Pravin Mishra (born 1975) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

filmmaker, painter, and newspaper columnist based in the city of

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

Western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union te ...

. His animated short film "Dharamveer" won the national critics award at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) in 2004. In the wake of the 2018

MeToo movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in ...

, journalist Surabhi Vaya accused Mishra of

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

. At that time, Mishra headed a course at

MICA Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

, a business school in Ahmedabad. In 2019, Mishra filed a defamation case worth Rs. 10

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

against Vaya. He has since left his position at MICA and currently serves as the Dean at School of Design at VijayBhoomi University in

Greater Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Background and education

He was born the youngest of six siblings in

Murshidabad Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district. During ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

in India. He painted number-plates of vehicles and billboards during his school days. He obtained a bachelor's degree from the

Government College of Art & Craft The Government College of Art & Craft (GCAC) in Kolkata is one of the oldest Art colleges in India. It was founded on August 16, 1854 at Garanhata, Chitpur, "with the purpose of establishing an institution for teaching the youth of all classes ...

at the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

and later received a post-graduate degree in Animation Film Design from the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad.

Films

His first film was an animated short called Dharamveer, which addressed the issue of communal violence against the backdrop of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

in 2002. This film was his diploma project at NID. His next film Azadnagar & Gulamnagar, about bonded laborers in India, won the best short film at the Ahmedabad International Film Festival. He also directed the music video for Indian

ghazal The ''ghazal'' ( ar, غَزَل, bn, গজল, Hindi-Urdu: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a ...

singer Jagjit Singh's song "Ye Kaisi Aazadi Hai," which is about the right to social security in India. His film The Killing Fields of Gujarat is about the politics of fake police encounters in the state of Gujarat.

Art exhibits

His solo exhibitions were held at the Hutheesing Visual Art Centre in Ahmedabad., Visual Art Gallery in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

and Epicentre in Gurugram. In 2010, CNN-IBN profiled him in its series on vision for India 2020. Along with a group of his students he created a mural on a wall in Ahmedabad depicting the city's diversity. He conducts art workshops in design schools across India. Pravin was an Associate Professor and Director of the Crafting Creative Communication (CCC) program at MICA, Ahmedabad.

Politics

In 2007, he ran for the position of Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in Gujarat from Maninagar against the incumbent

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

Writing

Pravin was a weekly columnist for the Ahmedabad Mirror from June 2010 to October 2014. He has written for

the Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

, The Quint and

ThePrint The Print is an Indian online newspaper, owned by Printline Media Pvt Ltd. It was launched by journalist Shekhar Gupta in August 2017. History Printline Media Pvt. Ltd, founded by journalist Shekhar Gupta, was incorporated in New Delhi, India ...

References

External links

*Dharamveer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT9tQE-Qb4Q *Ye kaisi Aazad Hai: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/filmedia/play/2100/Ye-Kaisi-Aazadi-Hai- {{DEFAULTSORT:Mishra, Pravin 1975 births Living people Indian filmmakers Indian male painters Indian male journalists Government College of Art & Craft alumni University of Calcutta alumni National Institute of Design alumni Painters from West Bengal