FSI Coaches & Mentors- Experience & Caliber

At FSI experienced industry professionals will lead the faculty programme for Scriptwriting, Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction, Production, Sound Design and postproduction. Some of the best names in the industry will share their learning with students. Given below are some of the mentors and coaches for the course:

Rohit Malhotra

Rohit Malhotra has over 21 years of experience in films and television in Mumbai, including working as a Programmer for Zee Telefilms and Manager Content and Creative with EConnect India Ltd (Zeenext.com). He has written episodic Television Series like 'X-Zone' & ‘Saturday Suspense’ for Zee TV, telefilm ‘Phir wohi Raat’ for Sahara TV, Star Bestsellers for Star TV etc. and animation series ‘Chota Birbal’ for Cartoon Network. Rohit assisted in Direction and Writing of Chalte-Chalte starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerjee and was the Dialogue writer of Hindi feature Film, ‘Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye’.

He has written several feature films including Chocolate *ing Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan; Dhan-Dhana-Dhan Goal *ing John Abraham, Arshad Warsi; Buddha In a Traffic Jam *ing Anupam Kher; TV series 24 *ing Anil Kapoor; and has been the Associate Director & Writer of feature films such as Hate Story & ‘Freedom’. At present Rohit is producing, writing and directing a major Documentary on ecological imbalance in the upper-Himalayan regions of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and conducting creative writing workshops. Rohit will lead the curriculum at FSI for all batches.

Umesh Gupta

An award-winning editor, Umesh brings over 28 years of industry experience in broadcasting and film with over 100 projects to his credit.

A trained artiste in film editing from the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune and an Executive MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai, he has the unique ability to create synergies and operational efficiencies between art and business. Well versed with the contemporary technology, Umesh is a multi-functional talent as an editor, director, producer and academician.

A successful Media educator for 15 years as faculty and academic strategist, Umesh has innovated and structured path breaking teaching methodologies for students of cinema. He is a visiting faculty at FTII-PUNE, FLAME-PUNE and XIC-MUMBAI.

Vidushi Mehra

Vidushi Mehra is an Indian actress of screen and stage, a musician and an entrepreneur. She has received critical acclaim and many accolades for her dynamic and powerful performances in her extensive career on stage. Her plays have garnered national and international attention with critics and the media at various theatre festivals, including performances to packed houses in all major cities in India, Slovenia, Austria and Italy.

A former banker turned performer, Vidushi has an MBA in Marketing & Finance from the US. Vidushi is also passionate about introducing children and adults to the world of theatre as an opportunity for a unique kind of learning and development through artistic impulse. She uses the medium of theatre and the actor’s tools to coach and guide corporates, privately owned companies and other establishments for engagement, development and growth.

Debashish Mishra

A Graduate from FTII, Pune, Debashish has over the past twenty years worked in many films both as a Production Sound Mixer & Sound Designer .
Each film has been a unique learning experience for him and nothing fuels him more than the opportunity to sound scape in such a way that conveys emotion and articulates a story.

Examples of some of his work are Thugs of Hindostan, Batti Gul Meter Chalu, Aiyaary,Padman, Chef, Toilet, Dear Zindagi, MS Dhoni, Ki and Ka, Airlift, Phantom, Baby, Dhoom 3, Special 26, Ek tha Tiger, Mere brother ki dulhan, Teri meri Kahani, Action reply.

Parmeet Sethi

Parmeet received his first acclaim in "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (1995), in which he played the character of Kuljeet, an arrogant alpha male betrothed to the heroine Simran (Kajol) who competes with Raj the protagonist played by Shahrukh Khan.

He later starred in critically acclaimed Punjabi and Hindi films. He shot to fame in his TV career when he was chosen for the main lead in the widely watched Dubai-based TV serial called Dastaan shot in the mid-90s. In 2010, he tried his first directorial venture, Yash Raj's Badmaash Company which was a commercial success. He has also directed the Indian sitcom television series Sumit Sambhal Lega along with Deven Bhojani and Shashant Shah.

Nameeta Premkumar

Nameeta has run a production house for over 15 years and has made content across platforms. Having studied films in New York and Harvard Film Academy, she is a Post Graduate in media studies. A guest lecturer in XIC and SCM (Mumbai), she also is a creative producer and director with the Tropenmuseum in Netherlands. Her passion project, Filmbug started two years ago where she teaches filmmaking with a purpose for social change to children who lack the opportunity and are extremely marginalised. The project has received remarkable success. She is also a producer of the period crime thriller Dariba Diaries (epic channel & Netflix) and acclaimed film 404.

Sudarshan Juyal

Sudarshan joined National School of Drama in 1983 and after graduating in 1986 from NSD, formed a group called Ensemble 86 with whom he designed and directed more than 20 plays. Sudarshan joined FTII, Pune in a film direction course and completed the course in Cinema in 1992. He has worked with Shekhar Kapur as an assistant director for more than 3 years. He has written and directed many television programs and later joined Sahara One as Senior Commissioning editor. He has edited many significant movies of recent times and is most celebrated in his field of editing.

Vivek Rangachari

Vivek Rangachari, Founder & Director, DAR Films

Vivek is the Business head at DAR Investments and Producer on DAR Motion Picture Films. He has over 15 years of experience, across India & the Middle East and has worked in blue-chip Investment & Consulting companies including as a senior system architect at Tata Consultancy Services and as an investment analyst at Abu Dhabi Investment House. He has been the producer on: D-Day, critically acclaimed and successful films like ‘The Lunchbox’, Ugly (Cannes 2013, Director’s Fortnight), Fattack, Baji, Haunted 3D, Mickey Virus, Lalbaug Parel, City of Gold.

Neeraj Sachdeva

A journey that began as a production assistant to a creative director-producer today, Neeraj has diverse experience with digital platforms, broadcasters and production houses where he has gained 360 degrees television experience in the business of storytelling. With 19+ years of experience, Neeraj brings the combination of creative strategy, storytelling, execution and operations on any project.

Mayank Prakash Srivastava

A new generation Filmmaker, Mayank Prakash Srivastava believes in the power of cinema. This realization helped him started his journey 20 years ago, after doing his M.Sc., in Mass Communications with specialization in Electronic Media. He started off with creative advertising, then Tele Serials, Documentaries and finally to Feature Films. His first film was “Kala Sach-The Black Truth”, world’s first movie on witch-hunting, where for the first time, urban India got to know about annual brutal killing of 700 - 800 women in India, got recognition in many International film festivals. His second movie “Love Hackers” is based on a real story and is an investigative crime thriller on cyber-crime. His third movie is a biopic on Atal Bihari Vajpayee titled “Yugpurush Atal” and the fourth one is a fun filled family entertainer in Marathi. Apart from being a film Director, he is well versed in Editing, VFX, Graphics-Motion & Designing.