Filmmaker Govind Nihalani Part-VII
By kamla bhatt • Aug 18th, 2006Category: Bangalore, Bollywood, Entertainment, India, Mumbai, People
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In Part-VII of our conversation cinematographer, director and producer Govind Nihalani talks about Ardh Satya, VK Murthy, Shyam Benegal and the current state of Hindi films.
We pick up our narrative thread from Part-VI, where Mr. Nihalani spoke about his professional career and his association with two well-known film makers: Shyam Benegal and Sir Richard Attenborough.
In this episode Mr. Nihalani talks Ardh Satya in greater detail and discusses how he came to choose the subject for the film, and how they decided to cast Om Puri as the central character in the film.
Mr. Nihalani also talks about people who influenced and helped him and that includes a small clutch of people like Mr. VK Murthy, cinematographer for Guru Dutt’s films; film maker Mr. Shyam Benegal, Mr. Satyadev Dubey and Mr. Manmohan Shetty of AdLabs.
Mr. Nihalani is a well-known cinematographer, director and producer. Mr. Nihalani has an impressive list of films (feature and TV) to his credentials right from Ankur and Gandhi to Tamas to Thakshak.
Mr. Nihalani grew up in Udaipur, Rajasthan, and after completing his high school enrolled in a film school in Bangalore about 45 years ago. Films left a deep impact on him when he was growing up in Udaipur. He was allowed to see only mythological films and the dramatic story-lines of these films had him captivated. The rest, as they say, is history.
Mr. Nihalani currently lives and works in Mumbai.
Mr.Nihalani’s Filmography: (This is a brief list.)
Kamla Bhatt is the host and producer of an Internet Radio show where listeners can find stories about the new and emerging India and the global Indian community. As a pioneer of 'internet radio' format in India Kamla started her first show News about India, followed by TalkNewsIndia in 2005. In 2006 she premiered her new show: The Kamla Bhatt Show: Life, People and Ideas. 
[...] I met with Mr. Murthy at his home in Bangalore and spent a wonderful afternoon talking about his films and Guru Dutt and the Hindi film industry. Mr. Govind Nihalani considers Mr. Murthy as his mentor and spent his initial years working with Murthy saab as he is fondly known by others. [...]