I hold a Diploma in Photography, a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Archaeology and a Master of Arts degree in Social Anthropology.
I am a Producer/Director and Cameraman for the Countrywide Educational Television Network in India. Worked for more than a thousand TV films in twenty two years as Cameraman.
In 1988 I won the National Award of the first University Grants Commision, India, Educational TV Festival for best production of an ethnographic film, for my film on the Koyas, a peasant tribe in Andhra Pradesh, India.
I was sponsored as an overseas guest in the Second International Film Festival, Conference and Workshop on Ethnographic Film held in Manchester, UK, organized by Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and Granada Television, UK in 1990.
My film on the Samanthas was screened in the competitive category of the International Film Festival on Science, Society and Development held at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India in 1995.
My film on the Chenchus, an only living (Nallamalai forests of Andhra Pradesh) hunting gathering tribe in the mainland India, won a Golden Nandi Award (First Best Documentary Film) in 2003 and a Special Mention Award in the Mumbai International Film Festival 2004 for "portraying an ancient Indian tribe in a sensitive manner". The film was screened in the 18th Parnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival (2004), Estonia and in the 8th International Documentary Film Festival Jihlava 2004 (Czech Republic).
I have received a Gold Medal and numerous other awards, spoken at conferences and published a wide variety of work in ethnography and visual anthropology.
The United States Library of Congress has acquired and preserved most of my works.
Filmography:
In search of Ethnic Dimension
"THE KOYAS" (1988)
"THE SAMANTHAS"
an anthropo vision (1994)
"ARCHIVE"
a source for the past (1995)
"CHENCHUS"
Children of the Forest
an ethnic vision (2003)
"TRIBAL DISPLACEMENT"
an anthropo vision (2004)
"PAST LIFE THERAPY"
a workshop series (17 Parts)(2008)
"DISCOURSE WITH THE DEAD"
Sora Shamanism (2009)
"TRANSCENDING THE DEAD"
Guar Ceremony of the Soras (2009)
