Fareeda Mehta

Fareeda Mehta Biography

Fareeda Mehta is a film director who makes both documentary films as well as short films. She is closely associated with Press Trust of India and organizations such as UNICEF, NCERT, NORAD and NFDC. She has also directed 3 short films titled - Hawa Ka Rang (1990), Paitrik Sampati (1994) and Yaadon Ke Kinaare (1994). In 1991, she wrote the screenplay for the documentary film, Bhavatarana and in 1995, directed ‘In Search of Greener Pastures’. In 1991, she wrote the screenplay of the feature film, Kasba and made her debut as a film director with critically acclaimed movie, In Search of Greener Pastures in 2002. Now this Mumbai-based documentary filmmaker is giving private consultation for reflexology.

Mehta studied social sciences at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai and thus has a background in Microbiology. Later she completed film direction course from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Mehta made her first short film Hawa Ka Rang in 1990, which was awarded the first prize at the Turin Film Festival. She has also worked as an assistant to play directors like Kumar Shahani and Mani Kaul.  Her first feature film as a director was the 2002 film Kali Salwaar. The story revolves around Sadiya Siddiqui, who played a prostitute’s role in this movie. Irrfan Khan, Kay Kay Menon and Vrajesh Hirjee also acted in this movie.

According to Fareeda, though the movie doesn’t contain any social message, it deals with exchange of energies. Kali salwaar was shown in many international film festivals like the Indian Panorama, Goteborg film festival, Rotterdam International film festival and Durban International Film festival. It was nominated for 'Best Film' at the Bogota film festival in the year 2003.

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Updated: February 24, 2014