Kalpana Kutty

G-204, Lloyds Estate

Wadala (e)

Mumbai 400098 India

Email: kalpana@thekfilmkompanie.com

Cell: +91 98202 98064

Date of Birth: August 7, 1969 , Connecticut , U.S.A.

Education

1993-1995: University of Connecticut , Storrs , CT , U.S. A

Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology

Completed all requirements for the Doctoral Program including Department and University approval of Dissertation Proposal. Was awarded Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship and Department Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Successfully passed exams in both areas of concentration, i.e., “Political Economy of Third World Development and “Sociological perspectives on Gender.” Was awarded lectureships and academic fellowships throughout Doctoral program tenure.

1990-1991: University of Connecticut , Storrs , CT , U.S.A

M.A. Sociology ( High Pass )

Academic responsibilities included teaching of courses on sociological Theory, Women and Ethnicity. Presented papers at all major professional conferences such as ASA (American Sociological Association) and ESS (Eastern Sociological Society). Student representative on the Department Executive Committee for the years 1994 and 1995.

1984-1989 Elphinstone College, University of Bombay , India

B.A. Sociology

Work Experience

November 2005- Present Day

Producer and founder, The K Film Kompanie

Mumbai , India

The K film Kompanie has to date worked with agencies such as Contract Advertising, DDB Mudra, Rediffusion DY/R, Lowe, Bates Asia for clients such as Reliance ADAG, ICICI Bank, LG, The Govt. of Doha, Colgate Palmolive, and Marico Industries producing for international and Indian advertising directors. In May 2008, The K Film Kompanie became a partnership firm with Sailesh Chandrakant.

Dec 2001 – March 2005

Producer

Mumbai , India

The Freefall Picture Company , Bombay . Billed Rs. 1.5 Crores in the first year and the current Billing at year closing for 2003-2004. Billing for 2004 2005 stood at approx 4.5 crores (USD 1 million). Clients include Pepsico, Levers, India Today, ITC, Rasna International for agencies such as Lowe, Mudra, Ogilvy and Mather, Grey Worldwide, and McCann Erickson.

July 1996 – September 2004

Executive Producer

Genesis Film Production PVT Ltd., Prahlad Kakar and Offspring (Mitali Dutt Kakar)

Mumbai , India

Job responsibilities included Budgeting and billing for all TVCs (TV commercials), designing of production, liaison between client, Agency, and Production House, responsible for the project from conception to execution and delivery of final film including line production on set. Other responsibilities include administration of the business over and above production. Brand Equity named Genesis as the top ad-film production house in the country for three years in a row ( April 30, 2003 , May 2004, and May 2005).

November 1995 – June 1996

MTV India

Mumbai , India

Production Coordinator for MTV India’s launch tour the “Get It!” tour, that spanned eleven cities over four months.

Seminars and Workshops

March 2004

Was invited to screen and select the final batch of students for the graduating class of 2006 at the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune.

December 2003

Participated on invitation in The UNDP conference on AIDS and HIV for Media Leaders in New Delhi .

May 2003

Conducted a workshop on Advertising, Budgeting, and Production Values for Johnson and Johnson , India .

October 2002

Conducted a day seminar with the graduating class of the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication on Production Design in Advertising and Cinema.

Restaurant Design Projects

June 2002

Director in “Joie De Vivre Fine Food Pvt Ltd” in partnership with Prahlad Kakar. Food and Interior Designer. In charge of supervising operations, food and beverage inventory, quality control etc for all operations such as Casa Amore, Papa Paanchos, Sarson Da Saaga etc.

March 1999-Dec 2001

Co-designed and co-conceptualized along with Prahlad Kakar, the re-launch of The Tea Centre, a specialty Tea House in Bombay . Was primarily involved in the execution of the project, operations, billing, food and beverage, and Interior Design.

March 2001

Re-design and renovation of the Stark Bar at the Mela Restaurant, Worli, Mumbai.

Professional References

Prahlad Kakar

E 20 Everest, Tardeo,

Mumbai 400034

Phn: 0091 98200 10793

Punam Rai

Roving Camera

Maker Chambers V

Nariman Point

Phn: 0091 98200 52471

Sharon Perreira

Lever House

Backbay Reclamation

Churchgate

Mumbai

Phn: 0091 98201 52010

Date of Birth: March 17 th , 1964

Nationality: Indian

Advertising

In Jan 1984, Saliesh joined “Scan Video”and learned the basics of video production. Then the same year in August, he assisted Mr. Shekar Kapur on his advertising film productions.

