Pravin Mishra (born 1975) is an Indian 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 ...

in Western India. 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 Overview Vijaybhoomi University is India's first Liberalism, liberal professional university, which aspires to offer relevant and quality education and engage in high-quality research in engineering, business, law, science, and liberal arts. ...

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, West Bengal 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 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 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 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.

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 Quint and ThePrint.

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