Creative Mentors

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for writing and directing Rang De Basanti (2006) Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013). He is the writer and director of the films Aks (2001) and Delhi-6 (2009). He also won Best Director awards at the 2006 Filmfare and National Film Awards and received a BAFTA Award nomination for Rang De Basanti.

He established Flicks Motion Picture Company Private Limited in 1986. He has directed scores of television commercials for various Indian and international clients such as Coke, Pepsi, Toyota, American Express and BPL. He has also directed music videos such as Aby Baby starring Amitabh Bachchan.

Rakeysh Mehra also has a culinary interest - the famous Bauji ka Dhaba in a Gurgaon mall and in The Garden of the Five Senses, New Delhi

Atul Kasbekar is a graduate of the Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara California. Prior to which he has worked as an assistant with Genesis and Prahlad Kakar.

Over 25 years of print career in the country he has shot for virtually every brand and agency of consequence.

He is recognised as the inceptor of the Kingfisher calendar and at a personal level been the brand ambassador for many significant brands. Currently he is the face of Nikon in India and Carl F Bucherer watches.

Atul is the founder of Bling Entertainment Solutions, a premier Indian talent management company and has just produced a film in conjunction with FOXStar Studios "Neerja" starring Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi directed by Ram Madhvani

President at WWI

Whistling Woods International is Asia's largest Film, Television, Animation and Media Arts institute, providing world-class education in all technical and creative aspects of filmmaking and television. The 20-acre campus is based in Mumbai's Film & Television Production centre Filmcity, and offers courses that vary in duration from 10 months to 30 months, both full-time and part time in nature. All major specializations of the Media & Entertainment industry are catered to, including Acting, Animation, Cinematography, Direction, Editing, Producing, Screenwriting and Sound as well and Television & Broadcasting Studies. Whistling Woods International also offers, in association with Manipal University, India's first MBA in the Media & Entertainment.

Whistling Woods International has achieved all this in the short span of three years and is on the way to fulfilling it's goal, to be the institute of choice for media education globally

The moment we think of a Bollywood actor, the first thoughts that come to our mind are chocolate boy looks, six pack abs, and even boy next door looks.

However, there is one actor, who has successfully changed our perception about a 'hero' with his acting skills, his charm and of course, his humour quotient.

We are talking about Ram Kapoor who is no less a sensation on the small screen despite the diameter of his waist and 'non-chocolate hero' looks.

The adorably cute actor, who is currently seen as Ram Ahuja in Sony Entertainment's 'Dil ki Baatein dil Hi Jaane', enjoys a huge fan following and has always been the 'talk of the town' for more than a decade now.

As Ram Kapoor turns a year older, we bring you some lesser known facts about the amazing actor: It was in ninth standard that Ram Kapoor discovered his inclination towards acting when he gave auditions for a school play "Charlie's Aunt" for the Founder's Day celebrations.

The actor then moved to Delhi to pursue acting where he did several plays. Later, he decided to go to abroad to study acting and got himself enrolled in the Stanislavsky School of Method Acting in the US

After completing his two year course from the acting school, Ram Kapoor got several offers. However, he declined them all because none was inspiring enough. Ram Kapoor made his debut in the TV industry with Nimbus Productions' 'Nyay' in 1997, a TV serial on DD helmed by Sudhir Mishra. After this there was no looking back for the actor

Babbar assisted advertisement filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar for a year as a production assistant. During this time Babbar was cast in advertisement films for several companies, including KitKat.

Babbar made his acting debut in the Aamir Khan production, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na alongside Imran Khan and Genelia D'Souza. His portrayal of the annoying, attention-seeking rother of Genelia's character won him critical appreciation as well as numerous awards. At the 54th Filmfare Awards, Babbar received a Special Jury certificate, as well as nominations for Best Male Debut and Best Supporting Actor. The film went on to become a major commercial success

Homi Adajania an outstanding film director and an brilliant upcoming writer with great skills which helped him earn critical acclaim for his directorial debut. An overall package of talents is not only an amazing director or writer but also a freelance traveller, writer, photographer and also a scuba driver instructor. He entered the industry recently and started off his great talent and passion of directing and writing for psychological drama in Being Cyrus venture which was released in 2006. This movie starred Saif Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, and Boman Irani

This gentleman married to the well known stylist Anaita Shroff Adajania and is blessed with two kids. Homi earlier worked as an assistant director "Bhopal Express" and also wrote amazing story which was titled as International Fakir. This concept earned lot of appraisal, Adajania's second directory master piece was romantic-comedy movie Cocktail which released in 2012. Again this venture had same actors like Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty Dimple Kapadia and Boman Irani. Even this project earned positive reviews from famous critics. And now his third director piece, Finding Fanny was successfully released on September 2014. The film is all about comedy and its simple concept made it immensely watchable among the audiences. .

