Pamela Rooks (28 February 1958 – 1 October 2010) was an Indian film director and screenwriter, most known for the film, ''

Train to Pakistan ''Train to Pakistan'' is a historical novel by writer Khushwant Singh, published in 1956. It recounts the Partition of India in August 1947 through the perspective of Mano Majra, a fictional border village. Instead of depicting the Partiti ...

'' (1998) set in

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

and based on

Khushwant Singh Khushwant Singh (born Khushal Singh, 2 February 1915 – 20 March 2014) was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write ''Train to Pakistan'' in 1956 (made ...

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

; it was screened at several international film festivals. Apart from that accomplishment she also made award-winning films like, ''

Miss Beatty's Children ''Miss Beatty's Children'' is a 1992 English-language Indian drama film directed by Pamela Rooks in a directorial debut, with Jenny Seagrove, Faith Brook and Protima Bedi in lead roles. The film set in 1936 in South India, was based on Pamela ...

'' (1992) and ''Dance Like a Man'' (2003) and several documentaries.

Early life

She was born Pamela Juneja in an Army household to Col. A. N. Juneja and Gudi Juneja. She did her schooling in boarding schools in

Nainital Nainital ( Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the High Court of the state being located there and is the headquarters o ...

and

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...

, where she became interested in dramatics.''India today'', Volume 24. Thomson Living Media India Ltd., 1999. p. 38'' Later, while studying mass communication in Delhi in the 1970s, she was involved with Delhi-based theatre group, Theatre Action Group (TAG), which was founded by theatre director,

Barry John Barry John (born 6 January 1945) is a former Welsh rugby union fly-half who played, during the amateur era of the sport, in the 1960s, and early 1970s. John began his rugby career as a schoolboy playing for his local team Cefneithin RFC befor ...

and

Siddharth Basu Siddhartha Basu is an Indian television producer-director and quiz show host, widely regarded as the "Father of Indian television quizzing". He is best known for hosting shows such as ''Quiz Time'', ''Mastermind India'' and ''University Chall ...

Roshan Seth Roshan Seth (born 2 April 1942) is a British-Indian actor, writer and theatre director who has worked in the United Kingdom, United States and India. He began his acting career in the early 1960s in the UK, but left acting the following decade ...

Lilette Dubey Lillete Dubey (born 7 September 1953) is an Indian actress and theatre director. She has worked in Indian and international theatre, television and films in Hindi and English languages. Dubey began her career with Barry John in Delhi and was the ...

, and

Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company, Mirabai Films, specializes in films for international audiences on Indian society, whether in the economic, social or cultural sphe ...

amongst others.The drama of Barry John's life
Divya Vasisht,

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 ...

, 23 November 2002.

Career

She started her career as a journalist and producer of current affairs programmes on television and it was during this period, for an interview, that she met director

Conrad Rooks Conrad Rooks (December 15, 1934 in Kansas City, Missouri – December 27, 2011 in Massachusetts) was an American writer, director and producer most well known for his 1972 filmed adaptation of Hermann Hesse's novel '' Siddhartha''. Early lif ...

who had received much acclaim for his film, '' Siddhartha'' (1972). Subsequently they went on to marry.Pamela Rooks
chaosmag. Later this paved the way for her career as a documentary filmmaker and she made critically acclaimed documentaries, such as ''Chipko: A response to the forest crisis'', ''Girl Child: fighting for survival'', ''Punjab: a human tragedy'' and ''Indian cinema: the winds of change'', before making her first feature film, ''Miss Beatty's Children'' (1992), based on a novel of the same name by her. The film won her the

Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director The Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of sev ...

at the

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

. Then in 1998 came her much anticipated film based on writer

's historical novel, ''

'' (1956), set in the

in 1947, while previous attempts by other people to turn the novel into film had failed. The film ran into trouble with the

Indian Censor Board The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

, but was eventually released after going to a tribunal where only a few audio cuts were made. Having seen playwright

Mahesh Dattani Mahesh Dattani (born 7 August 1958) is an Indian director, actor, playwright and writer. He wrote such plays as ''Final Solutions'', ''Dance Like a Man'', ''Bravely Fought the Queen'', ''On a Muggy Night in Mumbai'', ''Tara'', ''Thirty Days in S ...

's play ''Dance Like a Man'', a friend, the late dancer

Protima Bedi Protima Gauri Bedi (12 October 1948 – 18 August 1998) was an Indian model turned Odissi exponent. In 1990, she established Nrityagram, a dance school in hesarghatta Bangalore. Early life Protima was born in Delhi,''Time Pass: The Me ...

, who had also worked in his first film, arranged a meeting with Dattani in Bangalore. Rooks subsequently bought the rights to the play and went on co-write the screenplay with him. Her next venture, ''Dance Like a Man'', was released in 2005. and won a

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English is one of the National Film Awards of India presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. It is one of seve ...

for 2003.

Accident and death

In November 2005, she received a serious brain injury when a

Maruti Alto Māruti can refer to: * Maruti (मारुति), a Sanskrit name referring to Hanuman, son of the Hindu wind god, Pawan Dev * Maruti Suzuki, a joint sector industry of The Indian Government and Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corporation See ...

lost control and collided with her

Toyota Landcruiser is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Vasant Kunj Vasant Kunj is a posh neighbourhood located in South West Delhi district, Delhi, India. Its nearest Metro Station is Vasant Vihar metro station. The area is home to several prominent personalities, one being the former prime minister of India, ...

in Delhi while she was returning from

Indira Gandhi International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New De ...

after a trip to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. She was subsequently put in a drug-induced coma and remained in that state for five years. She never recovered from the coma and died of cardiac arrest at her Defence Colony home in the early hours of 1 October 2010 at the age of 52.

Personal life

She was married to director

and the couple had a son, Ryan, before they divorced in 1985. Later she dated Maharajkumar Shrimant Shivaji Rao Holkar of Indore (Prince Richard Holkar), the son of HH Maharaja Yeshwant Rao II Holkar of

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is t ...

, whom she had first met in 1998 in her Defence Colony neighbourhood. In the following years they grew close and decided to be life companions. Together Rooks and Holkar brought life back to Richard's ancestral home, Ahilya Fort in

Maheshwar Maheshwar is a town, near Khargone city in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh state, in central India. It is located on State Highway-38 ( Khargone city-Barwaha- Bandheri Highway),13.5 km east of National Highway 3 (Agra-Mumbai highway) a ...

, and were the directors of Ahilya Hospitality and Travels Private Limited. Holkar was accompanying her during the 2005 car accident. Richard Holkar joined the ''Indian Head Injury Foundation'', founded in February 2007, by Gaj Singh, Maharaja of Jodhpur, whose son

Shivraj Singh Shivraj Singh Chouhan (born 5 March 1959), is an Indian politician and member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the 17th and current Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, having been elected to the same position 3 times in the past, and a Member ...

had received a serious head injury due to an accident on the polo grounds in Jaipur in February 2005.

Filmography

Works

* ''Miss Beatty's children'', Clarion Books, 1989. .

References

Indore genealogy

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rook, Pamela Indian women film directors 1958 births 2010 deaths Indian documentary filmmakers Indian women screenwriters Indian women television producers Indian television producers 20th-century Indian film directors Film directors from Kolkata 20th-century Indian women artists Women artists from West Bengal Screenwriters from Kolkata Novelists from West Bengal Indian women novelists 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian film directors Indian women documentary filmmakers 21st-century Indian women artists Director whose film won the Best Debut Feature Film National Film Award Women television producers