But it was in 1985 that Sailesh actually began his career when he joined “Genesis Films”. He spent the next five years here learning the business inside out, and at the same time scaled the career ladder. Moving from production assistant to heading the post-production department, he finally became a partner in Genesis’ subsidiary: “Offshoot” which now goes by the name “Offspring”. The job also provided the opportunity to work on some of the leading brands, with latest technology in 35 mm and video and the best talent be it models, actors, cameramen or sound engineers the industry had to offer.

Beginning 1990 and the entrepreneurial bug took over. Sailesh went on to produce and direct films first under the banner “Arc Films” which was later re-christened, “Sailesh Chandrakant Productions”. Between April 1992 and March 1995 Sailesh set-up base in Chennai from where he continued making ad films.

In 2002, Sailesh set up “Cornerstone Productions,” mainly producing and directing corporate films and production services for foreign directors in India , also representing Oscar-nominated Director Ashutosh Gowariker. In 2006, Sailesh merged with The K Film Kompanie, bringing in the massive line production for the Asian Games curtain-raiser directed by Matthias Zentner.

Television

In April 1995, Sailesh took up the offer to join Channel [V] as the supervising producer for all shows done in India . “Mangta Hai,” “Ek-Ka-Teen,” “Flashback,” “First Day First Show,” “The Vibe,” “The Great Indian Manovaigyanik Show,” and “Timex Time pass,” were all part of this endeavour. His main contribution here was getting the shows out of the studio floors and brought them to the streets and to the people- helping build interactivity at reduced costs.

But Sailesh realised that what interested him more was reality based television shows. As a result, “ Bindaas Bol” took shape. Produced by Achyut Vaze of Magic Box, the programme was based on issues that later teens and young adults faced. Screened for a year, on Sony Entertainment Television, 45 episodes were directed by Sailesh.

This apart, he also directed a multi cam show on the performances of Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Parveen Sultana and Hariharan. In fact, Parveen Sultana even stated that “she had never looked or sounded so good ever before”.

But by mid 1996, Sailesh’s interests moved towards the amazing possibilities of the Internet.

New Age Media

By mid 1996, Sailesh discovered the amazing possibilities of the Internet, with its unbelievable reach and potential, as a fantastic medium of information and communication.

Out of this realization came a partnership between Rajesh Khanna, Ranajit Tendolkar, Krishna Unni and Sailesh, called “Target Audience” (re-christened Pigtail Pundits with one partner less - Sailesh). Initially, the company launched India ’s first Advertising and Marketing Community site - Drumbeat, The Great Indian Ad Buzzaar. A community site, it was unparalleled in terms of the idea and execution, with page views averaging 40,000 impressions a month.

In August 1997, Sailesh moved to Chennai to set up a Pigtail Pundits branch office - helping develop sites for Sify including one for the British Tourism Authority, for a competition based on the film “ Elizabeth ”. This was the first flash site on Sify and also designed the site for the first year celebration of Sify’s Carnatic music site.

Simultaneously, Sailesh also got involved in two other areas - Kids education and Multimedia.

He had worked on concepts and creative as a freelancer with Pentamedia Graphics for the corporate multimedia presentations for their clients.

In the course of interacting with I.T. Kids, a click and mortar kids learning center, to make an ad film, he was fascinated by their work. Immersing himself totally in their functioning, Sailesh soon started developing short courses for kids. The objective was to get them to learn how to use presentation soft ware, make presentations and gain knowledge of a subject. These short courses were mainly for the holiday season and lasted for 2 hours a day over 10-15 days and were mainly conducted at I T kids franchises and schools where I T Kids had their centers. These short fun filled courses were marketed as IT Summer camps. Till date, over 50,000 kids have completed these short courses.

Themed Entertainment

In mid 1996 Sailesh was approached by Corporate Graphics to make a film for their clients Essel World. The film was a presentation to the then Chief Minister on problems that Esselworld was facing at their park and the solutions for it. Sailesh spent a lot of time at the park and began to understand the business of themed entertainment.

In the middle of Oct 2000 Sailesh was offered a full time consultancy by Pentamedia as overall creative head on “Mayajaal” – the Rs 450 crore entertainment park based on the first-of-its-kind virtual reality technologies in India. This included 9 virtual reality domes, a sports resort and a family entertainment center (FEC). T hough the entire park did not see the light of day, the sports resort and the Family Entertainment Centre are up .