Panelists

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Aditya Mehta

Since 1977, Aditya’s father, Nikhil Mehta, owned and operated Sudeep Studio, a popular sound recording facility at Andheri in Mumbai. The studio was moved to Ahmedabad in the 90s when Aditya was still in school.

After topping the Gujarat University in Statistics from St Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad, Aditya completed his MBA (Marketing) from NMIMS, Mumbai – one of India’s top Business schools.

The musical strings pulled him away from the corporate sector, and SudeepAudio.com was born. In 2003, Aditya worked with Mariano Etchepareborda from Switzerland, and other team members at Swar Systems, who founded the world’s first (and only) Indian instruments software plugin – SwarPlug.

Since inception, Sudeep Audio has focused on distribution of music software and home-studio hardware for music-making using computers.

In 2007, Aditya co-founded Philtre Labs Pvt Ltd, with India’s leading music composers – Salim and Sulaiman. Philtre Labs is India’s first sample library development company focused on the “Bollywood” sound.

He has also been appointed as the Brand Ambassador (India) for IMSTA (International Music Software Trade Association), a not-for-profit organisation formed by the world’s leading music software manufacturers. IMSTA’s philosophy is “buy the software you use”.

Amol Palekar

AMOL PALEKAR, a postgraduate in Fine Arts from the Sir JJ School of Arts, Mumbai, commenced his artistic career as a painter which was distinguished by his seven one-man exhibitions along with his participation in many group shows.

AMOL PALEKAR has been a leading persona of avant garde theatre in India. He has been active in Marathi and Hindi theatre as an actor, director and producer since 1967. As a trend setting director who brought the theatre out of the proscenium arch, his productions still inspire the younger theatre practitioners. His stupendous contribution to the modern Indian theatre often gets overshadowed because of his enormous popularity as a lovable lead actor in Hindi films.

As an actor, Amol Palekar’s image as a ‘boy next door’ carved an unparallel niche in contrast to the larger than life heroes prevalent in Indian cinema of the 1970s. He received three Film Fare and six State awards as Best Actor. His performances in regional language films in Marathi, Bengali, Malyalam and Kannada fetched him tremendous critical acclaim as well. While choosing to concentrate on filmmaking, he decided not to act after 1986.

As a director, Amol Palekar is specially known for the sensitive portrayal of women, selection of classic stories from Indian literature, and perceptive handling of progressive issues. He had also directed television serials on the national network such as Kachchi dhoop, Mrignayani, Naquab, Paool khuna and Krishna kali.

Email: Amol Palekar

D

Debojyoti Mishra

Born in 1963, Debojyoti Mishra began his musical journey at the age of 9 under the tutelage of his father, JahnaviRanjan Mishra, an accomplished violinist. He grew up surrounded by music, blessed by contact with many great musicians from a very early age. Shortly after completing his training in Western classical music & receiving his diploma from The Royal School of Music, London, he started training under Indian music maestros, Late K.C Bandopadhyay and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, exponents of Indian classical music. Thus, with time he assimilated & absorbed the various elements of both Eastern & Western style of classical music. His stint with nationally acclaimed music director, Salil Chowdhury and his experience with a cultural milieu of talented artistes and eminent personalities, at the same time, helped him to hone his creative skills, grow as a musician and establish his own individual style. Mishra went on to work as a solo violinist for the master filmmaker, Satyajit Ray, in several of his films.

He scored music for several noteworthy directors like Mrinal Sen, Govind Nihalni Rituparno Ghosh, Flaurean Gallenberger, Amol Palekar,Aparna Sen Bhavna Talwar, Mehreen Jabbar, & many more.

Some of them are as follows:

Chokher Bali , Raincoat, Amar Bhuban , Dharm, Bariwali ,Memories in March, HazarChaurasi Ki Ma, Ramchand Pakistani ,Shadows In Time , ItiMrinalini (An Unfinished Letter) etc

