Resume

PROFILE

Avijit is a filmmaker, actor, theatre director and communications consultant. living and working out of New Delhi. He took his MA from Calcutta University in English and began with being Senior English Master, St. Paul's School, Darjeeling.

ADVERTISING & COMMUNICATION:

• Currently President Marketing for Olive Telecommunication, responsible for Media relationship, PR & Marketing strategy & execution of even the communications; inclusive of creating TVCs, Print & On-line content
• 2002 till 2006- Chief Operating Officer & Creative Director of National Advertising Agency iB&W, and as the Director of D&K PR; also worked as Creative Director Lintas Advertising, O&M etc..
• Launched many National brands, Services & Government Initiatives including Central VAT, Bhagidari for Delhi, Consumer Awareness (Jago Grahak Jago- with TV & Radio serials) etc.
• Won various awards for work on Tourism, Consumer Durables
• Awards for "Discover- India Tourism' (re-discovery for students) campaigns, 'Meri Dilli Meri Shaan' (Motivatory) campaigns, script of Turning point (Science serial '92).
• '80- '90 worked as copywriter for ACIL, O&M, Clarion
• '90-'92 Creative Director Lintas Advertising
• '92- '97 Made films for UNICEF, worked extensively on the 'Meena' Project, launched Childline
• Launched and worked on many Consumer products including Monte Carlo, Siemens, Wheel detergent etc.
• Visiting Lecturer at Indian Institute of Mass Communication & Times School of Marketing New Delhi '91- till 2004
• Films & communications for Prime Minister's Office on various issues like Punjab -'86. Tourism & Social Development etc. '94-'96.
• 'Trilokpuri Experiment' (street play) - self-written play 'Mahatma Mar Gaya' against communalism, performed at all affected areas. The Trilokpuri initiative continues even today with local populace waging a continuous war for secular harmony, since '95.

THEATRE

• Directed & acted in over 50 productions in Bengali, Hindi and English
• Toured Singapore, Dubai and the USA with plays
• In Calcutta worked with Shyamanand Jalan to revive Padatik; dramatized and co-directed Mahasweta Devi's Hazar Churasi Ki Maa
• Conducted Theatre workshops all over the country
• Created Theatre workshop with Badal Sircar
• Two Theatre visits to Germany as Goethe fellow in '87 and '93
• Acted and designed lights for the Jatra, Natto Company
• Designed lights for Habib Tanvir, Bansi Kaul, Sheila Bhatia, Joy Michael etc.
• Acted under many eminent directors
• As Director in Yatrik Theatre, Delhi did over 15 productions and featured prominently in the 40 Years of Delhi celebrations
• Self written play 'Kismet' featured in the Sangeet Natak Akademi festival in '93
• Self written street play on religious intolerance engaged different parts of Delhi in 25 shows
• Directed and acted in 'I'm Not Sheikh Chili'-won the Play of the year Award (Sahitya Kala Parishad)2001
• Self written play 'Bombay Bosnia' performed at the National Theatre Festival at NSD in 2002
• Authored and Directed 'Breaking News' for Yatrik in Delhi, April'09
• Acted as Tagore in MK Raina's 'Stay Yet a While', performed in Delhi, Kolkata & Shantiniketan
• Has directed and acted in plays by Shakespeare, Brecht, Moliere, Dario Fo, Badal Sircar, Vijay Tendulkar, Buchner, Tagore, Ibsen, Wedekind, Weiss among others

ACTING

• Credits include Theatre, TV and Cinema
• As Babur in Nat Geo's Treasure Seekers, Granada production, TV18's Bhavar and various other TV Documentaries and Travel Serials
• Cinema: acted in Mira Nair's Kamasutra, Deepa Mehta's Fire, Sonali Bose's Amu, Anjan Dutt's Bow Barracks & Bong Connection amongst many others

SOCIAL INTERVENTION

• UNIFEM workshop on Child Abuse and Action Plan, Nepal, August'06
• Resource person for Workshops on Child Abuse and the electronic media on behalf of UNICEF and National Human Rights Commission at Goa and Ranchi in '99.
• Resource person for UNIFEM's workshops in Goa and Darjeeling for sensitizing the Media on Child Abuse in 2006
• Directed a documentary and drove 18,000 kms across South Asia with a peace initiative-'Hands Across the Borders'
• Strategised, conceived and directed TV commercials for UNICEF, on Literacy and Child Abuse '97-'98
• Launched the Childline with a TVC for UNICEF & NHRC
• Various seminal films on the status of the Girl Child-'95 to '97
• Self financed, film on Kinnaur, the environment, the people & a development alternative. Instrumental in HIMTAB (Himalayan Tourism Advisory Board) establishing the Tiny Sector, a modern fairytale of development & monetisation without stressing the environment in Sangla
• The film Akkar Bakkar on Child Abuse was shown in the Parliament to try and hasten the Child Bill
• Resource Group National AIDs Control

FILMOGRAPHY

• Directed a short film (30 mins) on Child Abuse, Akkar Bakkar (www.avijitdutt.com), Presented in 63rd Cannes Film Festival 2010
• Scripted & Directed _ "Buddha Trail" - 30 min, film on Buddha, (1996) studying the turning point of Buddhism with Girish Karnad as the anchor
• Adapted for TV & Directed, Asif Currimbhoy's play - Dumb Dancer ' 95. (On a special Commission for Sri K. R. Narayanan, then Vice President).
• Researched, scripted & directed - In Search of Lost Horizons - five part civilisational study for TV (Jaunsar Bawar, Byandhura, Jageshwar, Kinnaur & Patal Bhubaneshwar) '94 -'95. (About people and places that lie beyond the horizon of Urban consciousness
• Directed various social service and product commercials
• Creative Directed serial 'Satyama- Jago Grahak Jago' to bring about Consumer Awareness
• Corporate and Travel Documentaries
• Acted in over 14 films including Kamasutra, Fire, Bow Barracks Forever, Bong Connection, Chai Pani, Amu, Peepli Live, No One Killed Jessica, Gandhi to Hitler, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl etc.

EXTRA CURRICULAR

• Visiting Professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Times School of Marketing
• Reasonably proficient at the Sitar

AVIJIT DUTT

A2 Ridge Castle Apartment
Dadabari Road, Mehrauli,
New Delhi-110030
Cell: +91 9811045138
www.avijitdutt.com