This Billionaire Industrialist Was Once An Aspiring Filmmaker. Any Guesses?

Anand Mahindra is a name to reckon with in the world of business today - but not many know that the Chairman of Mahindra Group once aspired to be a filmmaker. Anand Mahindra, 66, took to Twitter this afternoon to share a rare throwback photo while revealing that he studied filmmaking in college. The black-and-white photo shows a young Anand Mahindra with a hand-held 16mm camera. It was taken many years ago at a remote village near Indore, Madhya Pradesh, the industrialist revealed. 

The subject of filmmaking came up when a Twitter user asked Mr Mahindra what his "ambition during school/college days" had been.

"Easy to answer this. I wanted to be a filmmaker and studied film in college," Mr Mahindra replied. "My thesis was a film I made at the '77 Kumbh Mela," he further revealed. 

Adding a bit about the throwback photo he shared, Mr Mahindra wrote: "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?"

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

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) January 20, 2022

The picture racked up hundreds of 'likes' within minutes of being shared on the microblogging platform. 

You certainly had an epic hairstyle sir. Keeping with the times ????

— Karthik Enumulla ???????? (@The_Tiger_Man) January 20, 2022

Looks like a Bolex... my friend had one in the college days

— Dr Charuhas #Wanderlust (@charuhasmujumd1) January 20, 2022

"Did Mira Nair click this picture?" one Twitter user asked. Renowned filmmaker Mira Nair was Anand Mahindra's contemporary while he was an undergraduate at Harvard. 

did Mira Nair click this picture?????

— srivats sivanandan (@srewats) January 20, 2022

Mr Mahindra has often spoken about his love for cinema. In 2017, he said on Twitter that shooting his thesis film at the Kumbh Mela "was seminal experience that made me understand that being Indian was being part of a universal confluence."

As a student of filmmaking in college, my thesis film was shot at the Mahakumbh in Allahabad, 1977. It was a seminal experience that made me understand that being Indian was being part of a universal confluence. So appropriate that it has been recognised as a treasure of Humanity https://t.co/mTuQVNNatV

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) December 8, 2017

In a 2014 interview published in the Mahindra Everyday magazine, Anand Mahindra had also said that his love for movies went back to his childhood. "People often ask me why I chose filmmaking. I have always been something of a non-conformist and in a sense, I was rebelling against my circumstances," he said. "Film was a chance for me to prove that I could carve out my own space and this is something that has given me a great deal of confidence in my innate abilities and stood me in good stead throughout my life."