Aamir Khan To Be The Chief Guest At The 5th Indian Screenwriters Conference

Actor-producer-director Aamir Khan will be the Chief Guest at the 5th edition of the Indian Screenwriters Conference (ISC), the much-awaited biennial event organized by the Screenwriters Association.

The reputed journalist and Padma Shri awardee Vinod Dua will deliver the Keynote Address at the Inaugural day of the conference which will be held from August 1- 3, 2018 at the St. Andrew's Auditorium, Bandra.

The theme of the conference this year 'Where Mind Is Without Fear' is focusing on the challenges facing Indian Screenwriters today.

The conference is expected to see a large number of screenwriters and established professionals from the film and TV industries, as well as the digital media. It will also provide a platform for networking to all its participants.

Stimulating discussions and insightful sessions await the participants at 5ISC, with panelists and speakers who're amongst the most respected and knowledgeable professionals from the entertainment and media industry.

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Some of the interesting panels are:

WRITERS Vs. PRODUCERS: CAN THEY NEVER BE ALLIES?

Panelists include Siddharth Roy Kapur, Akshat Verma, Somen Mishra, Amit Masurkar. Moderated by Anjum Rajabali

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WRITING WITHOUT FEAR - IS A WRITER'S MIND FREE OF FEARS?

Panelists include Basharat Peer (writer of Haider, has also published two books, works as an Editor for The New York Times in Istanbul), Prof Rashmi Doraiswamy - Rashmi is a professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, renowned for her expertise in culture, cinema and literature, Rima Das (Village Rockstars) and Pooja Ladha Surti (Ek Haseena Thi, Badlapur). Moderated by Mayank Tewari (Newton and Sulemani Keeda)

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WEB OF DIGITAL WRITING: FEARLESS OR FRIVOLOUS

Panelists include Sumeet Vyas (writer Bang Baja Baraat, Tripling and Love Square Feet. Also, an actor, who brought 'cool' to the Internet), Sameer Saxena (Head of Development at The Viral Fever), Jyoti Kapoor Das (Former Creative head of Big Synergy, writer- directed Chutney, a short film with 121 million views on youtube), Dhruv Sehgal (written Little Things, a charming web series that made him an instant star on the interwebs) and Smita Singh (one of the three writers behind the Netflix's first Indian Original series 'Sacred Games. Moderated by Mayank Shekhar

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HAS THE DAILY SOAP FORMAT REACHED ITS DEAD END?

Panelists include Yubaraj Bhattacharya (a rare creative force within the broadcasting fraternity who successfully launched the regional Star Jalsha, headed programming at Hindi GEC Life Ok, and is now with Zee TV as the commissioning lead), Rajan Shahi, Director and producer of the longest running Indian Television Series Yeh Rishta Kya Kahlata Hai, Shanti Bhushan (Writer of successful shows like Mann ki Awaaz Pratigya, Ishq ka Rang Safed and Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya hi Kijo), Sharad Raj: An FTII alumnus who has worked on Kumkum, Rihaee, Siddhant, Dil Mil Gaye. Former Head of Programming at Sahara TV)

Moderated by Zama Habib (SWA General Secretary)

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SOUTHERN WAVES

Panelists include Vetri Maaran (writer and director of critically acclaimed films like Visaranai and Aadukalam), Pushkar AKS and Gayathri Sivasubramaniam (Writer and director of Vikram Vedha) and Vikram K. Kumar (Writer and director of Manam, Hello and 24). Moderated by Shridhar Raghavan

Panel of lyricists Swanand Kirkire, Abhiruchi Chand, Shellee and Kausar Munir moderated by Varun Grover

The three-day conference will be attended by the eminent journalist and Padma Shri awardee Vinod Dua; new-age filmmakers like Amit Masurkar (Newton, Sulemani Keeda), Vetri Maaran (Visaranai and Aadukalam) Rima Das (Village Rockstars) and Ravi Jadhav (Nude) ; Screenwriters like Mayank Tewari, Varun Grover, Basharat Peer and Akshat Verma, Anjum Rajabali and Shridhar Raghavan ; Producers like Sidharth Roy Kapoor; lyricists like Swanand Kirkire, Content Development heads like Somen Mishra (Head Of Development, Dharma Productions), Nikhil Sane is the Business head of Viacom 18 (Marathi Film Division) and Sameer Saxena ( Head of Development at The Viral Fever), TV writers like Vinod Ranganath ( Swabhimaan, Mere Angane Mein, Sea Hawks), Purnendu Shekhar (Astitva, Saat Phere, Balika Vadhu) and Gul Khan (Geet, Is Pyar ko Kya Naam Dun, Qubool Hai, Ishqbaaz), Zama Habib (Bidaai, Saas Bina Sasural, Sasural Genda Phool); Digital stars like Sumeet Vyas(Actor, writer of Bang Baja Baraat,Tripling), Jyoti Kapoor Das (wrote and directed Chutney, a short film with 121 million views on youtube) Dhruv Sehgal (writer of a charming web series Little Things) among many others.

Talking about the conference, Sanjay Chouhan - Conference Convenor says: "This conference is gathering of not only screenwriters but also directors, producers, tv heads, academicians and creative minds. As participant's knowledge and insight I got from previous screenwriter's conference was immense. We want to enhance it further with this conference. We want to bring people related to screen under one umbrella to share their experience, knowledge, mistakes, brickbats. trolls, rewards and achievement. Alone we may not be able to do anything but together we can sing 'where the mind is without fear."

The Indian Screenwriters Conference was started with the idea of addressing issues concerning Indian screenwriters and lyricists, while also encouraging a dialogue on the surrounding social realities, within and outside the film and TV industries.

The first Indian Screenwriters Conference, held at FTII, Pune, in August 2006, was attended by 275 writers. The second, at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, next to Film City, Mumbai, in December 2008; saw 575 screenwriters and writer-directors attending it. 3ISC at St. Andrew's Auditorium, Bandra, in February 2013, had the participation of 700 screenwriters. 4ISC, held in August 2016, was the biggest with over 900 screenwriters and industry professionals attending it.

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