JURY 2015
KASHISH 2015 is honoured and privileged to have an eminent jury panel. The jury will judge 45 films in seven competition categories at the 6th edition of KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival – South Asia’s biggest and India’s only mainstream LGBT film festival.
ANUBHAV SINHA
Anubhav Sinha is an avant-garde Indian film maker and a music aficionado. Trained to be a Mechanical Engineer he drifted to film making during the early nineties. His directorial journey commenced with a gritty noir TV show Shikast, followed by the magnum opus TV show Sea Hawks. Anubhav directed over a hundred music videos over two years with some of the most acclaimed singers of the time. Sonu Nigam, Jagjit Singh, Pankaj Udhas and a host other star performers.
His debut feature Tum Bin was a sleeper hit in 2001 and remains a much loved love story 14 years after its release. His next venture Dus released in 2005 and was one of the biggest openers of the year. His last release Ra.One with super star Shah Rukh Khan opened to unprecedented collections at the box office. As a producer Anubhav, produced country’s first underwater 3D film Warning and has the credit for bringing together two of the most iconic stars Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla together in Gulaab Gang. As a producer Anubhav’s last release in November 2014 was the musical success Zid.
AAMIR BASHIR
Aamir Bashir is a National award winning filmmaker, actor and model. Born in Srinagar, Kashmir, Aamir Bashir, started his career as a television journalist and travel show host before moving to Mumbai in 1998 to pursue a career in acting. Aamir’s commitment to acting has seen him excel in many independent films like ‘Clever and Lonely’, ‘Split Wide Open’, ‘The Great Indian Butterfly’, ‘Peepli LIVE’ and the award-winning ‘Frozen’. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 Screen Awards for his role in the film ‘A Wednesday’.
Harud (Autumn) his maiden venture as a writer, director and producer, won the Don Quixote Award at the Fribourg International Film Festival 2011 and the prestigious National Award for Best Film in Urdu in 2013. Aamir Bashir is currently working on the sequel to Harud (Autumn) titled “Winter”. Winter was one of the twelve projects short listed for the Biennale College Cinema Fund in 2013.
CHITRA PALEKAR
A post-graduate in Economics and a lead actor/director in avant-garde theatre of Mumbai since 1967, Chitra Palekar began her multifaceted career in films in 1981 as the producer/ lead actor of Aakriet, which won the Special Jury Award at Nantes. She has scripted Hindi / Marathi films like Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaaye, Kairee, Kal Ka Aadmi, Dhyaas Parv and written additional screenplay for Bangarwadi and Daayra (The Square Circle) She has also written and produced quality television serials such as Kachchi Dhoop and Naqab.
Chitra made her directorial debut in 2006 with Maati Maay (A Grave-keeper’s Tale) which she also wrote and produced. A proud mother of a lesbian daughter, Chitra is one of the signatories of the Parents’ Petition in the Supreme Court, in support of the Delhi High Court’s judgment decriminalizing same sex relationships. She fights for equal rights for the LGBTs and supports other parents in resolving their various concerns about their LGBT children. She recently appeared as an actor in the Marathi film Happy Journey.
MALAVIKA SANGGHVI
Malavika Sangghvi is a journalist editor, author and columnist with three decades of experience in media, has edited leading newspapers in India and written for some of the world’s most respected international journals like the New York Times and the Sunday Times, (UK).
She has been responsible for creating a number of media trends in the process, and has been regarded as a pioneer in lifestyle journalism. When she took over the Bombay Times it was a twice a week four page daily with the Times of India, and under her five year editorship she turned it in to a seven day a week 14 pager!
She was once described by the New York Times as ‘a chronicler of social mores’. She is also a published poet and author and is working on a book on Mumbai’s red light area Kamatipura currently where she is following the story of an abducted girl who is HIV Positive. She is the editor of the book – ‘The Making of Samovar’, on the city’s iconic cafe in Kala Ghoda.
MEGHNA MALIK
MeghnaTelevision, film and theatre actor Meghna Malik, best known for her performance as Ammaji in the tele-serial Laado (2009-12), is a seasoned professional who has career spans over forty tele-serials, sixteen films and more than 19 major stage productions. A National School of Drama alumnus (1994-97), Meghna Malik also worked in NSD repertory company (1997-99).
She has served as Jury on Indian Telly Awards and International Emmy Award semifinals. The Election Commission of India chose her as icon for the state of Haryana in 2012. Meghna malik is an avid traveller to foreign lands and loves to interact with new people and different cultures.She is also passionate about driving. She is a socially responsible person and willingly comes forward for any genuine charitable cause.
Additional Jury for Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker
ROY WADIA
RoyHailing from the Wadia Movietone family, and brother of the late filmmaker and gay activist Riyad Wadia, Roy worked at CNN for 12 years, helping launch and produce much of the global broadcaster’s Asia-Pacific news programming. In 2003, Roy switched careers by joining the World Health Organization’s China office as its communications and advocacy officer, working on campaigns ranging from HIV to environmental health.
Returning to India, Roy worked as the Executive Director of Heroes Project, the HIV communications and advocacy NGO that was part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Avahan programme. Currently he is the Regional Media and Communications Adviser at UNFPA Asia and the Pacific, and also serves on the board of several international organizations.
