, corporate and documentary films, all of which have drawn great response and have been highly recognized for their Sensitivity, authenticity and engaging quality.
Brahmanand S Siingh is a very unique combination of being an outstanding, multiple award-winning and well-recognized filmmaker, a vastly published author, speaker and a Life Coach. He is a recipient of 2 National Film Awards and REX Karmaveer-Chakra Gold Award 2019, a United Nations driven honor, in recognition for transforming lives through Social Impact projects and for creating Ideas of Hope.
Rahul Rawail
Rahul Rawail, a famous director and editor of some of the blockbusters of his times like Love Story, Betaab, Arjun, Dacait, Anjaam, and many more is a well known personality of bollywood.
Born to eminent filmmaker H.S.Rawail (Mere Mehboob, Sunghursh, Laila Majnu etc) Rahul started his filmi career as an assistant with Late Shri Raj Kapoor on the sets of ‘Mera Naam Joker’and ‘Booby’ etc. He has a great bonding with Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor. They produced some good films together. A brilliant scholar since his childhood, Rahul made his own identity in the industry with his path breaking ventures. He has launched some of the most formidable actors in the Indian Film Industry, Kumar Gaurav, Vijeta Pandit, Sunny Deol, Amrita Singh, Paresh Rawal, Annu Kapoor, Kajol, Kamal Sadanah, Aishwariya Rai and John Abraham by directing debut films.
Apart from a glorious journey of filmaking, he has been a prominent part of some of the most prestigious festivals like member of the Jury for Indian Films at the Oscar Awards, represented I & B Ministry at the Berlin Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival, Chairperson of The Indian Panorama at IFFI in the year 2017 & 2018, Jury head for the Western Panel of The National Film Awards and the Chairperson of the Jury for The National Awards 2019.
Such an inspirational person, Rahul Rawail is a speaker at various festivals and organisations. He used to conduct Masterclasses and Workshops on various aspects of film making all over India and he is also an advisor in the Indian Film Institute New Delhi.
In 2019 he has been appointed by The Information & Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India, as a member of an EXPERT COMMITTEE to review the working and amalgamation of NFDC, FILMS DIVISION, DIRECTORATE OF FILM FETIVALS, NATIONAL FILM ARCHIEVED and CHILDRENS FILM SOCIETY of INDIA.
Harris W. Freedman
Harris W. Freedman is a Playwright, Screenwriter, Director, and Author. He holds both UK and USA citizenship. His full-length plays, feature screenplays, and his novel have won 25 awards internationally.
Productions: Film: Harris’ feature-length Screenplays includes Broken Thread, Produced by Deepak Nayar (At Eternity’s Gate; Bend it Like Beckham; Buena Vista Social Club) and Directed by Mahesh Mathai (Bhopal Express), with Linus Roache, Saffron Burrows, Roshan Seth, Prem Chopra. The film was shot in India and the UK.
Theatre: Several of his full-length plays have been produced in the USA, UK, and Italy including: Ella’s Secret: Baron’s Court Theatre, London, UK, directed by E. Davies, and Ethnic Cultural Theatre, Seattle, Washington, USA, Directed by Harris;
Tchaikovsky (In Italian): Teatro Dell’Orologio, Rome; Teatro Millelire, Rome; Teatro Cristallo, Bolzano, Italy, Directed by Harris;
Ella’s Secret (In Italian): Teatro Millelire, Roma, Spoleto La Mama Fringe Festival, e Teatro Dell’Angelo, Rome Italy, directed by Harris
Selling Off: Off-Broadway, John Houseman Theatre, NYC, Directed by Gene Feist; Moscow Shadows: New End Theatre, Hampstead, London, Directed by Philip Grout; A Minute of Silence: Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London, Directed by Harris;
Something in Common: Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Warehouse Theatre, Croydon, London, Directed by Harris.
Lunch with Sandy: A 10-minute play, The Machine Room Theatre, London, Directed by E. Benson; Peanut Butter and Jelly: University of the Streets Theatre, Greenwich Village, NYC, Directed by Harris; There Aren’t Any: various venues in Greenwich Village, Directed by Harris;
He began his theatrical work in the mid-1960s in Greenwich Village where he studied acting at the HB Studio with Herbert Berghof, and he was a member of the first Repertory Company of The Roundabout Theatre NYC, Directed by Gene Feist. Harris graduated New York University at Washington Square with a Bachelor of Science degree. He is a member of The Dramatists Guild, NYC, The Society of Authors, UK, and English PEN.
Prof. Dr. Mohan Das
Writer, Director, Producer – Prof. Dr. Mohan Das is working on his latest film NIRNAY – THE JUDGEMENT (Hindi) and will soon be starting his other project THAAM LE HAATH.
Armed with a Degree in Financial Management and courses in advertising, journalism and film making, the direction bug bit Mohan Das after a chance meeting with the late director Hrishikesh Mukherjee. He started off assisting him in the serial “Agar Aisa Ho Toh” and later having made an impressionable mark, co-produced “Daughters of this Century” that was directed by Tapan Sinha. The film later went to a number of prestigious film festivals bringing home many awards. Thereafter, he co-directed a short film “MAIN KAUN HOON” on National Integration for LSSP – one of the most prestigious wings of Indian Television
He made regional cinema SAAWARIYA I LOVE U & GHULAM. He also made Hindi feature film “STRINGS OF PASSION” that won many awards and deals with the controversial subject of male rape, based on a concept by him.
