Avid Spectrum Kalaghoda Festival

Vikram Bawa is an internationally acclaimed, renowned fashion and landscape photographer from India. Rightly called as "Master of Gimmicks" in the world of fashion photography, he is probably the first photographer from the Asian sub-continent to venture into three-dimensional photography. Always striving to experiment, he adds that element of novelty even to ordinary pictures. He considers himself more of an art photographer than a commercial photographer. He loves landscapes, which is evident even in his routine photographs, which have a "landscape look" to them. Before he ventured into photography, Bawa completed his graduation in mathematics; then went on to study law, and ran a chemical factory for nearly eight years. His real passion has always been photography, which he wanted to pursue since his college days. While managing his factory, he dabbled in photography. Quite a bit of research and reading has gone into his preparation as a photographer. At one point, he decided to quit everything, and focus only on photography. 

Dev Benegal's first feature English, August based on Upamanyu Chatterjee's comic masterpiece is a landmark in contemporary Indian Cinema. The film won several international awards and was amongst the first to break out of the mainstream mould of Bollywood, inspiring new genres in Indian film-making."

Rajeev Thakker holds a BA from Syracuse University and a MSAAD from GSAPP. He has worked for firms in New York such as S.O.M. and The Arnell Group on architecture, product and graphic design projects. He moved to Mumbai in 2000 to pursue a career in teaching and has lectured, hosted workshops, and led Architectural Design Studios at institutes like KRVIA and BSSA Schools of Architecture. He also runs a design studio for a leading developer and manages his own practice called ‘a-RT’ which provides consultancy and design services for architectural and interior projects and takes a keen interest in documenting the city and various spatial conditions through cartographic, architectural and other creative processes (i.e. drawing, painting, and photography).

Rohan Sippy is an Indian film director who has directed many film to name the few Kuch Naa Kaho and Bluffmaster . He is the son of Ramesh Sippy, the director of the Hindi blockbuster film Sholay. Rohan studied at the Aiglon College in Switzerland and pursued his undergraduate degree at Stanford University.

Sidharth Bhatia has been a journalist for over 35 years, working both in India and abroad. He is a regular commentator in newspapers and on television on current affairs. He was an editor with DNA till December 2009. His book, Cinema Modern The Navketan Story has been released recently.

Amish Tripathi is an author from Mumbai, India. Tripathi holds a management degree from IIM, Kolkata. He worked in financial service industry for nearly 14 years before turning to writing.  Tripathi's debut work ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ was a surprise bestseller, breaking into the top seller charts within a week of its launch. The Immortals of Meluha was the first in the Shiva Trilogy. The trilogy is a fictionalized biography of the Indian deity Shiva. The second book in the trilogy The Secret of the Nagas was released on 12 August 2011. Described as the ‘Paulo Coelho of the East' by Business World and a ‘People's author like Jeffrey Archer' by The Telegraph, Amish's unique combination of crackling story-telling, religious symbolism and profound philosophies have made him an overnight publishing phenomenon. 

Ashwin Sanghi is an Indian author of thriller fiction, best known for his 2007 novel, The Rozabal Line, which earned him the moniker ‘India’s Dan Brown’. It was his runaway bestseller, Chanakya’s Chant, which won him the Vodafone-Crossword Popular Choice Award and an instant film deal with UTV. Ashwin Sanghi is currently working on a third, as-yet-untitled, thriller that is due in mid-2012.

Farzana Contractor, multi-talented, multi-spirited is a multi-tasker. She is a savvy and spirited woman who takes her publishing house seriously. She launched Afternoon in 1985, Upper Crust in 2000 and Dogs & More in 2011. She writes, edits, designs and shoots for her magazine. Yes, she is a photographer too.

Hemant Morparia holds a degree in medical Radiology from the University of Mumbai.  Drawing since 1987, his cartoons are published in Indian and international publications. The Times of India (1993/2002), Mid day (2002-2008), To Mumbai, To Delhi, Money life, New York times, Knalee) times, Toronto star and stitches. He has published two books: “Fanatics and their antics” and “Say aha!” (a book of cartoons dedicated to medical themes). He has also staged two individual exhibitions: at the sakshi gallery (Mumbai, 2002) and in NGMA Mumbai 2003.

Mehlli Gobhai trained as an artist at the Royal College of Art in London, the Art Students League and the Pratt Graphic Centre in New York. For twenty years after his studies, he lived and worked out of New York, which is significant in the sense that his work derives from sources then unexplored by most of his contemporaries who spent their time in Europe instead. Gobhai is what most people would call a classical abstractionist, but in his work we see many traditional artistic leanings.

Kiran Nagarkar, is an Indian novelist, playwright, film and drama critic and screenwriter both in Marathi and English, and is one of the most significant writers of postcolonial India. Amongst his most known works are Saat Sakkam Trechalis, Ravan and Eddie and the epic novel, Cuckold for which he was awarded the 2001 Sahitya Akademi Award in English by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.

Sumeet Nagdev is the youngest modern contemporary dancer. He has choreographed ad films with Deepika Padukone and Hrithik Roshan for the series of 'JUST Dance'. Apart from that he has 12 productions in India and has represented India at American Dance Festival last year and is a faculty at Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre. He constantly strives to spread the joy of dance with his company and dance creations. He quotes: “No movement is in sin. Believe in the light and illuminate the dancer within.”

Ameya Naik is a versatile music composer and percussionist. He specializes in world music, fusion music and Indian classical compositions along with western composition styles and plays various instruments like the tabla, dholak, darbuka and the keyboard among others.  He has his own studio and has worked on a Hollywood production ‘Coulda Woulda Shoulda’, an Indo-UK production ‘Emotionally Yours’ and has also composed music for the IPL series. He also conducted the musical program and the percussion delight for Essar on its 27th Founder’s Day and led the music session at The Kala Ghoda Festival for AVID Spectrum.

Anupam Kher Actor, director, educator and motivational speaker, Anupam Kher has now turned author with the launch of his book The Best Thing about You is…YOU!! Having overcome failure many times over, Kher has emerged as a sought-after speaker in business schools everywhere and pens his philosophy in his acclaimed book.

At various stages in his life, Anil Dharker has been an engineer on the academic staff of the University of Glasgow and a consultant in a Mumbai architectural firm, a film critic and censor, a promoter of New Cinema with the National Film Development Corporation and an editor, successively, of Mid-Day and Sunday Mid-Day, The Independent, and The Illustrated Weekly of India. He has since then, become one of India’s best known columnists, his columns having appeared in major publications like The Times of India, The Economic Times, The Hindu, DNA, Business World, The Financial Chronicle, Khaleej Times and Gulf News. He has also written for UK newspapers like The Independent, The Scotsman and The Glasgow Herald, and the prestigious US publication, Foreign Affairs.