Ganapathy Bharat (b. 1963, Madras, India), credited in film titles as G. Bharat or Bala, studied zoology. He began his film career as assistant cameraman and by making wedding videos. Since 1985 he has made over 300 TV commercials in India, some of which have won prestigious prizes. He was a prize-winner at the New York festival with the short film Vande mataram – maa tujhe salam (1997); the short Timeless India (1997) brought him victory at Cannes. He created a national poem about India, Jan gan man, in 2002. Currently, he has several films in production: Meghdoot – The Cloud Messenger, the feature-length documentary Gurus of Peace about the most distinguished Nobel Peace Prize holders, and The Heart of India – Taj Mahal, a project which makes him the first Indian director to work with the Imax format. Hari Om (2004) is his feature debut, representing the first of a series of stories in which Bharatbala plans to bring India closer to viewers from all over the world.
MFF Karlovy Vary
