Mumbai, India, March 27, 2009: Students of Whistling Woods International will be part of a Bollywood music video by American filmmaker Ben Rekhi who is currently in India. The direction of the music video will happen at the TV Studio, Whistling Woods International, Film City, Goregaon (E) on March 29 and 30. Rekhi is working closely with students to produce the video in a collaboration that he hopes gives experience to the next generation of filmmakers by inviting them to work on a professional piece.
Says Mr. John Lee, Dean, Whistling Woods International, ''Whistling Woods International students most often work on real life projects as we follow the practical training methodology that helps the students learn under the watchful eyes of professionals in the industry. An opportunity to work on music video like this will help them tremendously."
"Institutions like WWI provide the template for the future of our industry. It is in everyone's best interest to bring students on to projects that will only further prepare them for the real world experiences they will have upon graduation'', says Ben Rekhi, the twenty-nine year old filmmaker who trained at the NYU School of Film & Television.
The song is composed by an independent NRI artist Amitesh Mishra from the US. The music is set to 60s and 70s retro music and has big band performance and puppets. Adam Ayan a Grammy winning sound mixer and a high profile American rapper Raashan Ahmad are also associated with this song.
The highlight of the music video is that it will be based on puppets. India's most renowned puppeteer, Ramdas Pandhye, who's work has amazed millions on India's national broadcaster, Doordashan, for over 40 years, will do the puppeteer work. Prominent crew members will include Rohit Khaitan, line producer of Dev D, Aditya- an art director from Luck by Chance, Mansi Aggarwal- the choreographer from Gulaal, and Vishal Sinha-RGV's DOP from Bhoot.
Rekhi has been in India since August, first directing a project for producer Bobby Bedi and then getting his own feature film off the ground based on the best selling book "Keep off the Grass" by debut novelist Karan Bajaj. Rekhi is most known for his American feature film WATERBORNE with Shabana Azmi, as well as his two other features that he produced and distributed in the US
About Whistling Woods International
Promoted by Subhash Ghai, Mukta Arts Ltd & Film City, Mumbai, Whistling Woods International (WWI) is Asia's largest Film, Television, Animation and Media Arts institute. WWI provides world-class education in all technical and creative aspects of filmmaking and television through 2-year, full-time residential programs in 8 specializations namely Acting, Animation, Producing, Cinematography, Direction, Editing, Screenwriting & Sound.
The full-time faculty of WWI is a body of academics and industry professionals (like Subhash Ghai, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajen Kothari, Anjum Rajabali,Samar Khan etc), with regular guest lectures by leading film-makers, actors & technicians (like Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, Vishal Bharadwaj, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Ashok Amritraj, Shyam Benegal, Madhuri Dixit, Govind Nihalani, Farah Khan, Makarand Deshpande, Farhan Akhtar, Neeta Lulla, Rajkumar Hirani, Nagesh Kukunoor, etc).
WWI has initiated affiliations with several international film schools like the Griffith University, Australia, Seneca, Canada, The Norwegian Film Institute, Bradford College & Deakin University, Australia. WWI is also in advanced talks with several top-tier film-schools from the USA, UK & Canada, with finalized agreements with these schools expected shortly.
All in all, WWI strongly marches towards becoming THE place for media education in Asia, if not the world. For more information, please visit www.whistlingwoods.net. |
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