Category: News

History in the international field of culture was created during the visit of Israeli theatre personality Madam Etty Resnik to the Asian Academy of Film & Television accompanied by Mrs. Shoshana Haim of the Embassy of Israel when it was decided after their meeting with the director of the academy Prof. Sandeep Marwah, to form Indo-Israeli cultural forum for forging closer bonds between the peoples of there two nations. Later addressing the students, Madam Shoshana Haim who is heading the cultural affairs department of her embassy, explained the evolution and the trends of Israeli cinema. She invited the students to participate in the film festival organized by the film school in Jerusalem. Madame Etty Resnik who is herself a coach at an Acting School, told the students that one has to indeed work very hard after learning the art & craft of theatre, film & television to survive in the trade. She went on to add that the performing artiste should never stop reading the heart and the mind of the people to excel in their work. She talked at length about the state of theatre in her country and lamented that world over there is no money in this field of performing art. She pointed out that a true artiste always feels like and hopes to improve over his or her performance. Etty Resnik ended her address by mentioning that the theatre provided the artistes with an immediate response to one’s performance and that she is into theatre by choice as this is her first love.

Talking to the hon’ble former Prime Minister of India Mr. V.P. Singh during his recent visit to the Noida Film City, Prof. Sandeep Marwah explained to him the pioneering work being done by the Asian Academy of Film & Television in the field of media education and training. Prof. Marwah also mentioned him that this institution has just completed seven years of its existence. The distinguished visitor was informed that this institution has established more than one world record and it has helped the nation avoid wasteful expenditure to the tune of thirty five crores. Prof. Sandeep Marwah submitted to the honourable former Prime Minister that institutions like Film Y Television Institute of India Pune, Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute Calcutta and Mass Communication Research Centre Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi being funded by the Central Government, are indeed white elephants and their contribution to nation building is debatable. Mr. V.P. Singh took keen interest in the education and training opportunity offered by this premier institution of its kind in the private sector and he complimented Prof. Sandeep Marwah and his team for rendering yeoman service to the nation. He was greatly impressed by the long list of most distinguished film & television professionals like former directors general of doordarshan, film stars like Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Satish Kaushik, and directors like Subhash Ghai, Vinay Shukla and Subhash Sagar and international film personalities like Gila Almagor of Isreal and Erma Fatima of Malaysia, associated with this institution. He was very happy to know about high success rate of AAFT alumni thus indicating the approval of the training being imparted at the academy, by the industry. Asian Academy of Film & Television has been continuously and successfully functioning since 1993 and has been attracting student from all parts of India as well as African, Asian & European countries as well as from the USA.

Septuagenarian eminent broadcaster, the first executive producer and formerly director general of doordarshan Mr. Shailendra Shankar was the chief guest of the function organised to bid farewell to the electronic media trainees of the twenty-seventh batch of Asian Academy of Film & Television. In his thought provoking address Mr. Shanker called upon the outgoing trainees to try and build a modern, happy and prosperous society through their work. He advised them to do responsive and responsible television programming using their creatively. Earlier welcoming the distinguished guests, the director of the academy Prof. Sandeep Marwah mentioned that this institution has helped the nation avoid wasteful expenditure of at least Rs. 35 crores (8 million US $) bysystematically training nearly 1600 men and women over a period of seven years in a cost-effective manner. He further added that the dream of the founders of AAFT to make it a truly international institute has been realised by the sincerity, dedication and hardwork of its management and the faculty members. Prof. Sandeep Marwah reiterated his commitment to maintaining excellence in film and television training. The distinguished I.T.expert from the USA, Mr. Matthew Lewis who was the guest of honour of the function, said that currently television industry is the fastest growing industry in the world. He expressed his hope that with the availability of English knowing, properly trained and, technically competent professionals, foreign film and television producers will like to do their work in India. He assured the audience that Asian Academy of Film & Television is undoubtedly one of the fines film schools in the world. Colonel N. S. Behl, Chairman, Harmony Trust – a voluntary organisation set up to provide support to those affected by militancy – said that the acid test of the acquired knowledge is to put it to effective use. He advised the outgoing trainees to be ever modest, self-respecting and self-reliant. Colonel Behl cautioned them against mindlessly copying others work and asked them to be innovative and to develop a style and class of their own. Four outgoing trainees were awarded Master Diploma in Visual Communication at this function. Prof. Harsh Vardhan, Course Director, announced that the twenty eighth session of AAFT will commence from 3rd July 2000.

Addressing the large gathering at Asian Academy of Film & Television, the former union minister of information and broadcasting Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the long awaited decision to grant ‘industry status’ to film making taken during his tenure, was a step towards lending respectability to professionals engaged in this work. He hoped that this step had been helpful in freeing the film professionals from the clutches of the dreaded underworld as well as in encouraging production of responsive and responsible films. The distinguished guest reminded the students that proliferation of satellite television channels offer unlimited opportunity to film and television professionals to unfold their full potentials for self-expression. He promised all possible help and support to AAFT alumni in their work. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also complimented the management and the faculty of AAFT for doing excellent work in the field of media education and training without any financial support from the government. Earlier welcoming the distinguished guests on the occasion of ongoing celebration of seven years of the functioning of the AAFT the director Prof. Sandeep Marwah requested the honourable former minister to continue to patronise the institute. Veteran journalist Ratnottama Sengupta who was also present on this occasion likened the mass media to ‘horse’ and opined that it always needs to be ‘reined in’. She said that the film industry all over the world will immensely benefit from the large number of talented and creative people amongst the billion strong Indians. She said that Shekhar Kapoor and Shyamalan should inspire Indian film professionals to make meaningful contribution to the world-cinema.