Deepti Priya Mehrotra

Deepti Priya Mehrotra is an independent writer. She graduated in from St. Stephen’s College, post-graduated in Philosophy including a paper on Aesthetics, and wrote her Ph.D on women’s movements in north India.
Her interest in popular culture developed over the years. She performed in street plays like the well-known Om Swaha, did art and drama with children, took part in theatre workshops, and later researched the Nautanki theatre of north India. Her book Gulab Bai the Queen of Nautanki Theatre (Penguin, 2006), traces the rise and decline of this genre, through the life-story of Gulab Bai. The research was supported by India Foundation for the Arts. Deepti also wrote Nautanki ki Malika Gulab Bai (Penguin, 2010), in Hindi.
Her books include Bharatiya Mahila Andolan (in Hindi, 2001); Home Truths: Stories of Single Mothers (2003); A Passion for Freedom (2005); and Irom Sharmila and the Struggle for Peace in Manipur (2009). She recently wrote a monograph Education for Peace: from a Gandhian Perspective.
Deepti is deeply interested in peace, poetry and healing, linked to drama, music and art. She has taught at Education, Journalism, Political Science and Philosophy departments at graduate and post-graduate levels in New Delhi. She designs and holds workshops and consults as a freelancer with civil society organizations on education, youth and gender issues.
At present she is excavating some of her own poems and short stories written at sundry moments over many years, in stray notebooks, dusting and cleaning and editing them!

G

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Vice Chairman & CEO of Zensar Technologies, a Global firm that transforms Technology and Processes for Fortune 500 companies. He is also President of the IT Sector and a member of the Management Board of the 3.25 billion USD RPG Group.

An alumnus of BIT Ranchi, NITIE, IIT Bombay and the Harvard Business School, Ganesh is a member of the Chairmen’s Council of NASSCOM and Co-Chairs the National Knowledge Council for the Confederation of Indian Industry. A member of the Board of NITIE, Global Talent Track and the Europe Asia Business School, he is spearheading a Skills Transformation initiative across Asia. Ganesh was conferred the Asia Pacific Entrepreneur Award by Enterprise Asia in Nov 2010.

Ganesh is the author of four McGraw Hill Books on Business Process Reengineering and Knowledge Management and other publications on the IT industry and inspired leadership. He has been recognized by Ernst & Young for exceptional entrepreneurship and elected Fellow of the Computer Society of India.

I

Imitiaz Ali

Film director, actor and writer, Imtiaz Ali is the maker of box-office hits like Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal. The protagonist in his film Rockstar was a singer-songwriter. His films have won awards for Best Direction and Best Dialogue.

– Based on information provided at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imtiaz_Ali_(director)

J

Jerry Pinto

Photograph by 
Chirodeep Chaudhuri
Jerry Pinto began working at the age of 16. He was then a mathematics tutor. Somewhere along the way, a friend suggested journalism and at the age of 21, he began to be published in the newspapers. After spending ten years free-lancing, teaching mathematics writing television scripts and audio-documentaries and indulging in sundry other acts of journalism, he got a ‘real job’ with an alleged media company that was actually into selling space and was only peripherally interested in news. Along the way he acquired a liberal arts degree from Elphinstone College and a law degree from Government Law College.
He left to join a travel dotcom, which won two awards for its content, of which he was the chief architect and editor. He returned to magazine journalism as Executive Editor of Man’s World magazine. Later, he joined Paprika Media (the publishing house that brings out Time Out Mumbai and Time Out Delhi) to edit their special projects. He is now a free lance journalist and editor and is at work on his first novel. This is the public version.
In his own description of himself, he is a poet. His first book of poems Asylum (Allied Publishers) was released in 2004. Some of these poems are to be found in Reasons for Belonging; Fourteen Contemporary Indian Poets edited by Ranjit Hoskote. His poems are also to be found in Fulcrum Number 4; An Annual of Poetry and Aesthetics (Fulcrum Poetry Press, 2005) edited by Jeet Thayl; in Atlas; New Writing (Crossword/Aark Arts, 2006) edited by Sudeep Sen; and Ninety-nine Words (Panchabati Publications, 2006) edited by Manu Dash.
His first book was Surviving Women (Penguin India, 2000) a manual of gender politics, written for confused Indian men, which has gone into several reprints. Bombay Meri Jaan: Writings on Mumbai (Penguin India, 2003), which he co-edited with Naresh Fernandes, has also been reprinted. He has also edited Reflected in Water: Writings on Goa (Penguin India, 2006). Together with Arundhathi Subramaniam, he has edited Confronting Love; Contemporary Indian Love Poems in English. They have also edited A Pocketful of Wry; Indian Poets Also Laugh expected soon from Penguin India.
In 2006, Helen: The Life and Times of an H Bomb was released. It was as much a study of Bollywood’s gender and race politics as it was an affectionate examination of a dancing legend who had served the Mumbai film industry for nearly 30 years.
The book won the National Award for the Best Book on Cinema.
Jerry Pinto is guest lecturer at the Social Communications Media department of the Sophia Polytechnic. He has taught journalism at the KC College, at Xavier Institute of Communication, at SIES College and at the University of Mumbai.
He is on the board of directors of MelJol, an NGO that works in the child rights space. He is a Committee Member of the Indian PEN and a member of the Poetry Circle, Mumbai.
contact@jerrypinto.com

