Subhash Ghai’s Whistling Woods International commences 2^nd batch with guest lectures by Rajkumar Hirani, writer & director of ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ & ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ and Syd Field, internationally-acclaimed screenwriting guru. Whistling Woods International commenced it 2^nd batch for its 2 yr full time program on 9^th January 07.

On January 12, 2006, Rajkumar Hirani spent 4 hours guest lecturing at WWI. He first interacted in a detailed session for 2 hours with the Direction, Editing, Screenwriting & Cinematography students of the 1^st batch and followed that up by a general interaction with all the students & faculty in the Pelicula Auditorium.

The students’ questions ranged on topics like which of his personal experiences he managed to use in creation of ‘Munnabhai’, his methodology of experimenting with the script & screenplay to achieve the desired result of ‘touching’ the audience, his technique of dealing with the performance styles of the different actors he has interacted with. He also elaborated on his experiences during his film training days and how they impacted his career in the years to come.

Rajkumar Hirani further described how his Editing experience helped him to be a better writer and a better director. “Films are made on 2 tables – the Writing table & the Editing table”. He explained how his knowledge about the medium grew with each film that he edited and the learning he took from the styles of directing of all the directors of the films that he edited.

Accompanying him was Mr. Murlidhar (the cinematographer of Lage Raho Munnabhai) who gave an extremely detailed technical analysis of the lighting, shooting and logistics involved in the song “Samjho ho hi gaya” and how they managed, in this song which was shot on a single street inside Mukesh Mills, to convert the street into a typical on-road marriage decoration & also into a circus.

After an exhaustive tour of the WWI, campus, Rajkumar Hirani quoted “I wish I was born late. This is the place I would have studied. A technically up-to-date fantastic environment - so conducive to studying”

On January 15, 2006, Syd Field visited WWI for a tour and an informal interaction on Media in general and Screenwriting in particular with all the students & faculty in the Pelicula Auditorium at WWI.

The students questions ranged on topics like the importance of the basic 3-act structure in writing for movies, the best way to start writing stories – both from a concept and from character-based writing. Syd field also discussed in detail the story, script & screenwriting of ‘Rang De Basanti’ and why it has appealed the way it has to all audiences of all age groups all over the world. He also mentioned that it was largely the writing that has led to the film being nominated under the ‘Best Foreign Film’ category for the BAFTA awards.

He further gave tips to students who were interested in knowing what the best way of breaking into the ‘Hollywood’ screenwriting industry was.

After a detailed campus tour of the WWI which included him planting a sapling on the institute grounds, Syd Field quoted “What an extraordinary experience to be in this school. A great step towards the future of Indian Cinema”.