Special News Feature: Lord Puttnam Visits ‘Whistling Woods International’ in Mumbai

Lord Puttnam, the Chancellor of the University of Sunderland and the producer of many popular Hollywood flicks, recently visited ready-to-start Mukta Arts’ state of the art film & television institute ‘Whistling Woods International’. During his visit, he expressed his joys of seeing the modernly equipped with sophisticated facilities institute. Mr. Puttnam is also the premium patron of Whistling Woods International (WWI) along with Lord Bhiku Parekh, Kanwal Rekhi and Parminder Vir respectively. Showman Subash Ghai (the explorer of talents and the man behind Mukta Arts Ltd. and Whistling woods Int), Ravi Gupta (CEO Mukta Arts Ltd.), Satish Kaushik (renowned filmmaker), Om Puri (veteran actor), Meghna Ghai (Director Business Development Mukta Arts Ltd.) and the eminent personalities from British Council India have also attended this occasion.

Being one of the leading film producers in the world, Lord Puttnam is laced with the rich experience of 30 years of film production business. Expressing his views on the institute, Puttnam said, “Whistling Woods International is an institute of international standards and can compete with any reputed film school around the world since it is equipped with the advanced technology, state of the art facilities, rich syllabus and trained faculty. I have visited 50 film schools across the globe but WWI is amongst the best, I have ever seen”. Further he added that “Mukta Arts took the initiative at the right time to open up a film institute in India since Bollywood is growing rapidly and the need to sharpen the edges of the talents is very essential at this point of time and I am very happy that it has been constructed in the heart of film city.

Lord Puttnam has produced the blockbusters like ‘Midnight Express, Chariots of Fire (which won the Academy Award for Best Picture), Local Hero, The Killing Fields, The Mission, and Memphis Belle. He was also the only American to hold the position of chairman and chief operating officer of Columbia Pictures (the post he held between 1986 – 88). He has also the honor of introducing the celebrated directors like Alan Parker, Ridley Scott, and Hugh Hudson to the film industry. Puttnam has also stated a production company ‘Enigma’. Under this banner, he produces the films for the international market.

This massive project (WWI) began in the year 2000 and now it is almost complete. The admission process has started functioning and the school would start rolling on in January 2006. This biggest school in South East Asia would cover all subjects from direction, cinematography, editing, production, sound recording, screenwriting, film analysis to screen studies.

Written By Goher Iqbal Punn (Bollywood Analyst)