K

Kiran Nagarkar

Born in India in 1942 and now living in Mumbai, Kiran Nagarkar is a leading representative of contemporary Indian literature. He has authored many novels, plays and film scripts in both Marathi and English. His works include the novel “Seven Sixes are Forty Three”, an English translation of his first novel in Marathi titled “Saat Sakkam Trechalis”, the play “Kabirache Kaya Karayache” (1995), and the novel “Ravan & Eddie” (1995). Kiran Nagarkar received the Sahitya Akademi award in 2000 for his novel “Cuckold”. Nagarkar has also authored God’s Little Soldier and his recent publication The Extras has received wide acclaim.

Address: 75 Mehta House,Bhulabhai Desai Road,Opp American Consulate,Mumbai 400026
Phone: +91-22-23643471
Email: knagarkar@gmail.com

K.N.Shashikiran

Born into a family of renowned musicians on the 10th of September, Shashikiran soon made his mark in the family. His grandfather, Gottuvadyam Narayana Iyengar was a legend in his times, not to mention his father ‘Chitravina’ Narasimhan, a musician with a vision and mission and brother ‘Chitravina’ Ravikiran, and an internationally acclaimed genius. His father discovered Shashikirans’s talents when he was a mere toddler and nurtured it with great care. Thus, at two, he stormed the music world as a child prodigy who could identify Ragas (melodies), demonstrate complicated Talas (rhythms) and answer other technical questions pertaining to Carnatic music. He has also had the privilege of honing his musical skills under stalwarts like T Brinda, T Vishwanathan and K S Krishnamurthy.

Having made his mark as a vocalist and scholar, Shashikiran currently performs Vocal Duet concerts along with his cousin ‘Chitravina’ P. Ganesh. They are popularly known as the CARNATICA BROTHERS.
Talent
His first vocal concert was at the age of 9, when he sang in tandem with his younger sister Kiranavali. Since then, there has been no looking back for Shashikiran. He is now an established vocalist with a vast experience of over 1000 concerts including lectures-demos, jugalbandis and fusions in prominent organizations in India, USA, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia and so on. He has been regularly featured in Radio, Television networks and commercial albums. He also has the added advantage of being a mridangist, having trained under the late Palghat Sundaram.
He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Madras where he ranked first. Then followed a Master’s degree in Music from the University of Madras where again his talents showed as he was a Gold Medalist. He is currently working towards achieving a Doctorate on “Teaching Methodology in Carnatic Music”. Alongside he also holds a diploma in Audio and Video Technology.
Shashikiran has won laurels many a time for his talent. He was awarded the Rani Sethulakshmi Bai Memorial Award in 1990, the Best Pallavi Singer for his concert at the Rasika Ranjani.
Shashikiran doesn’t limit his himself to field of music alone. He contributes to other websites and newspapers through articles and reviews. Sabha in Trichy which was a series featuring many eminent musicians. In 1997 he received an award for being the Best Exponent of Any Raga from the Music Academy. Also included among this never ending list of accolades are an award from the Carnatic MusicAssociation of North America in 1998 for being the Best Vocalist and finally the Bharat Nirman Excellence Award in 1999 for meritorious accomplishments in diverse fields of activity that have immensely contributed to the Nation’s progress. He is the youngest person and the first musician in India to receive this honour .He was the recipient of the Ford Foundation scholarship on the “Vina Dhanammal Bani” in 1990. His recent awards are Yuva Kala Bharathi-2001 -2002 & Outstanding Young Indian by Jaysees – Special millennium Honor award.
He was the lead male vocalist in Chitravina Ravikiran’s ballet, Lakshmi Prabhavam, premiered in the US, which performed to packed halls and standing ovations in over 20 cities in the USA and Canada in between March and June 1997 .
He has conducted and compered several quiz programs, participated in panel discussions and presented papers in major centres like the Rice University, Houston; Ethnomusicology Society, Indiana State University; Drew University, New Jersey.
He was featured by the National Radio, Purdue, USA and US and Singapore Television networks
He is the Founder and Managing Director for Srishti’s Carnatica Private Limited along with noted Carnatic vocalist S.Sowmya and is also the Managing Trustee of Carnatica Archival Centre. He was the Former Course Director and Chief Co-coordinator for the International Foundation for Carnatic Music . His success as a concert artiste has been immense and he is a very well known young artist of the present generation. He has had over five years of successful experience in management, administration, co-ordination, public relations, concept-designing and marketing.
TECHNO – MUSICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Producer, author and the spirit behind the world’s first interactive and encyclopedic CD-ROM on Carnatic music titled “Nadanubhava – The horizons of Carnatic music”.
Joint Creator and developer of the world’s first twin-pack VCD on Carnatic music titled “Nadopasana – My own Carnatic tutor “, a self-help guru with Karaoke features.
Producer of other popular music albums (audio & video) like the VCD on Bharatiyar songs, Vintage reminiscences and “Melting melodies”.
Designer of one of the first websites on Carnatic music – http://www.clickcarnatica.com , http://www.carnatica.com & www.mymusicalbum.com. Is the Managing Director of Srishti’s Carnatica Pvt. Ltd. and heads www.carnatica.com.
Is the Executive Trustee of Carnatica Archival Centre.
Actively involved in documenting Carnatic music through the Carnatica Archival Centre in Project Carnatic music – 2010.
Coordinator of several successful events like Raganubhava, Sahityanubhava, Layanubhava, Vadyanubhava and Natyanubhava series.

