WHY 29TH JULY IS IMPORTANT FOR HIM ?
40 years ago on 29th July 1980, a young man from the city of Nawabs (Lucknow) came to the city of dreams (Mumbai). It was raining cats and dogs. He had a date with destiny. He was to be interviewed by the grand old man of Indian Cinema, Dr V Shantaram.
He had prepared himself from the pages of The Illustrated Weekly of India, Edited by MV Kamath, (a father figure of print journalism in India). The young man had never met MV Kamath. But his magazine was the stepping stone of his career, for he read the Views of Dr V Shantaram on the Children cinema in The Illustrated Weekly of India. So when he was being interviewed, he was talking V Shantaram. Needles to mention he was selected for the post of Production officer in Children’s Film Society Of India.
Every year he remembers 29th July, a date which moulded his career and gave him an opportunity to work very closely with the likes of V Shantaram, Kedar Sharma (Raj kapoor’s Guru), Satyen Bose (Director of Chalti ka naam Gadi), Jaya Bachchan, Amol Palekar, Shabana Azmi, who were Chairpersons of CFSI.
Destiny had stored some thing more for him.
The young man (now a senior citizen) Mr Mukesh Sharma moved out of CFSI and joined Doordarshan, Prasar Bharti.
Doordarshan gave him the opportunity to work with some of the best people around.
As Director of Doordarshan, Mumbai he was responsible for production of various shows like ‘Mahacharcha’ and organising award shows which gained huge popularity.
Mr Sharma is currently Dean of Branding and Advertising NMIMS University. He has also written a book ‘ABC of Broadcast News’.
We wish him Best luck for future endeavor.
