Anand Mahindra Reveals Surprising Connection With Filmmaker Mira Nair

Did you know that businessman Anand Mahindra and filmmaker Mira Nair knew each other in college? Though it may come as a surprise, it's true. The chairman of Mahindra Group studied in the same college as the Salaam Bombay filmmaker. Mr Mahindra had studied filmmaking and architecture at Harvard University. And, Ms Nair was only a year junior to him. The business tycoon recently disclosed this fact on Twitter in response to a user's query. In relation to a photo from his film school days, the person had asked, "Did Mira Nair click this picture?" Mr Mahindra quote-tweeted and replied, "No, but she was only a year junior to me in college in the same college film department." Mr Mahindra didn't leave it at that. He added more about Ms Nair, "And, she's always kidded me that I "sold out to the establishment" when I left film behind and went to Business School."

The conversation started when Mr Mahindra had posted a black-and-white photo from his filmmaking years. There, we see his younger self holding a 16mm handheld camera amidst a crowd of people. The business tycoon had shared the photo when a fan asked Mr Mahindra if he had had other aspirations during his school or college days. And, the reply was in the caption of the photo, "Easy to answer this. I wanted to be a filmmaker and studied film in college." He went on to elaborate more on his filmmaking course, "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?"

Users flooded the microblogging platform with praises for Mr Mahindra's skill sets. A person wrote, "The film industry's loss was the automotive industry's gain."

Another suggested that Mr Mahindra pursue filmmaking now.

Though aspiring to be a filmmaker, Mr Mahindra later switched to the Harvard Business School, where he completed his MBA.