PG diploma in cinema (FTII – film editing) 1998; BA – philosophy – 1991; 12th HSC – science – 1987; 10th SSC – 1984

Oct 2022- present
I am teaching in Srishti Manipal Institute as a film faculty. Presently, I take classes on editing, film direction and scriptwriting.
2020 – 2022
I directed a short film, ‘Veena and Ukulele’, which got ‘the Best Director’ award at OIFFA (Ottawa Indian Film Festival) and ‘best film’ at the 10th Ritwik honorary award at Rajshahi, Bangladesh. It has also been selected at Bengaluru International short film festival BISFF 2021 and IDSFFK 2021.
This year, I started a script mentorship program for independent filmmakers in Kerala through an organisation ‘Filmocracy’, and have mentored scriptwriters for the past two years.
20140 – 2020
I have been teaching film students in various institutes where I mentor students on editing and direction. I have also been conducting workshops and courses on scriptwriting and film appreciation.
2011 to 2016
I joined Arowana studios as the Creative Director in Bangalore to manage their animation studios as well as their filmmaking wing. I handled the creative part of the 3D animation films.I directed and edited a feature film called ‘Lessons in Forgetting’. This film has been adapted from Anita Nair’s book of the same name. The film was shot in 35 mm and was released by PVR in their director’s rare section. The film went to various festivals across the globe like the Chicago Film Festival, Florence Film Festival, the Silent River Festival, and several others, and in India, it was part of the Panorama Section in IFFI 2012, BIFFES 2012, IFFK 2013 and KIFF 2013. The film won a National Award for Best English Film in 2012.
2006 to 2010
I worked in the programming part of television. I joined Miditech as the creative director and worked with daily soaps like ‘Parivar.’ My role was to decide the creative path of the serial in line with the channel’s vision. Hence I worked very closely with the channel heads as well as the directors on the set.
In 2008, I joined POGO channel as the Creative Director. Here, I handled the fiction series like ‘Sunaina’ and ‘CIA’. I also directed ‘MAD’ and ‘FAQ’ which were DIY shows and much appreciated by kids.
I edited a film ‘The blueberry Hunt’, an independent film with Naseeruddin Shah as the lead.
2003 to 2006
This is the period when I forayed into film direction and film editing.
I edited the film ‘Manasarovar’ which was the opening film in IFFI 2004, Manasarovar.
I also joined Madhur Bhandarkar as his chief assistant for the film ‘Traffic Signal’.
During this period I have also directed a couple of documentaries for organisations like UNFPA and have also made a music video on film for MTV.
1999 to 2003
I worked extensively as an independent editor for television in Chennai. Here I worked on various genres like serials, ads, documentaries and corporate films. I moved base to Mumbai, where I joined UTV as their editor and got the opportunity to work on the best of their shows, including popular ones ‘Hip Hip Hurray’ (Zee TV), ‘Smrithi’ (Channel Nine), ‘Cats’ (Sony), ‘Shakalaka Boom Boom’ (DD1), ‘Sahib, Biwi and TV’ (Zee TV), ‘Hubahu’ (Sony TV) and ‘Khichdi’(TV).

my key research area is in scriptwriting and study of its methodologies. my key research interest is in the heroine’s journey and the implications of indian mythology on it. With most of the study been based upon the western myths, the students could not connect to these myths. My search turned to Indian myths and mythic characters as popular archetypes. In the process, I felt there was a genuine possibility of a new archetypal structure which is unique to the Indian thinking. My research is towards a possible archetypal structure for the heroine’s journey. My primary texts are Ramayana, Mahabharata and Cilapatikaaram and would trace the journeys of the female characters, find common stages in their journeys and mark them as unique to the Indian context and divergent to the western canons. i aspire to do a doctoral research on this topic.

Scriptwriting – I teach filmmaking. My main interest is in teaching scriptwriting. I adopt various methodologies to engage the student into the refined form of writing. The different archetypal structures is a key area in teaching scriptwriting. Adaptation as yet another way of arriving at a screenplay is also part of my teaching. Film direction – I teach the basics of film direction and also a more nuanced approach to it. In the basics, I introduce them to the grammar of film direction and also put them through a rigorous process of making to learn the craft. In director’s craft, I push the boundaries and introduce them to alternate and contemporary approach to filmmaking. Film editing – I teach the basics of editing with an introduction to its history and evolution along with film footages to edit, learning continuity editing. Using footages of dialogue scenes to edit, the student is introduced to the art of cutting dialogue exercises with film viewing and discussions. They also introduced to constructing narratives, using documentary footages.

these are images of my classes on director’s craft, editing and scriptwriting

I am basically a film editor and have worked extensively in that capacity. Though not active, I am open to interesting projects.
As a filmmaker, I am interested in low cost arthouse films. I work on projects which challenges the language of cinema and its aesthetics, using minimal equipments and crew.
I write scripts for feature film projects. I have completed one project which is under process. Presently, I am working on a new script at the screenplay stage. My interest lies in mentoring other scriptwriters too.