Contact:
K.N.Shashikiran
Address: #12, Dwaraka Colony, Mylapore, Chennai – 600004, TamilNadu, India
Vonage : 2484368435, 2012038065 India: 91-9840015013
email: knshashikiran@gmail.com or carnaticabrothers@gmail.com

N

Nandkumar (Nandu) Kulkarni

After over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, Nandu Kulkarni left his job as Senior VP and Head of the Retail Banking Products Division at i-flex solutions ltd. (now Oracle Financial Services Ltd.) to work on his “dream” project, combining his technology background with his love for Hindustani Classical Music. He launched a web portal called ShadjaMadhyam.com, dedicated to Indian Classical Music, with the idea of leveraging the Internet and multimedia technologies and eLearning tools for the teaching and propagation of Indian Classical Music. Music lovers and students overseas, who do not have easy access to a guru, form the largest part of the user base of his music portal.

Apart from that, Nandu consults with IT companies in the area of Banking Technology, and is an angel investor and mentors several software product start-ups.

Nandu has a B.Tech from IIT Bombay, and a P.G.D.I.I.M. from IIM Kolkata

S

Shantanu Moitra

Shantanu Moitra started his career as a client servicing executive at an ad agency, while music remained a hobby. He started composing music for advertising jingles accidentally, when he was asked to compose a jingle at the last minute by Pradeep Sarkar, then the Creative Head of the agency, the jingle was “Bole mere lips. I love Uncle Chipps” for the chips brand named Uncle Chipps, which became an instant hit, and he later composed several jingles for Pradeep Sarkar, and several advertising brands.

This led to composing music for Indipop albums that were hits including Ab ke Saawan, Mann ke Manjeere: an album of women’s dreams for Breakthrough, and Sapna Dekha Hai Maine (2003) for Shubha Mudgal which were major chartbusters.

Moitra shifted to Mumbai in 2002, when he started working for Sudhir Mishra’s Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, his first signed film,[5] and soon formed team with lyricist Swanand Kirkire, starting with the song, “Bawara Mann..”. Even before Parineeta was made, he had created a song called Raath Hamari To, sung by Chitra, which Vidhu Vinod Chopra the producer of Parineeta heard, and subsequently on his recommendation, he received Parineeta (2005) directed by Pradeep Sarkar and later Eklavya: The Royal Guard directed by Chopra himself.

Moitra composed the music in a few films, but gained recognition with his music in Parineeta (2005). His music was critically acclaimed and he received a nomination for the Filmfare Best Music Director Award.[9] That same year he won the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent. In 2009, he composed score for his first Bengali film, Antaheen.[10]
Moitra has composed more than a thousand jingles and recently won a Bronze Lion in Cannes in the category of best music for a Happydent advertisement.
His first Bengali film as a music director won the film four national awards and two of them were for music.
His last film 3 IDIOTS broke all box office records and all the songs in it are super hits and anthems.
He has won numerous awards for 3 idiots.

