What Mira Nair, Anand Mahindra’s Harvard junior, said when he left films for business school

Mahindra Group Chairperson Anand Mahindra shared a throwback photo from his days as a student of filmmaking. (Image tweeted by @anandmahindra)

Industrialist Anand Mahindra revealed in a tweet on January 20 that he wanted to be a filmmaker and studied the subject in college.

The Mahindra Group chairperson responded to a Twitter user’s question about what he aspired to be as a student.

“You are now leading a Giant Mahindra group,” the Twitter user, named, Eswaran, said. “But what was your ambition during your school/college days? Have you ever felt like missing some other favourite profession?”

Mahindra said the answer to that question was easy. “I wanted to be a filmmaker and studied film in college,” he added. “My thesis was a film I made at the ‘77 Kumbh Mela.”

The industrialist shared a black-and-white photo from one of his shooting assignments. “This pic was while shooting a documentary in a remote village near Indore,” he said. “Anyone old enough to guess which handheld 16mm camera I was using?”

Easy to answer this. I wanted to be a filmmaker & was studied film in college. My thesis was a film I made at the ‘77 Kumbh Mela. But this pic was while shooting a documentary in a remote village near Indore. Anyone old enough to guess which handheld 16mm camera I was using? https://t.co/xmLuuLrv3A pic.twitter.com/oKCddQFyGf

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— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 20, 2022

One Twitter user said : “It was the Bolex hand-wound camera. We were given this in 1990 at MCRC to shoot our first round of silent films.”

Another person asked Mahindra if renowned Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair had clicked his photo.

“No, but she was only a year junior to me in college in the same college film department,” he said in response. “And she’s always kidded me that I ‘sold out to the establishment’ when I left film behind and went to Business School!”

No, but she was only a year junior to me in college in the same college film department. And she’s always kidded me that I ‘sold out to the establishment’ when I left film behind & went to Business School! https://t.co/meW7wqwIQ7

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 20, 2022

Mahindra and Nair went to Harvard University.

Nair is best known for films like The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding and Salaam Bombay!

Mahindra, in an issue of his group’s in-house magazine in 2014, had said that his love for movies and filmmaking could be traced back to his childhood.

“In fact, not too many people know this but my mother, Indira, in addition to being a college history teacher, was also a stage and film actor,” the industrialist had added. “She came to Bombay to join the movie industry but after making one film with director Kishore Sahu, she met my father and left the industry. However, her interest in cinema endured.”

Mahindra said his father, Harish Mahindra, also loved films and was happy when he told him that he wanted to be a filmmaker. “In fact, he was quite disappointed when I chose corporate life as he had envisaged a lifetime of free movie tickets!”