GOVIND SARAIYA (B. 1929)

Gujarati and Hindi director born in Nadiad, Gujarat. Graduated from Bombay University. Studied animation on UNESCO fellowship at Walt Disney Studios and at the National Film Board of Canada where he was briefly apprenticed to Norman MacLaren?. Employed at Films Division, where he set up the animation lab before becoming independent film-maker. Feature films noted for their literary sources in Gujarati classics. Best- known film is his feature debut Saraswaticbandra which, along with its sequel Gunsundari No Ghar Sansar, is based on the epic novel of Govardhanwm Tripathi?. Saraswatichandra became a commercial hit helped by Kalyanji-Anandji's music. Mansai Na Diva, written by Zaverchand Meghani, is a biographical based on a cult figure in Gujarat. Ravishankar Maharaj, who worked among the 'criminal' tribes of Patanwadia and Baraiya, and later participated in Gandhi's Bardoli Satyagraha.

FILMOGRAPHY: 1956: Electricity in the Service Of Man (Doc); Grml'ing Wings (Doc): 1957: All About Teeth (Doc); Freedom on Wheels(Doc); Operation Sk}•(Doc); 1958: The Metric s:vstem (Doc); You and the Railways.· Footboard Travel(Doc); 1959: Banyan Deer (Doc); Notes that Matter(Doc); On Stamps and Stamping (Doc); 196o: A Great Problem (Doc); j.l:l!Jen Dreams Come True (Doc); 1961: Portrait of a Postman (Doc); Romance oft!Je Indian Coin (Doc); 1962: Dust the Killer (Doc); Metric i'vfeasures (Doc); 1963: A Man of Valour(Doc); Quickfire Plan (Doc); 1964 It Happened on a Saturday(Doc): Sterilisation of The Female(Doc); 1965: My wise Daddy (Doc); 1967: The Dreams ofMouji Ram (Doc); 1968: Saraswaticbandra; 1969: Leela (Doc); 1970: PriYa?; 1971: Chain Reaction (Doc); The Cheats (Doc); 1972: Gunsundari No Ghar Sansar, 1975: A ngare}: 1976: Sajjo Rani; 1977: Mansai Na Dim; 1980: Karo Kankutw: Four Faces (Doc); 1982: Tran Treniya Chha Chhabila Bahan·at(val Bachche Teen Aur Daku Chhe. 1984: Waqt Se Pehle; 1991: Saiyan Ke Gaon Mein (Doc).

Director

Documentary