Faculty

Dean,Prof: Direction & Screenplay Writing

Formally trained in philosophy at the Madras Christian College, with a M. Phil research degree in the philosophy of language, Venkatesh Chakravarthy branched out into the field of filmmaking after a short teaching stint at his alma mater. Gaining sufficient experience as a production executive in Bollywood and as an assistant director & co-script writer in Tamil and Malayalam cinema, he joined the Department of Direction & Screenplay Writing, Film & Television Institute of Tamilnadu, as a member of its faculty.Five years later, after contributing his part to the design of the first Bachelor’s Degree Course on Visual Communication in the region at Loyola College, Madras, he entered the realm of television production.He has about 90-hours of edited length in terms of high quality television programming to his credit. The most significant being the several episodes he scripted, directed and edited for the highly successful primetime Hindi serial Sangursh on the National Network of Doordharshan (before the advent of Satellite Television) and the first Mega Serial in Tamil Paramapadham consisting of 150-episodes, produced by UTV, Bombay. Read More

Prof: Cinematography

U.R. Nallu Swami a graduate in cinematography, from the Film & Television Institute, Taramani, Chennai has an experience of over three decades, behind the camera. He bagged the state award of Best Cinematographer, for his very first feature film Aval Appadithaan [1978], directed by Rudraiyya, starring Kamal Hasan, Rajinikant, and Sripriya.

Besides being the camera person for several feature films, short films, documentaries and television shows for the Doordharshan, he has been a professor, teaching camera in the Department of Visual Communication, at DG Vaishnov College and Madras Christian College, Chennai for many years.Read More

Asst Prof: Film Dramaturgy

Pritham K Chakravarthy is an independent researcher, playwright, director, performer, film critic and activist from Chennai. She graduated Bachelor of Commerce from Madras Christian College, Tambaram.

She has extensive experience in the theatre. Her recent performances include: Meendum Meendum, Surya Mukam and her own solo piece about aravanis: Nirvanam. (2000-04) The script and the performance by Pritham Chakravarthy was evolved after six months of research and recorded interviews with members of the hijra community. This production has toured India, the USA under a Fulbright Fellowship and 2002 Edinburgh International Festival. Pritham Chakravarthy appeared in Mirror – at Pragirthi Foundation, a solo one woman narrative written by Venkatesh Chakravarthy (2003) ; Vellavi – at The Other Festival (2003), and many other parts in Tamil productions over the past 25 years. She is presently working on Orientations, a theatre production by Border Crossings, which opened in London in October 2003, and is due to tour the UK and India in 2004-05.

Her research experience includes a year as Research Associate, Reproductive Rights in early 20th Century, Director, Dr Sarah Hodges, Warwick University, UK (2003-04); Research Associate, Politics of Temple Entry, Director, Dr. Anupama Rao, Barnard College, Columbia University (2003); Research Associate for ‘Continuing Unity – Nation and State’ , Directors Milton Israel and Dipankar Gupta; University of Toronto (2000- 2002)

For the Media South Asia Project she conducted surveys and interviews on responses to the satellite media in Tamilnadu.Read More

Asst Prof: Film Art

Rajkumar Roy is a graduate in Political Science from St Xavier’s College, Calcutta. He pursued cinema, and obtained a three year diploma in Film Direction and Screenplay Writing, from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

After the initial years of assisting in feature films in Mumbai, he shifted base to Chennai, where he set up a Production house for advertising films. For six years he directed numerous Ad films and corporate documentaries, for leading clients and agencies. Subsequently, he closed shop, and travelled through the Gangetic plains of UP and Bihar, making Documentaries on the folk music of Bhojpur.

He has since been involved with many aspects of films, such as film production, television consultancy, script collaboration, and music videos.

Rajkumar Roy seeks to nurture creativity in Cinema. Read More