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Born 16 December 1987 India Occupation Documentary film-maker, writer, poet Parent(s) Ashish Kumar Mukharjee (father), Mitali Mukharjee (mother) | ||
Animesh Mukharjee is an Indian documentary film-maker, writer and Hindi poet. He is best known for Maletha Uncrushed - Mothers of Mountains, a documentary film on a movement led by women against illegal mining activities in Maletha, a small Himalayan village.
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Early life
Animesh Mukharjee was born in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. He holds postgraduate degrees in Hindi Literature from Kanpur University and in Business Administration from Sikkim Manipal University. Mukharjee also graduated as Sangeet Visharad from Bhatkhande Music Institute.
Career
Mukharjee developed interest in film making when he joined Nine Angle Productions as Creative Producer. His first documentary film, Ambar: Kuchh Sangharsh, Kuchh Virodhabhas was based on the literary life of Farrukhabad's famous Hindi poet Shiv Om Ambar.
In 2015, Mukherjee came across the plight of Maletha residents. Maletha is a small village in the Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. Before 2015, there were five stone crushing units around Maletha. These crushers were engaged in illegal mining of stone. These illegal mining activities were damaging the environment as well as the health of villagers. The legend of Madho Singh Bhandari inspired the village women to start a movement against the stone mafia. Maletha village is famous for the exemplary work of Madho Singh Bhandari in sixteenth century. Madho Singh Bhandari dug a several hundred meter long tunnel through hard rock to bring water for the Maletha village.
After a long social movement and several setbacks, the village women won the legal battle against the stone mafia. The court and the state government ordered shutting down of all the mining activities in the area. This entire movement was initiated and managed by the Maletha village women and it also got support from various environmental activists.
Mukharjee documented Maletha's struggle in the form of a short documentary titled Maletha Uncrushed - Mothers of Mountains.
Public screenings of this documentary were organized in a number of Indian cities. In February 2016, Chitrabharati Film Festival, Indore became the first cine event to showcase the documentary. In June 2016, the film was also featured in the International Open Film Festival of New York.