After a brief work stint at CDguru.com in the UKPresident, Meghna Ghai Puri returned to Whistling Woods International (WWI). Meghna Ghai Puri’s vision is to carry forward her dad’s vision of building the best film school in the world. She has been involved in every aspect of the setup and operations of Whistling Woods International since its inception She also spearheaded Marketing and International Distribution activities at Mukta Arts Ltd. in 2003. “Taal”, “Pardes” and “Yaadein” are a few of the prominent projects that she led. Today, Meghna is determined to make WWI the thought leader for film and media education in the world.
College memories
Meghna studied at Kings College London where she pursued a BSc degree in business management, and did her postgraduation in Communication, Advertising, and Marketing at the CAM Institute, Victoria, London. “My university in the U.K. taught me to take responsibility and be independent. In London, the whole city was our campus. We used to go for lectures to the Kensington Campus and some days to the Strand Campus. There was no attendance; it was up to us to take responsibility for our assignments and exams. There was no spoonfeeding and this really helped me when I started working,” she explains. However, besides academics, the college also helped Megha make many friends and that’s what she holds very close to her heart. “Memories are mainly memorable because of the wonderful friends you make and spend time with while in college. For me too, I made the most special friends in college and also met my husband; so those days are extra special,” she says.
Lessons from mentor
As far as her mentor, Meghna is clear that her father Subhash Ghai wins hands down. “My father has been and remains my mentor. I have learned and continue to learn so much from him. “My father has always dreamt of building a film school. When I started my career in WWI, I was part of just a four-member team. We worked vigorously to make this a state-of-the-art institution. A lot of time was invested in the research and planning of the entire infrastructure. My father started this institution, but it was our responsibility to take this to the next level and to make his dream come true. The journey so far has been really exciting and fulfilling. Of course, challenges have been a part of this journey, but as a team, we have tried to provide our students with the best. We started with 75 students, and now 11 years later, we have 950! We started our journey with only one school, the School of Filmmaking and now we have eight schools under our purview. We have a strong alumni presence of 1,500-plus students.”
As the president of WWI, Meghna is responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the institute and a key player with respect to the long-term vision and strategy of WWI. Meghna wishes to see Whistling Woods become an incubation hub for new ideas, new inventions in all fields, involving creativity, and see more value coming out of this institute than any other institute has ever created in India. Her message for students is, “Be diligent, work hard and at the same time have a lot of fun. You won’t get these days back; so make the most out of each day.” She adds by saying, “My education in the U.K. taught me how international academia works and I was able to bring back a lot of that culture to Whistling Woods. While technology was around when I was studying we still were encouraged to research in libraries and make an immense effort in putting our projects together. I feel today, with information on their fingertips students have a huge advantage over us and hence it is even more important for them to be imaginative and creative with their time spent at college.”