Gaurav Marya is the closest thing to a born entrepreneur. He started his first enterprise when he was still a teenage student at an engineering college. Dropping out of college he became a serial entrepreneur, setting up businesses in mobile phones, restaurants,

Rahul Puri born in Neath, UK a graduate of Kings College London, spent almost three years at UBS Warburg in London in corporate finance, working on international transactions worth up to US$10 billion. These included the merger of Publicis with Saachi and Saachi and the IPO of Dentsu Advertising in Japan. After moving to Mumbai in 2002, he joined Ambit Corporate Finance and soon after Nimbus Communications. In 2003, he joined Mukta Arts Limited as Vice President - Finance and Strategy and has been involved in the development of the company and the production and release of numerous films. He is now the MD at Mukta Arts and Head-Academics, Whistling Woods International.

Farah Khan-Ali is a renowned Jewellery designer and gemologist who's foray the jewellery line was purely by chance when she decided to do a course in Gemology at the renowned Gemological Institute of America in Santa Monica, California in 1992. She graduated at the top of her class.

Farah Khan-Ali has always been creatively inclined. Her sense of visual perception stimulates her senses to see design in the most least expected places. In her own words she says "I view the world around us from a different perspective. What necessarily is to others is not what I see it as. I am captivated by our natural environment and any form, shape that catches my fancy stimulates me to translate that inanimate thought into an animate object of beauty and art.

Having designed for some of the top Bollywood celebrities and people from India's foremost business families, she insists on being a perfectionist who loves to please herself first so that so that she can eventually please her clients. She admits that she has to do everything well so that it all comes together eventually. With 20 years of focus and experience in this field, she still feels like a creatively inclined soul who happened to come into Jewellery Designing by chance, only to discover that she was born for it.

"When I play with precious gemstones its like creating an object of beauty and desire, one that outlives its wearer and brings a sea of memories with it when it is handed down generation." - Farah Khan As she says "I don't love to design, I live to design" and "the day I discover myself, I shall cease to exist".

Tandon attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Juhu and studied at Mithibai College. She completed her first and second years at the college. During her time as an intern, she got her first film offer from Shantanu Sheorey which she accepted. Her father was a producer and directed some films in the 1970s and 1980s.

A popular Bollywood actor, producer and model, who came to critical acclaim in India in 2002 with a National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in the movie Daman: A Victim of Marital Violence. The film highlights one woman's fight against violence and suppression in the home.

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Mahesh Mathai began his career as a director in advertising films and established a reputation as one of India's best talents. He was known for the iconic campaigns for Garden Vareli, Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate (with the girl dancing on the cricket field), Gimme Red for Eveready Batteries, Asian Paints with Pataudi and the Mumbai Indians IPL team launch with Hrithik Roshan.

He founded Highlight Films which went on to become one of the most successful advertising commercials companies in India. His work for a range of clients including Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Cadburys, Chevrolet, Eveready, McDowells, Philips, Asian Paints, Times of India, Seagrams, ICICI Bank and India Tourism covered nearly every possible brand category and won numerous Awards.

One of the pioneers of music video industry in the country, he partnered with Sony Music and BMG Records to launch the careers of singer Lucky Ali, and the band Bombay Vikings. The music video for Lucky Ali's ' O Sanam', shot at the Pyramids in Egypt, became hugely popular.

In 2000 he made the feature film, Bhopal Express with Naseeruddin Shah, Kaykay and Vijay Raaz (which launched the new composer trio of Ehsaan, Loy and Shankar) and opened the Panorama section of the prestigious Berlin Film Festival and won 7 International Awards.

In 2005 he completed a British film, Broken Thread starring Linus Roache (Batman Begins, Wings of a Dove, Hart's War, Chronicles of Riddick), Saffron Burrows (In the Name of the Father, Ganster Number One; Enigma; Troy; and Klimt.), Andrea Corr (The Commitments, Evita) and Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Monsoon Wedding).

In 2007 he founded the Blue Frog in Mumbai, the venue that became synonymous with live music, and is now branching out across the country.

