Ajay Govind

Ajay Govind
Born (1982-09-22) 22 September 1982
Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Occupation Film director, screenwriter, producer
Years active 2005 – present

Ajay Govind (born 22 September 1982) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, corporate trainer and anti-ragging activist.[1] He has made over 40 documentary films and his debut feature film After the Third Bell released in April 2014.

Background

A native of Kerala, Ajay was born in Jhansi, did his initial schooling in Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan (Delhi) and completed his high school in Bangkok at the International School of Bangkok (Thailand). His father, Kuzhipat Ravindran, and mother, Bhuvaneswari Ravindran, moved from Kerala to Delhi, where they both worked with the Central Government. It was in high school that Ajay developed an interest in English Literature and he later got his BA (Hons) in English from St. Stephen’s College (Delhi University). He developed an interest in filmmaking after attending film appreciation/history workshops at the School of Media Studies (St. Stephen’s College). Prior to this, his first outing with films was a 1-week Summer Workshop on ‘Deconstructing Cinema’ he took up while in school at ISB.

Career

He started his filmmaking career working with development organizations like Sesame Workshop India, Save the Children, HOPE Foundation and shooting various commissioned documentary films for projects funded USAID. The films were initially made under the banner of his creative agency - words. rhythms. images (WRI). Ajay’s first independent docu-fiction film was a Malayalam film called Phranthande Prekshakar (The Madman’s Audience) where he used Albert Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus as a medium to compare the Greek myth of Sisyphus with that of Naranathu Bhranthana character from Malayalam folklore. The film was screened at Videolab Coimbra (Portugal) and at India Habitat Centre (New Delhi).

Through his high school and college, Ajay wrote many short stories, poems and short scripts but it was in 2011 that he first wrote a full-fledged feature film script. Later that year Ajay produced and directed his first feature film After the Third Bell. The main characters in the film were fellow actors with whom Ajay had worked on the stage production of the Indian adaptation of Doric Wilson’s play A Perfect Relationship. In 2014, after a successful crowd funding campaign, the film saw a theatrical release across 8 cities and received decent reviews. The film was produced under the banner of Sisyphus Rocks Films, the film vertical of Ajay’s creative agency - words. rhythms. images Sisyphus Rocks Films later line produced two films in Delhi in 2014 – Onir’s Raveena Tandon, Ashish Bisht-starrer Shab and Sameer Soni’s Sanjay Suri, Norah Fatehi starrer My Birthday Song. Ajay is currently working on two scripts - one of them is a Ladakh-based thriller starring actor-producer Sanjay Suri and the other a Delhi-Kerala based romantic comedy.

Along with his partner, Vinay Kumar, and wife and co-writer, Remya Sasindran, Ajay produced a short film At The Other End in 2015. This SRF production has been written and co-directed by, Vinayak Vyas, and, Priyanka Aiyer, both of whom have earlier worked as Assistant directors with Ajay.

Anti-ragging

Ajay has been an active member of Society Against Violence in Education (SAVE) and has organised many anti-ragging workshops/forums across the country where he engages with young students and encourages them to create campuses that are fun and equitable. Along with fellow activists, Dr. Kushal Banerjee, Meera Patel and Gaurav Singhal, Ajay has used every opportunity to sensitize students on why ragging is a practice that needs to be eradicated from all educational institutions. In 2006, Ajay produced and directed a short film called Where Boys Do Cry, an abstract film that brought to the fore the gruesome realities of ragging.[2] The film has been screened at various anti-ragging forums across the country,.[3]

Nine Minutes of Fame

In 2010, the words rhythms images team began an event in Delhi called Nine Minutes of Fame, which gave 9 unpublished writers an opportunity to share their work with a live audience. The event has since had 6 editions and has expanded in its scope with not just unpublished writers but also other artists like musicians, painters and graphic artists who have had an opportunity to share their work. The event has been held at various locations starting with The Attic (Connaught Place), to the CMYK Bookstore (Meherchand Market) and Kunzum Travel Café (HauzKhas Village).Two writers who shared their work at NMoF have since published their books – Sangita Menon Malhan (The TOI Story, 2014) and a book of poems by Dr. Suhail Sohal (2015). In its last edition, poet Nitoo Das and journalist Anna M.M. Vetticad were invited as guest writers.[4]

Filmography

Director

Writer

Producer

References

  1. ↑ http://www.cinemachronicles.in/cinema-one-one-ajay-govind/
  2. ↑ http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/founder-s-day-at-frank-anthony-public-school/article1-938138.aspx
  3. ↑ http://www.deccanherald.com/content/303630/ragging-neither-healthy-nor-fun.html
  4. ↑ http://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/your-nine-minutes-of-fame/article1-633959.aspx

External links

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