AWARDS Making a short film is the rite of passage for many new filmmakers. However, Mohan Das ventured into this segment to tackle some serious issues that lack commercial viability in the medium of feature films. These films were not only appreciated but also bought him awards as well.
He bagged his First BEST DIRECTOR AWARD for his short film OPEN THE DOOR in 2014. He also bagged the BEST DIRECTOR AWARD for his docu-feature PRAGAASH in 2015. Thereafter he bagged TWO BEST FILM AWARDS for his short fiction MUAFINAAMA in 2015 that deals with the subject of girl child abandonment in Kashmir. His other film SANDHYA – AN AWAKENING bagged BEST FILM / BEST STORY / BEST EDITOR / BEST FILM ON SOCIAL ISSUES. Thereafter it was no turning back and he won as many as 67 Awards at various National & International Film Festivals.
For such stupendous achievement, he was bestowed with the ROYAL SAKSEEYAT AWARD and the MAHANAGAR GLOBAL ACHIEVERS AWARD in the field of direction. He was also bestowed with the JEEVAN GOURAV AWARD for his outstanding achievement in the field of cinema.
He was recently conferred with the HONORIS CAUSA in the field of Humanity & Peace by ITMUT, Brazil.
ON JURY Having considerable experience in the field of film making, it was an obvious choice to be invited on Jury of many film festivals and other reality shows that include
• Imphal International Short Film Festival 2012
• Cortokino International Film Festival 2013
• Aahan International Film Festival 2014
• Frames Film Festival 2014
• Sand Dunes International Short Film Festival 2014
• Kashmir Singing Reality Show Pa Ma Ga Re Sa 2014 • Mega Model Hunt Contest 2015
• Leo’s Mr. India Model Hunt Contest 2017
• Acharya Tulsi Short Film Festival 2017 / 2018
• KalaSamruddhi International Film Festival 2018/ 2019
• Nilofer-e-Aabi International Film Festival 2019
• Ayodhya International Film Festival 2018 / 2019 / 2020
• ICA International Cultural Artefacts Film Festival 2020 / 2021
• K Asif International Film Festival 2019 / 2020
• And many others
Deepak Dua
One of the leading Hindi film critics and journalists of country having more than 27 years of experience, Deepak Dua has a keen eye over Hindi cinema and commendable command on writing reviews with a sharp edge. He uses his love for ‘Hindustani’ language while writing reviews in a lucid manner.
Deepak Dua, born and brought up in Delhi, went to Y.M.C.A. after his graduation in Commerce from Delhi University to develop a deeper understanding of Mass Communication. Having a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, he has decided to pursue Film Journalism only.
A voyager by nature, he also writes travel based articles and travelogues for many Hindi publications. Currently he writes on cinema and travel for a number of prestigious Hindi newspapers, magazines, web-portals etc. Besides writing for his own blog ‘Cineyatra.com’ and he often appears on Radio, TV channels too as an expert of Hindi films and film journalism. His podcast series on classic Hindi movies called ‘Sunehra Daur with Deepak Dua’ can be listened on the audio platform ‘Storytel’ and ‘Audio Bites’. He has been awarded by Hindi Academy of Delhi and many other organisations for his writing on films. Dua also served many film festivals as a member of jury.
Deepak Dua is a member of prestigious ‘Film Critics Guild’, India’s first registered association of film critics. He also delivers lectures on film journalism and the art of reading a film. A chapter written by him is incorporated in the syllabus of Master of Journalism & Mass Communication at Uttarakhand Open University. His review of film ‘Dangal’ is being taught as a chapter in Hindi textbooks of Class VIII in many schools.
Anjali Bhushan Nugyal
A strong soul and a wonderful person with an opinionated mind. Director, producer, writer, poet & Head of Creative Content & Production at Viacom18 Studios, she is a great human being surrounded with positivity and great thoughts.
SANA NOROUZBEIGI
with an education in Bachelor of Architecture from Shiraz University, Iran and Master of Urban Design from Asad University, Iran; Sana Norouzbeigi has made her distinguished mark as a Film Maker, Art Director, Production Designer & Costume Designer for some really notable projects that include short films like Panah, A Morsel of Love, Painting, The Briefcase and Hello Mumbai.
From independent filmmakers to iconic feature film directors, women are pioneers and innovators in the film, television, and entertainment industries. Throughout history, female filmmakers have made award-winning films, showing unique perspectives and powerful narratives that deeply resonate with audiences from all over the world.
Sana broke ground as a woman Art Director & Production Designer who achieved such great success as a double threat, or multi-hyphenate, which is becoming more and more common. She has been associated for nearly a decade and had been involved with production designs for some really noteworthy projects that include Melbourne, Stolen, Confessions of My Dangerous Mind, Immortality, New Moon Hotel, Snake Venom, All Through The Night, Roshan, Siabaz, Ahoo & many other.
