Mumbai: Showman Subhash Ghai launched the first batch of his film school, Whistling Woods International at a lavish ceremony held at Film City, Mumbai.
Dignitaries gracing the occasion from the film fraternity were Chief Guest Dilip Kumar accompanied by wife Saira Banu, Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Karan Johar, Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna, Jeetendra, Tusshar Kapoor, Zeenat Aman, Naseeruddin Shah along with wife Ratna Pathak Shah, Om Puri, Shabana Azmi, Kirron Kher, Randhir Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Nagesh Kukunoor, Kunal Dasgupta. Amongst the politicians present were Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Suresh Kalmadi, Aviation Minister Praful Patel. Industrialist Anand Mahindra along with wife Anuradha Mahindra and India Today Group Managing Director Aroon Poorie along with daughter actress Koel and wife Rekha Poorie were also present at this mega event.
Talking about his long cherished dream fulfilling finally, Subhash Ghai tells us, “Finally it has happened. This is my gift for the film industry for what I have received over the last 27 years here. This state of the art film school will be acting as a stepping stone for anyone wanting to have a career in films. We have designed it in the best possible way to match the world standards.”
Dean of the institute, Kurt Inderbutzin, a producer-director from Los Angeles lauding Ghai’s efforts says, “I don’t want to appreciate just the vision of Subhash Ghai. All of us have a vision, but very few amongst us have got what it takes to transform this vision into reality. Subhash Ghai is one of those who know how to convert his vision into reality.”
When querried what shall be setting this film school apart from other film schools of the world, Subhash Ghai replies, “The strong academic and management team with Heads of Departments such as Shyam Benegal (Chairman Academic Council), Aruna Raje Patil (Vice President, Academic Affair), Naseeruddin Shah (Acting), Arjun Rajabali (Screenwriting), Rakesh Ranjan (Sound design), Rajan Kothari (Cinematography), Umesh Gupta (Editing) and Ashish Kulkarni (Animation) is assuring in itself to make Whistling woods International one of the best film schools in the world”.
The event that began with a lamp litting ceremony by Chief Guest Dilip Kumar and badshah of bollywood Shahrukh Khan ended with a soulful flute rendition by flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia.
Based in Film City, Goregaon, Mumbai and promoted by Ghai’s Mukta Arts Ltd and Filmcity, Whistling Woods International aims to provide world class training across all technical and creative aspects of filmmaking, television, animation & other media arts as a part of their two year intensive hands on training program. The institute also has international affiliations with Seneca College, Canada and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, in addition to technology partnership with Apple Corp. Sony, Digidesign, AMD, NVIDIA amongst several other reputed companies.
