Somewhere in the middle of producing Avyaan, a journalist asked me a question I havebeen turning over ever since: “As a businessman, what right do you have to make a filmabout Indian spirituality and culture?” It was not asked unkindly. It was a fair question, and I think it deserves a…
A few months into producing Avyaan, one of our younger crew members asked me, half-joking, how a textiles-and-jewelry businessman ends up making creative calls on a film set. I laughed because I had asked myself some version of that question many times.But the longer I sat with it, the more I…
A few months ago, I found myself on stage at a We-Women Network event in Bangkok,organised in collaboration with BangkokScoop, sitting alongside leaders from acrossindustries for a global panel on equality and inclusion. The evening was not built aroundfilm. It was built around women’s leadership, philanthropy, and the kind of dialogue…
On the morning of November 18, 2024, I stood on the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi as Pandit Sourav Banerjee guided us through the opening puja ceremony for Avyaan. The fire was lit. Themantras were spoken. The river moved, as it always does, indifferent to everything except thepermanence of its…
People who have known me as a businessman for many years sometimes raise an eyebrow whenthey hear I am now producing films. I understand that reaction. For most of my adult life, myworld has been trade, commerce, and community work — not film sets. And yet, looking back atthe road from…