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Uzer Khan has all the bragging rights to call himself the most sought after director in town. His work for a long time now has been the benchmark in avant-garde style of filmmaking in India. He has an eye for perfection and a keen interest in the latest trends in fashion and cinematic techniques that reflects beautifully in all his commercials. When he is not on a studio floor injecting life into his visions he has been seen many a time but only in flashes on the long winding highways of Mumbai ripping his 1000cc superbike to adrenalin pumping speeds!

P S Bharathi, who made her directorial debut with 'Ru Ba Ru', a documentary based on 'Rang De Basanti' impact, says her filmmaker-husband Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra thought she was the best person to direct it. Bharathi is an editior and made a documentary Ru Ba Ru on the effect of Rang De Basanti, which also featured the struggles Rakeysh went through while making the film.

Mishal Raheja, born in Mumbai, India, is a Popular Indian television actor. He made his TV debut after completing his postgraduate studies in business management, from the United States. Mishal started his entreprenural journey with Party Hard Drivers.PHD is a drop home service for people who have had one too many to drink and can't drive back on their own.

Stuti graduated from St. Stephens College, New Delhi with a BA in Philosophy (Hons) in 1999 and moved to Mumbai to join Genesis Films as an intern. After four years of tremendous hands-on learning, she left to get a four year Masters in Fine Arts (MFA), in Film, from Columbia University in New York, specialising in Screenwriting and Direction. She returned to Genesis as Executive Producer, and a year later made the choice to move from ad films to feature films. After working as production controller on two short films (Mira Nair, Farhan Akhtar) for AIDS Jaago, she joined Excel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd to work on Rock On! and as Line Producer on Karthik Calling Karthik. Stuti made a conscious choice to be a stay at home mom to her two daughters Tarana and Ameira, and has recently returned from London to rejoin Excel Entertainment as a Line Producer. She has every intention of directing a feature film one day.

Over a career spanning 30 years and over 5,000 ad films, common sense, allied to an innate ability to innovate has enabled Mr. Fonseca to become a virtual byword in the advertising industry for the art of the product shot. Think chocolate- and cream-filled biscuits. Think juices, blenders, and exotic fruit. Think soap, shampoos, and cosmetics. Think of all the products that the Indian advertising industry urges you to buy and then consider how many times you may have been swayed by the 'money shot' in the end - a swirl of rich dark chocolate for instance or a beautiful gush of fruit juice or an aerated drink that convinces you it will quench your thirst. If you've given into temptation on any of these counts then you've felt Mr Fonseca's work.

There is no formal training for what Mr. Fonseca does and his created his business, he says, just by getting his hand dirty. He got into advertising somewhat by accident, working as a spot boy for an ad that Prahlad Kakar, the head of the ad firm Genesis, was shooting in a Rajasthan village

Through years of apprenticeship, Mr. Fonseca developed a unique equation with the visual aesthetic of advertising. He was never a cameraman, though he now knows a lot about that side of business as well. He was the person who engineered, through his own creativity, the shot that the director and cameraman wanted.

In effect, he gradually became the answer to a problem that Indian advertising created for itself. Though he owns a thriving business, Mr. Fonseca still considers himself an employee of Mr.Kakar

A maverick at heart and a free thinker in spirit, Rumaan Kidwai has had an upbringing in Indian and International cinema and advertising. Having been associated with Wong Kar-Wai, Tarsem Singh, Mani Ratnam and Mira Nair, among others, he has since turned independent and is looking to make his place in the Mumbai milieu. Film-making is an inherent passion with Rumaan, and every project is both a challenge and an inspiration. And he eagerly looks forward to them.

Abhinay Deo is one of India's topmost ad filmmakers. An architect by qualification, he joined the world of advertising in 1993 at Ogilvy and Mather. He started making films in-house for the agency and thereafter started the advertising cell of Ramesh Deo Production Pvt. Ltd in 2000. Since then he has directed over 450 TVCs, 3 features - a Hinglish feature film titled 'Delhi Belly' for Aamir Khan Productions and a Magnum Opus Hindi feature film 'Game' for Excel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. His recent movie was a spy thriller "Force 2" for Sunshine Pictures Pvt. Ltd and J.A. Entertainment.

He is a Brand Strategist.
Roopak Saluja is an Indian media businessman and angel investor. He is the founder and chief executive officer of The 120 Media Collective - a communications & content group comprising subsidiaries, Jack in the Box Worldwide, Sniper and Bang Bang Films; and Sooperfly - A new media company that is building content brands direct-to-audience.

