Rituraj Devaang

Early life, education & background

Rituraj was born in 1991 in Jaipur, Rajasthan to a family of academicians and teachers. Since childhood, he would travel with his family extensively across the length and breadth of India via roads in their self driven vehicle; the journeys left a strong impression on his mind, and were a major force inspiring him to work for the conservation of the world's beautiful heritage as a filmmaker documenting India's most unexplored regions.

A keen learner, Devaang excelled in academics throughout his career, and wanted to be a scientist at first. While in school, in his 8th standard, he designed an "Optical Device for Eye Relaxation" which was selected as the most creative & innovative design from Rajasthan for Bal Bhavan's National Science Exhibition in Mumbai in 2005; his science projects & designs won him numerous awards and accolades. In 2009, he was declared the "Best Pupil" of the Saint Anselm's Pink City School - for his excellent overall performance in school.

He completed his B.Tech. in Electronics & Communication Engineering from the prestigious Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur (NIT Jaipur) in 2013, being amongst the institute toppers with one of the highest grades.

TV show production during college & recognition

While in college, Rituraj's interest in photography & filmmaking received a new impetus when his photographs were awarded by the National Geographic, and his photographs displayed live on the homepage of the official website of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India.

During his college studies, he founded his company Sukhnidhey Films, and submitted a proposal for a new television show to the Broadcasting Corporation of India titled- "Bharat Darshan: Exploring the Unexplored". The travel show's concept, which proposed to showcase India's most remote and unexplored regions, was approved, and the show began telecast on Doordarshan- India's National Television network in October, 2012. Rituraj presented, filmed, and edited the show which became the first show produced by Sukhnidhey Films, making Rituraj Devaang one of the youngest Filmmakers & TV producers in the country.

The show soon became highly popular, and was the highest TRP rated in show in its category.

Work as digital design engineer at Qualcomm

On completion of his studies, Devaang was offered a position as a Digital Design Engineer at Qualcomm Inc. in the Bangalore Design Center with a whooping salary package, amongst the highest in the institution. He excelled as a Chip Designer too in his projects on Chip Boot, Debug & Security and multithreaded automation scripts.

While in Qualcomm, he even filmed and edited two movies, "How to Succeed @Qualcomm", which was awarded the "World Class Quality in Film Production Award" by Qualcomm, and "QBuzz Official Curtain Raiser", which was the official event curtain raiser for Qualcomm's International Conference QBuzz-2014 in Bangalore. Almost an year after he joined Qualcomm, Rituraj realized his true passion and calling in filmmaking & photography- to be able to contribute, through his skills, towards the conservation of the world's amazingly rich historic, cultural & natural heritage, and to sensitize the masses, showcasing some of the world's most unknown and unexplored locations to people.

Heritage, travel & archaeo-filmmaking

Rituraj Devaang has been working as a professional filmmaker & photographer specializing in filming heritage, travel films, and archaeological sites & monuments.

He has been documenting some of the world's most unexplored and unknown sites, and has produced films & TV Shows to sensitize the masses, especially the youth- to inspire them to stand up for, and feel proud of, their rich heritage & glorious culture.

Sukhnidhey Films

During his college years, Rituraj founded the organization "Sukhnidhey Films" with the motto, "Exploring the Unexplored". The organization is now a media production house: a team of heritage, travel & archaeo-filmmakers who explore India's most unknown and unexplored regions, filming their historic & archaeological sites, ancient monuments and temples, cultures & traditions, and showcasing them to raise mass awareness, and promote tourism.

Through their films and shows, the organization has been playing a pivotal role in showcasing the best of India's incredible historic, cultural and natural heritage and traditions to the youth so they might feel proud of their colourful cultures.

Dharohar Film Festival

Sukhnidhey Films organized the Dharohar Film Festival- a heritage-themed film festival with Gunijankhana- the Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh Museum Society, in collaboration with the Association of the British Scholars Jaipur Chapter- British Council, on April 7–8, 2015 at the City Palace, Jaipur.

The heritage-themed film festival showcased the best of the films produced by the organization on the world's diverse heritage forms to students and the youth and featured talks & interaction with Rituraj Devaang, Vidhu Rashmi (Scriptwriter & Pre-Production Head, Sukhnidhey Films), Ajay Jain ( C.E.O., Sukhnidhey Films), Rima Hooja (Archaeologist & Director- Minnesota's University's MSID India Programme), Anil Tiwari (Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India), Rahul Kumar (Prinicpal Chief Conservator of Wildlife, Rajasthan Forest Department), Shailendra Agarwal (Principal Secretary- Tourism, Art & Culture Department, Government of Rajasthan), and other esteemed dignitaries.

The festival was inaugurated by Princess Diya Kumari of the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur, and Mr. Shailendra Agarwal, Principal Secretary- Tourism, Art & Culture Department, Government of Rajasthan.

The festival was critically acclaimed as a unique initiative to sensitize the masses through the powerful medium of films.

Filmography

Starting from Rituraj's first TV Show produced while he was studying his B.Tech. in NIT Jaipur, Sukhnidhey Films has been producing TV travel Shows such as 'Bharat Darshan: Exploring the Unexplored' and 'Jambudweep: A Journey through Incredible India' for Doordarshan- India's National Television network.

The shows have been appreciated for their innovative subjective, first person cinematography, unique contemporary scripts & editing treatment which involve the viewers deeply into the story.

Some of the noted films produced by the organization include "The World's Best!", "Chand Baori: The Mystery of Abhaneri", "Talkad: The Curse of The Queen", "Vindhyagiri: The Forgotten Glory", "Tal Chappar: The Indian Savanna", "Srirangapatnam: History's Battleground", "Keshava: The Forgotten Temple", etc.

Awards & appreciation

The works of Rituraj Devaang, and his organization, Sukhnidhey Films, have been appreciated by esteemed organizations such as the National Geographic, the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India, the Wildlife Trust of India, the Broadcasting Corporation of India,etc. and are regularly featured on the official website of the Ministry.

The films produced by the organization have been recognized as some of the best on Indian heritage and culture, and have been awarded and screened at prestigious national & international film festivals.

Sukhnidhey Films produced a corporate documentary film for Qualcomm Inc. which was awarded the "World Class Quality in Film Production Award" by Qualcomm Inc.