SHABANA AZMI - PRODUCER
Shabana Azmi, actor, activist, and daughter of Kaifi Azmi, studied film at FTII, Pune and went on to become a leading actor, first in the parallel and new-wave cinema movement in India, playing progressive female roles in iconic films of the arthouse genre of neo-realistic films by leading directors, before becoming a nationally and internationally known star, doing films in several Indian languages and many foreign films as well. She has won innumerable film awards including a record 5 National Awards, 5 Filmfare awards and several international honours. She was also honoured among leading Indian “women in cinema” at the 30th International Film Festival of India and in 1988, the Government of India awarded her with a Padma Shri.
She is also a women’s rights and human rights activist and along with her husband, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, is a leading voice in many causes and secular movements in the country. She is a Goodwill Ambassador of the UN Population Fund and in appreciation of all her work the President of India nominated her to the Rajya Sabha.
SUMANTRA GHOSAL - DIRECTOR
Sumantra Ghosal spent the better part of his life making advertising films for his companies Cinematix and Equinox. Now, he makes documentaries.
Noteworthy among his several films on the arts are the two feature-length films: “The Speaking Hand” (on the tabla maestro Zakir Hussain) and “The Unseen Sequence” (on the Bharatanatyam dancer Malavika Sarukkai).
In 2017, Sumantra completed “The Space Between The Notes” – a documentary on a concert by Zakir Hussain and Niladri Kumar. He also served as creative collaborator with Malavika Sarukkai and wrote the poems for the full-length dance project “Thari – The Loom”.
His most recent work is “Kaifinama” – a full-length documentary film to commemorate the birth centenary of the Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi.