He is currently serving as the President of Advertising Agencies Association of India

He has authored/coauthored seven books on topics ranging from brand building and advertising to consumer behavior, his latest book being- "Nawabs Nudes Noodles - India Through 50 Years of Advertising"

Mr Ram Madhvani has worked with every important advertising agency in the country to become one of India's most respected filmmakers in his carrier span of more than 2 Decades.

In recognition of his prodigious talent and for his contributions to advertising Ram has been honoured with the coveted Teachers Achievement Award (2004-2005).

In 2006 Ram made the Indian advertising fraternity proud by winning a bronze and a silver lion at Cannes for the Happydent White commercial. The film also won him Best Director, Best Film and Best Production Design at the Asia

He is a writer and a filmmaker by profession. He is skilled in advertising, videography, photography, creative writing and a lot more things. He was born to a comedian father and singer mother. He has been serving the advertising and television industry as a writer for past 29 years. He is the owner of Squirkle Productions Pvt. Ltd., which is a corporate and documentary filmmaking company. In 1992, he directed a game show called 'Saanp seedi', which gained immense popularity. Afterwards, he happened to direct and write India's first daily soap 'Shanti', in 1994.

Sunil Patel is an Indian cinematographer, Director of Photography of movies as well as TV Commercials, Documentaries. He has studied Applied Photography, Film and Television with Cinematography majors, Polytechnic of Central London, University of Westminster, London UK

Amit Sharma is the co founder and Director of one of the India's leading production house Chrome Pictures. He started his career with Pradeep Sarkar and worked in every department of film and that is when he realized his passion lies in direction. Post that he along with his friend started Chrome Pictures. He has directed lot of Ad films which includes Google reunion, Lifebuoy, Idea, KBC, Tata tea, Tata Sky and many more. He is also the director of the film Tevar.

Kalpana Kutty ran Genesis, Prahlad Kakar's flagship production company for 10 years. In the time, she ran Genesis, did two path breaking restaurants with her boss and mentor, assisted in numerous pet projects that Prahlad did by the hundreds and finally opened her own production company.

She trained at The Table, arguably the best stand-alone restaurant in the country and then went to Paris to learn gastronomy.

She now owns a food company called MAMAKUTTI GOURMET.

After completing his B.Sc. (Hons.) Physics from Ramjas College, Delhi, Hiroo Keswani shifted his focus towards filmmaking with a Diploma in Cinematography at FTII, Pune. There, he worked on his first fiction project “Anukram” for his Director Anik Ghosh, contributing to the project with the filmmaking knowledge he acquired. Since then, he has been driven by his pursuit for excellence in every venture he took up, honing his talent as a Cinematographer with every challenging opportunity that came his way from various talented directors, giving visuals to their cinematic vision.

Hiroo Keswani has been a part of many corporate films, documentaries,TV serials and feature films, standing in as main Director of Photography for works like Sssshh, Bhram, and Mastang Mama while contributing towards other works like the Munnabhai series, 3 Idiots, Mausam, PK, and Bang Bang as the second unit Director of Photography.

Adding to the early achievements and laurels that he won over the past 25 years, he ventured Aerial Cinematography with shoots for corporate videos, car commercials, golf courses and marathons.

Helmed by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur in guidance with Martin Scorsese and FIAF, Hiroo Keswani has also been a part of three workshops on the restoration and preservation of films with Fim Heritage Foundation.

He is currently working on the film ‘Torbaaz’, starring Sanjay Dutt and directed by National Award winner Girish Malik.

Starting at young age helped him with an early start in filmmaking and 5 years of experience with Anurag Kashyap Films & Sikhya Entertainment. He started working on the renowned projects like Gangs of Wasseypur, Haraamkhor, Peddlers, Vakratunda Mahakaaya and line-produced over 22 Short Films, 5 feature films before he started he own venture, Guru Media Films.

In a span of 7 years, he has been associated with more than 20 directors and have been producing for various brands and agencies like McCann, Ogilvy & Mather, Mullen Lintas, JWT, BBH Schbang, BBH, Experience Commerce, MRM//McCann, Madorwat and more... the brands includes Lufthansa Airlines, British Airways, ICICI Bank, Saavn, Coca-Cola, Lenovo, TLC and more.

Being in Anurag Kashyap Films, He curated and produced short film series called Shorts – An anthology of 5 Short Films, which got released in theatres and have garnered various accolades amongst leading International film festivals.