About: Kanwal

The Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) supports all the artistic disciplines in classical, fusion, folk and innovative forms influenced by the arts of India.

IAAC aims to help artists and art organizations in North America as well as to facilitate artists from India to exhibit, perform and produce their work here. For information, please visit www.iaac.us.

A few days from now, on 11th of June, the Indo – American Arts council presents, Mausiqui. So, save the dates for sure.

For Tickets, please visit, https://bit.ly/mausiquipremium and
https://bit.ly/mausiqui. The special discount code is Mausiqui15

Noopur Sinha is a producer and writer who has worked for over a decade in the two largest film industries, in Los Angeles and India. She has been active as a filmmaker back in India where she recently co-wrote and executive produced her first feature Shoebox.

Divya Kharnare is a young graduate in mass communication who has to his credit a host of documentaries. He received the ‘DOCAVIV Award – Doc Edge Kolkata 2021’ and ‘DOC NYC Storytelling Incubator’ for his work-in- progress film ‘Letters To My Grandma’. ’15 Seconds A Lifetime’ marks his debut for a feature length documentary – produced by Hardik Mehta & Divya Kharnare.

Mihir Fadnavis is a journalist turned filmmaker. He has written a variety of columns for various publications for ten years. Shifting to filmmaking, he was a producer on the Netflix show ‘Ghoul’, directed the genre horror film ‘Chewing Gum’ and has now directed the documentary thriller ‘Lords of Lockdown’.

Do listen- in to this conversation, on our Show, Saat Samundar Paar, today, 14 May, on MeraSangeet Gold, at 9:00AM,1:00 PM,5:00 PM and 9:00 PM – EST. You can also catch the interview on MeraSangeet East at 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM – EST

Kanti’s work as playwright and director has been supported by British Council, National Theatre London, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, National Theatre Scotland, HOME Manchester and Theatre Royal Plymouth. He was awarded Best Director at Thespo Theatre Festival X, Mumbai and performed lead roles in two feature films: Tasher Desh-The Land of Cards (dir: Q/2012/Netflix) and Madly Bangali (dir: Anjan Dutt/2010/Amazon Prime). In 2016, he returned to India to write and produce his first feature film Cat Sticks (MUBI) awarded a Grand Jury prize at Slamdance 2019. The Daughter, about which we talk today, made between 2020/21 is his directorial debut in narrative cinema.

Bharat Mirle is a self-taught, award-winning filmmaker from Bangalore, India. After a brief stint with journalism, he worked as a brand strategist in Bangalore for over 7 years. Since starting his professional film career in 2010 with award winning production house Nirvana Films, he has worked as a director and editor on commercial films, music videos, documentaries and short fiction films. His first feature film – The Road To Kuthriyar, being screened at the New York Indian Film Festival, 2022, was also part of ‘Film Bazaar Recommends’ at the 2020 NFDC Film Bazaar and had its world premiere at the 2021 Busan International Film Festival.

Do listen- in to this conversation, on our Show, Saat Samundar Paar, today, 13 May, on MeraSangeet Gold, at 9:00AM,1:00 PM,5:00 PM and 9:00 PM – EST. You can also catch the interview on MeraSangeet East at 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM – EST.

Amey Gosavi,  started his journey as a a VFX Producer/Supervisor. Thereafter, he ventured into becoming a becoming a a feature film producer. In his words, “Now I am completely into producing, with few promising projects with new and renowned directors”. On the show, he talks about Deid, (Marathi).

Omkar Achyut Barve is an independent film writer and director from Pune, India. He started his film career by assisting Umesh Kulkarni on his feature films, Vihir ( The Well) and Deool (Temple). He co-wrote and was the associate director on the Marathi film ‘Killa’ (Fort) which won the crystal Bear at the Berlin international Film festival. Deid (One and half) is his debut film as director.

Akash Sharma (1992, India) is an independent film director and editor based in Kolkata, India. Akash’s first short film, ‘The Mute Call’ (2015), travelled to various national and international festivals including the South African International Film Festival (Rapid Lion), Sanford International Film Festival (US), InShorts Film Festival (UK), Goa Short Film Festival, International Film Festival of South Asia (Canada) and Kolkata Short Film Festival (Best Film). Today, we talk about his film, Waiting for Dawn(Bengali).

Do listen- in to the conversations, on our Show, Saat Samundar Paar, today, 12 May, on MeraSangeet Gold, at 9:00AM,1:00 PM,5:00 PM and 9:00 PM – EST. You can also catch the interview on MeraSangeet USA at 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM – EST. 