FILMOGRAPHY
▪ Shoebite/Johnny Mastana (2011)
▪ Rajneeti (2010)- Track ‘Ishq Barse’
▪ Well Done Abba (2010)
▪ 3 Idiots (2009)
▪ Antaheen (2009) (Bengali film)- national award
▪ Welcome to Sajjanpur (2008)
▪ Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (2007)
▪ Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007)
▪ Khoya Khoya Chand (2007)
▪ Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)
▪ Yahaan (2005)
▪ Parineeta (2005)
▪ Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005)
Leela (2002)

T

Tushar Bhatia

Tushar Bhatia has trained in Indian Classical Music [Vocal and Sitar] for over thirty years. He is a disciple of sitar players Arvind Parikh and P B Devburman of Etawa gharana. He has trained under vocalists Dinkar Kaikini, K G Ginde and Yashwant Mahale. He has studied Western Classical music on Piano and Double Bass.

Tushar is a mainstream music composer, sitar player, writer, producer for stage shows and presenter on stage TV and radio and has numerous classical and light compositions to his credit. Apart from movie ‘Andaz Apna Apna’, commercials like ‘Nakshatra Diamonds’, ‘Dhara’ and documentaries, he has composed music for several private albums.

He has conducted workshops at several prestigious institutions in India, Euorpe and USA, and has designed several teaching modules while successfully managing commercial recordings.

Tushar has been performing and presenting lecture-demonstrations overseas.

Contact:
e-mail: tusharbhatia20@yahoo.com
telephone : +919820185631

Y

Yatindra Mishra

Poet, editor, music aficionado, Yatindra Mishra has three collections of Hindi poetry to his credit- Yada-Kada (1997), Ayodhya Tatha Anya Kavitayen (1999) and Dyorhi Par Aalaap (2005). He has also written Girija (2001), Devpriya (2007) and Sur Ki Baradari (2009) about the life and work of thumri singer Girija Devi, danseuse Sonal Mansingh and shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan. Yatindra has edited selections from the poetry of Ajneya-Jitna Tumhara Sach Hai (2011), Prose of Ashok Vajpeyee-Kis Bhugol Mein Kis Sapne Mein (2011) and Poetry of Gulzar Yaar Julaahe (2009). He has also presented a selection of Gulzar’s film lyrics-Meelon Se Din (2010).
He has also edited veteran Hindi litratteur Kunwar Narayan’s complete works – Kunwar Narain : Samsaar & Kunwar Upasthiti (2002). He has compiled a special suppliment about the music of Lata Mangeshkar for Tehelka Magazine in September, 2011 in connection with her 83rd birthday. His most recent publication ‘Bhairavi’ (2011) is a translation of Kannada saiva poet Akka Mahadevi’s vacanas.
Translations of his writing ‘Girija’ (English), Ayodhya series of poems (German) and ‘Yaar Julahey’ (Urdu) have been well received. He has edited arts and culture magazines ‘Sahit’ and ‘Thatee’.
Yatindra Mishra is a recipient of Raza Award (2007), Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Yuva Puraskar (2006), Hemant Smriti Kavita Puraskaar (2005), Bharat Bhushan Agrawal Smriti Puraskaar (2004), Rajiv Gandhi Rashtreeya Ektaa Puraskaar (2004), Parampara Rituraj Samman (1999), Junior Fellowship of the Department of Culture, Government of India (2003-05) and Independent Fellowship from Sarai, CSDS, New Delhi (2006-07). Yatindra has travelled to the U.S., Britain, Mauritius and Abu Dhabi to participate in various cultural symposia.
His article based on the life and music of the late shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan is included in the textbook for Std.X by NCERT, Delhi the apex body for institutional education in India (since 2007) and also included in curriculum of 10th standard of Bihar Board of Education (since 2010). He has founded the Vimla Devi Foundation to promote literature and the arts(since 1999) and has been holding an annual festival of performing arts to highlight the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb of India, (since 2006) titled- ‘Ishvar Allah Tero Naam’. He lives in Ayodhya.

E-mail : yatindrakidaak@gmail.com
Phone : +91-5278-232495
Cell : +91-94150-47710, +91-99351-91485



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