WE HAVE TO LIVE HERE, DIE HERE AND THERE IS NO WORLD OUTSIDE THIS – SUCH SHOULD BE THE PASSION FOR FILMMAKING
art critic and film journalist B. B. Nagpal & Sandeep marwahMaking an intensely emotional presentation the well-known art critic and film journalist B. B. Nagpal, appealed to the students of Asian Academy of Film & Television to revitalise the Indian film industry. Reeling off statistics, he said nearly six lakhs people are engaged – directly or indirectly – in the film industry in which more than 30,000 crores rupees have been invested. He said that number of films produced in the country is steadily declining after peaking to 912 in 1985. He lamented that only 764 films in 19 languages were produced in 1999. The students visibly pleased to learn from the speaker that Indian cinema is in the Guinness Book of World Records for a number reasons including highest annual production of films; highest number of silver jubilees in a row by a single film maker (Dada Kondke) in the same language and genre and; highest number of songs sung be any single singer (Lata Mangeshkar) etc. He proudly recalled that India had given to the world master craftsman of cinema Satyajit Ray and master showman Raj Kapoor who endeared cinema lovers all over the world. He said that the Indian film industry has been adversely affected due to rampant video piracy and illogical entertainment taxation which varies from 40% to 150% of the cost of the ticket. B. B. Nagpal concluded his presentation by remarking that in terms of money filmmaking is often a losing proposition and it is the passion for film making which keeps this industry going. Earlier welcoming the distinguished guests at the function organised as a part of ongoing celebration of seven years of the functioning of AAFT, Prof. Sandeep Marwah said that the institute aims at helping the students through systematic training to unfold their full potentials for self expression. Speaking on this occasion the renowned legal luminary Wasi Ahmad Nomani asked the students to use this powerful medium of mass communication with utmost care and to bear in mind that power corrupts and the absolute power corrupts absolutely. He said that keys to success are setting a clear-cut goal in life; sincere and hard work for achieving the goal and; a strong will to succeed. Reminding the students that public money is being spent to train them, he said that it is their duty to use their training for the good of the public. Wasi Ahmad Nomani ended his address with the fervent hope that AAFT alumni would always prove to be nothing but the very best professionals in their field of work.

Addressing the students of Asian Academy of Film & Television during a brief interval in the shooting engagement at Marwah Studios, film city, the rising star of Indian films Fardeen Khan, said that an actor is great because of his individuality and talent. He further added that the actor has to combine his talent with the techniques of commanding the voice and speech, using the body language and how to think about bringing these things together. He said that good performance is indeed the result of hardwork for acquiring and developing acting skills through systematic training and that almost all modern day actors are trained. Students were mesmerised and greatly impressed by his charming personality and they gave him a big hand when replaying to the question as to what he values most in life, Fardeen Khan remarked “Love”.

Bollywood actress Tabu was sometime back invited by Sandeep Marwah, Director, Asian Academy of Films & Television, to have a look at the training course being conducted by this institute. The beautiful actress took special interest in the training of actors and made valuable suggestions in this regard. She was pleased to learn that due emphasis is being laid on the development of skills in voice, speech and language during the training of the actors. She was greatly impressed by the training facilities available at the
Sandeep Marwah & Tabu
institute and hoped that it will continue to attract overseas students in ever increasing number. The talented actress told Sandeep Marwah that she is always willing to accept any acting role-be it big or small and take it seriously. Tabu promised to continue to extend her patronage to Asian Academy of Film & Television.

The renowned film producer and director Ram Gopal Verma who is known for his successful Hindi movies”Rangeela” and “Jungle” was recently invited by Prof. Sandeep Marwah to visit Asian Academy of Film & Television. Speaking to the students of the academy on this occasion, the techniques should be harnessed for generating images and sound through which the filmmaker intends to touch the heart and move the soul of the viewers. But the tools and the techniques must not affect the artistic expression of the creative mind. He advised the would be filmmakers to keep experimenting with the style of story telling with images and sound as this is the only way to sustain film making.

The Renowned actor Faroukh Sheikh who is playing the lead role in NDTV’s Hindi Version of BBC’s popular serial “Yes Minister” was in Marwah Studios, Noida, for the recordings. The talented actor agreed to find time form his busy recording schedule to answer the questions from the students of Asian Academy of Film & Television located within Marwah Studios Complex. Farukh Sheikh told the students that at the core of acting talent is the ability to see and understand people from their point of view.
Faroukh Sheikh
He stated that actor has to enter into another’s personality and imaginatively recreate his feelings, wants and experiences in order to bring that character to life. He further added that acting talent can be expressed only acquiring technique and learning the acting skills. Faroukh Sheikh strongly advocated systematic training for learning the art of acting.