'Science of Stupid' producer Vevek Paul brings unique big screen film viewing experience to Delhi

Vevek Paul, who is best known for producing National Geographic shows, brought a unique big screen film viewing experience to the capital through his brainchild: The Great Indian Film Festival (TGIFF)

Vevek Paul  (Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@vivekpaul1)
Vevek Paul (Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@vivekpaul1)
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Murtaza Ali Khan

The cinemas are finally open and the cinephiles at last are getting a taste of some good old big screen magic. Making most of the opportunity, Vevek Paul, who is best known for producing the National Geographic shows “Science of Stupid” (hosted by brother, Maniesh Paul) and “Animals Gone Wild” (hosted by Javed Jaffrey), brought a unique big screen film viewing experience to the capital through his brainchild: The Great Indian Film Festival (TGIFF).

TGIFF is essentially an endeavor on Paul’s part to provide a global platform to newbies as well as pros to showcase their short films and documentaries. “TGIFF is a cultural initiative aimed at popularizing the world cinema and bringing young as well as experienced filmmakers on a single platform where their submissions will be scrutinized by some of the very well-known figures from India as well as abroad,” Paul explains.

The short films and documentaries for the festival are carefully curated by an international jury comprising the likes of Javed Jaffrey, Gulshan Grover, Gajraj Rao, and Bruno Smadja, who is the founder of the Mobile Film Festival, among others. What started in a co-working space in Gurugram back in 2019 has substantially grown into a full-fledged festival with the participation of filmmakers from 18 countries, including Tunisia, Russia, USA, Canada, Singapore, Italy, Taiwan, etc. Paul intends it to be a traveling festival. For its next edition in February 2022, it will travel all the way to Dubai.


TGIFF 2021, held at PVR Select City Walk, Saket, opened with the screening of the Oscar-winning short film “The Neighbors' Window” from the US. Tunisian-American filmmaker Meryam Joobeur’s Oscar-nominated short film ‘Brotherhood’ was also screened at the festival. Some other important films that got screened at the festival included the Maniesh Paul starrer “Hichki”, Sonu Nigam starrer “Spotless”, Shankar Mahadevan starrer “Decoding Shankar”, Manjot Singh Starrer “Dream 1”, “Doorbeen”, “Halwa”, the Oscar-nominee “Sister”, and “Shahi Paneer”, among others.

The festival was supposed to take place earlier this year but it got delayed due to the second wave of the pandemic. The dignitaries present at the opening ceremony included Mrs. Hayet Talbi, the Ambassador to India from Tunisia, Anthony Miranda, Cultural and Educational Affairs Counsellor, U.S. Mission to India, US Consulate, Sandeep Marwah, Founder of AAFT University, actor Maniesh Paul, YouTube sensation Sumeir Pasricha, and actor-producer Sohila Kapoor.

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