Flickers 2008:

Have you ever wished you had the telephone numbers of some of Bollywood's biggies? Have you wondered whether these 'celebrities' actually return calls, or even answer their phones? Have you ever wished you could interview some of these people, and get to know their stories, or just to listen to their voices?

Well, we Commitscions had all these dreams, until they were transformed to reality when it was decided that the theme for our annual seminar would be cinema and television. Now this meant two things: we would be roping in some of the biggest names in the film and television industry, and we would get their telephone numbers!

Flickers, as our film and television seminar is called, made its debut in 2005, and Nagesh Kukunoor and Ashutosh Gowariker were the star attractions that year.

Flickers 2008 brought together Shimit Amin, director of Chak De! India; Anurag Kashyap, director of Black Friday and No Smoking; and Rohit Vaid, producer of television shows like Shh… Koi Hai, The Great Indian Comedy Show, Fun on the Run, and Channel V's V Dares You.

Shimit Amin spoke about the challenges faced by directors who embark on unusual projects, while Anurag Kashyap told us how his upbringing decided the kind of films he made and how his passion for cinema over-rode everything else. Rohit Vaid spoke at length on the lucrative career that television has to offer.

We had a surprise guest for the audience: Elvera Britto, a former captain of the Indian women's hockey team and a selector who helped choose the gold medal-winning women's hockey team at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, spoke about hockey and how Chak De! had created an awareness that can only augur well for the sport.

The afternoon session saw four young faces: Gaurav Momaya, assistant director of Dhamaal; Deep Pal, CNBC Awaaz anchor; Faye D'Souza, principal correspondent for CNBC; and Prema Sridevi, Kerala bureau chief of Times Now.

What made them special was that all four are Commits alumni.

They talked to us about what it takes to be a part of the Bollywood experience, about how instinct plays a role in shaping our careers, and about how there's more to news anchoring than just glamour. We learnt what it means to be involved in the launch of a national news channel, and what qualities are needed to excel in business journalism.

Later, all four, along with another Commits alumnus, David Tusing, participated in a panel discussion and also answered questions from the audience.

As the seminar drew to a close, we experienced a feeling of great achievement – we had pulled it off! What made the feeling even better was the fact that we now had contacts in a world which was thought to have been impenetrable: Bollywood.

At the close, our dean thanked all those who had contributed to the seminar. And the tired but beaming faces at the group photo-session afterwards were testimony to a super-successful Flickers 2008.