One man running the whole show

Delhi-based filmmaker Iqbal Chand Malhotra is also working on a documentary, Hunting the Tigers, tracing the untold true history of the cause of conflict and crisis in Sri Lanka.

Delhi-based filmmaker Iqbal Chand Malhotra is undoubtedly the big daddy of Indian television, having witnessed the conception, birth and growth of satellite television in the country, with expansion and launch of a plethora of TV channels over the years.

Though Malhotra kick-started his career in television as Rupert Murdoch’s strategic adviser, he has come a long way from there. And he is excited about his upcoming six-part series titled The Story of Jammu & Kashmir that will be premiered on Times Now soon.

“The six-hour long series on Kashmir will be simultaneously aired on the channel and also its Facebook page, and will be the first-of-its-kind thing to happen. It starts with the annexation of Kashmir by Maharaja Ranjeet Singh in 1817 to 2018,” says the 62-year-old, who after doing his master’s in economics from Queens’ College in the UK, joined Arthur Anderson & Co, London as a management consultant in the late 70s. He moved back to India to take up consultancy assignments with leading firms in the early 80s.

“I read 32 books, researched and wrote the script and finished the film series in eight months alone,” says Malhotra, who is the chairman of AIM Television—an award-winning, premiere production house.
Malhotra’s love for politics led him to make this six-part series that was shot in Kashmir. “Political documentary fascinates me because the subject affects our lives. I looked at politics as an observer and went on to become a storyteller because I felt compelled to tell an authentic story because no one else is doing it,” he says.

Meanwhile, he is also working on a documentary, Hunting the Tigers, tracing the untold true history of the cause of conflict and crisis in Sri Lanka. It explores the arrival of the Indian Peace-keeping Force in Sri Lanka, signing of the Indo-Lanka peace accord, the conflict that rose thereon, how it severed the political crisis in the island country, the growing anguish of LTTE, leading to the assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. “We are in talks with an American TV channel for airing this one,” says Malhotra, who was roped in by News Corporation for acquisition of Star TV in 1993.

He joined AIM Television set up by his wife Anu, in 1998, and learned the tricks of the production business from the shop floor. In the past 20 years, Malhotra has produced, directed and edited many critically acclaimed documentaries and television shows.

His next project is a factual film about three people and how their lives intersect over a period of a year. “The cameras will follow their lives on significant dates of the calendar in Kashmir and see what happens to them. It is for a foreign production company,” Malhotra says.

“I looked at politics as an observer and went on to become a storyteller because I felt compelled to tell an authentic story because no one is doing it.”

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The New Indian Express
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