New Delhi: National Award-winning filmmaker Utpal Borpujari has been nominated as a member of the Board of Advisors of the Indian Institute of Creative Skills (IICS), India’s first industry-led creative incubator set up under the chairmanship of Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookuty.
Operated by the Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC), which is chaired by Grammy Award-winning composer Shankar Mahadevan, IICS has been formed under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and is affiliated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) Academy.
Former film critic and journalist and IIT Roorkee alumnus, Borpujari would be part of IICS Board of Advisors along with noted film personalities like directors Girish Kasaravalli, Rahul Rawail and Shonali Bose, producer Shibashish Sarkar, editors A Sreekar Prasad and Bina Paul, action director Sham Kaushal, actors Amit Behl and Dia Mirza, costume designer Neeta Lulla, lyricist & screenwriter Kausar Munir, theatre personality Firoz Abbas Khan, cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, animation filmmaker Kireet Khurana and several others.
Borpujari is currently also a member of the highest decision-making body of the Indian Institute of Mass Communications, the IIMC Society.
IICS has been set up in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s call to “Create in India” by nurturing talent to make India a global skill capital, and its first campus would be soon launched in Delhi, followed by 9 other campuses across the country in the coming times.
The institute would offer skill-oriented degree and certificate courses in diverse fields allied with the entertainment and creative industry, such as sound design & music video production, make-up & prosthetics, costume design, animation & game development, event & experiential management, digital PR & journalism, digital content creation & media management, and visual & communication design. In future, more courses would be added.
“I am privileged and honoured to be part of this forward-looking initiative aimed at empowering the young generations of our country in various fields associated with the entertainment industry, which is projected to have exponential growth in India in the coming years,” Borpujari said, thanking Pookutty for inducting him into the body.
IICS would not only impart classroom education but give practical training to students through interactions with national and international mentors, and by associating them with real projects and events.
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The admissions for some of the courses have already started, details of which can be found on the IICS website and social media handles.
“I hope youngsters from Northeast India would avail of this skill-driven initiative that is aimed at preparing the youth for entry into the industry at an empowered level,” Borpujari said.