Govind Menon(I)

Govind Menon belongs to the new breed of Bollywood directors and has so far directed several music videos and four feature films which have been theatrically distributed all over the world. He has dabbled in a wide range of genres from film noir to love stories, musicals and comedies. His second feature, Khwahish (Desire) was one of the top ten box office successes of the year (2003) and launched the career of Mallika Sherawat, who has gone on to become one of the biggest stars of the Indian film industry and starred with Jackie Chan in "The Myth". Khwahish is considered to be a landmark in Indian cinema since it broke down the age old state censorship taboo of on-screen French kissing and discussed sexuality openly. His last film, Bachke Rehna Rebaba (Beware), 2006, which was shot almost entirely in Mauritius had a cast of some of the top stars in India and was released with over 200 prints across India, the Middle East, UK, US, Canada, Mauritius and South Africa. He then founded Split Image Pictures in India and Nuclear Mango Studios in Los Angeles and is producing Hisss, directed by Jennifer Lynch and Love, Barack, directed by Doug McHenry. His wife, Simrit Brar is a famous graphic designer who has designed posters for over 30 films including the Oscar-nominated, "Lagaan" and has worked at top Manhattan Design Companies, Smart Design and Co-Op design. Govind is fluent in five languages - Malayalam, Hindi, English, Spanish and Nepali and is widely traveled. A graduate of Middlebury College, Vermont, USA in Theater and Film, he attended the Master's programme in Film Directing at the University of Texas, Austin and now shuttles between Los Angeles and India.