To commemorate the Doon- based film makers making their strong presence felt in the realm of film making, a film enthusiast Manoj Panjani has put a pictorial exhibition of over 150 pictures at the Schuller Heim School on Inder Road in Dehradun.
During the inauguration of the exhibition were present the painter AB Lal, writer Anita Sabharwal, story teller Anubha Rastogi Daspal and food blogger / artiste Manju Kala and cultural activist Kalpana Bahuguna.
Panjani said that the presence of the Doon- based film makers in the film industry needs celebration and hence the exhibition.
“The list is long. However, we may cite that Akshat Ghildiyal is the writer Badhaai Ho and Ali Abbas Zafar has written and directed blockbusters like Gunday, Sultan and Tiger Zinda Hai. Besides, Kamaljjet Singh Negi is the cinematographer of Vicky Donor, Piku, Madras Cafe and Jolly LLB 2. They are keeping up a glorious tradition which started in 1946 when Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar won the Golden Palme award at the first Cannes Film Festival.”
“Five persons with Uttarakhand connection featured in the film. Chetan Anand quit his job at The Doon School to become a film maker. Uma Anand, his wife, acted in the film. Mohan Sehgal from Uday Shanker's Dance Academy at Almora was the chief assistant director in the film.”
“Zohra Sehgal, also from the Dance Academy, was the choreographer and Kameshwar Sehgal was the art director. All went on to have distinguished career in films,” he recounted.
“The tradition continued. Dev Anand and Vijay Anand used to visit Chetan Anand at The Doon School.”
“Guru Dutt was also trained in Uday Shankers' Dance Academy. Shakti Samant had his schooling in Dehradun and so did Deepa Mehta,Shaad Ali and Alankrita Srivastava who has made Lipstick Under My Burkha. Adeep Tandon,cinematographer of Saaransh, studied at DBS College. Writer Kaamna Chandra studied at MKP. There is Prasoon Joshi also,” he added.