Kuldip is a technocrat and an independent filmmaker based out of Mumbai (Powai). He co-founded November Films under which his Gujarati feature film (Dhunki – as a writer and producer) released across 125 screens and is now available on Amazon Prime. Powai is his first directorial venture. His short film, Paroksh was selected at SAIFF(NY) and SIFF(Germany).

Rafeeq Ellias began his career in advertising with McCann Ericsson, followed by J. Walter Thompson and the Tokyo office of Ketchum McLeod & Grove. He has received over 40 awards in India and around the world, including 2 National Awards, 1 Emmy, 2 Art Directors Club of New York Awards, among others. One of his early documentaries, “The Legend of Fat Mama” on the Chinese community in Kolkata,  has been screened extensively at festivals in New York, Seattle, Toronto, Manchester, Barcelona and Oslo. His public interest films for UNICEF were broadcast worldwide for which Star TV received an Emmy Award at the hands of actor Mia Farrow in New York. 

Do listen- in to the conversations, on our Show, Saat Samundar Paar, today, 10 May, on MeraSangeet Gold, at 9:00AM,1:00 PM,5:00 PM and 9:00 PM – EST. You can also catch the interview on MeraSangeet East at 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM – EST. We talk about Kuldip’s film, ‘Powai’ . We also talk and Rafeeq’s Documentary, ‘If Memory Serves me right’ – Nominated for Best Documentary.

Rohit Mittal is a director based out of Mumbai. His first film, Autohead, was a break out independent genre film, now available on Netflix. He likes to explore nihilistic and existential themes that reflect on the internal struggles of individuals. Some of his oher works include – Megalopolis, Popcity – which have been well received.

Demons is his latest film, and is about a marriage gone wrong. The film is now being screened at the New York Indian Film Festival, 2022.

Do listen- in to this conversation, on our Show, Saat Samundar Paar, today, 09 May, on MeraSangeet Gold, at 9:00AM,1:00 PM,5:00 PM and 9:00 PM – EST. You can also catch the interview on MeraSangeet East at 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM – EST

Ritesh Sharma is a filmmaker and theatre practitioner who was awarded the ‘Changeloom Award’ in 2008, an honour for his active participation in various social issues such as human trafficking, women and children’s rights. His first documentary film “The Holy Wives” about caste-based sexual exploitation and human trafficking in India have been screened in Australia, UK, USA, Europe and India. The film also won the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival Award in 2011.

In 2014 he has directed another documentary movie “Rainbows are Real”. The film was screened at national and international film festivals like Boston LGBT Film Festival, Kolkata International Film Festival, IDSFFK, Kashish Mumbai International Queer Fim Festival and has also been screened on NDTV Prime Documentaries. He has released 2 short films on tribal rights and domestic violence, and is now presenting his first feature film “Jhini Bini Chadariya/The Brittle Thread”, filmed in his hometown, Varanasi. The Movie had its World premiere at 34th Tokyo International film festival and Indian Premiere in 26 TH IFFK, 2022. The film is being screened at the NYIFF 2022 as well.

In case you missed it earlier, do listen- in to this conversation, on our Show, Saat Samundar Paar, today as well, on MeraSangeet Gold, at 9:00AM,1:00 PM,5:00 PM and 9:00 PM – EST. You can also catch the interview on MeraSangeet East at 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM – EST

Neelam currently serves as President of SAHELI Boston, a landmark non-profit organization created by South Asian women 25 years ago to support domestic violence survivors on the path to reclaim, rebuild, and reimagine their lives. Neelam’s association with Saheli these past 20 years has taught her the fragility of human beings. She has guided and supported Saheli during the fundraisers since 2010. She chaired Advisory committee and Saheli Biennial Nirbhaya Gala in 2019, providing leadership in design, build and the execution of the program.

A life-long community activist, leader and artist, Neelam has always championed and supported the causes of those in need. She has served as President of organizations including the Council on Aging as well as the Billerica Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she has committed countless hours to the boards of educational and legacy non-profits throughout her career. Recognized as Business Champion of the Year, Neelam was appointed by the State Treasurer to Chair the Asian American Commission – a body dedicated to political advocacy on behalf of the Asian American community in the State of Massachusetts.

Neelam Wali is the Owner and Founder of Printing & Graphic Services, a full-service print and design company operating in the greater Boston area for nearly 30 years. A student of fine arts, Neelam immigrated to the United States in the late 1970’s where she met her husband.

So, we now would be bringing in conversations, from our archives – incase you missed it earlier – tune -in today, 2nd May, on our Hindi Radio Show, on MeraSangeet Gold at 2:00 PM EST and on MeraSangeet USA at 5:00 PM – EST