Vivek Agrawal

'Vivek Agrawal, is a National Award winning producer of the English feature film Land Gold Women (2011). The film is the world’s first English language feature to explore the issue of honour killing. The film was released in India in conjunction with the Movement to End Honour Violence. The film and the movement were produced by A Richer Lens. A Richer Lens is run by Vivek and Avantika Hari Agrawal and Vivek serves as its CEO. A Richer Lens operates with offices in Mumbai, Dubai and London.

Born and educated in South Mumbai, Vivek has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance Management. He started working in an ad-film production house while in the 2nd year of his Bachelor’s degree.

In 2008, Vivek met Avantika Hari and started work on ‘Land Gold Women’. The film was shot over 24 days in Birmingham on Fuji’s Super 35mm Colour Stock. Casting took place over a 3-month period over which over 300 auditioned for the 9 main parts.

Land Gold Women has won the following awards:

1. India’s National Award 2010 for Best Feature Film in English.

2. The Foreign Correspondent Association’s Purple Orchid Award for Best Film.

3. Best Script/Screenplay (Avantika Hari) Award at the Asian Festival of First Films in 2009.

4. The Royal Reel Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Canada International Film Festival 2010.

5. The Best of Show Award at The Indie Fest, USA.

6. The Best Film (Runner Up) ReelHeART International Film Festival held in Toronto.

7. The Best Actor (Narinder Samra) ReelHeART International Film Festival held in Toronto.

8. The Best Cinematography (David Rom) ReelHeART International Film Festival held in Toronto.

After premiering in the Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of Goa in 2009, which screens 26 of the best films made by Indians in any given year, the film has received numerous nominations in various categories at International film festivals. The soundtrack of the film was nominated for an award at the East End Film Festival in 2010. The film also received a nomination for Best UK Feature for Avantika at the Festival.

Vivek and Avantika got married in 2009 after successfully making Land Gold Women

In 2010, Vivek was called upon by the Vistaar Religare Fund (India’s largest film producing fund) and Cinergy Pictures (headed by Sheetal V Talwar and Madhu Mantena) to produce the multi-million dollar film – Mausam (Seasons) being directed by the award winning veteran actor Pankuj Kapur, starring Bollywood superstars Shahid Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor. Mausam was one of the biggest productions in Bollywood in 2010/2011. The film was shot in Scotland, Switzerland and India (Punjab, Gwalior, Mumbai).

In 2011 he took up the challenge of producing – ‘London Paris New York’, a Bollywood film being presented by Fox Star India (the Indian arm of 20th Century Fox) under the banner of Rose Movies. The film is being directed by first time director Anu Menon and stars Ali Zafar and Aditi Rao. The film is shot in London Paris and New York with three virtual teams set up in these three cities.

Vivek has written two romantic comedies namely ‘Game Over’ and ‘When Jai Married Jeena’ to be directed by him in 2012/2013.

Game Over is an adaptation of the best selling novel ‘Game Over’ written by one of England’s most successful writer Adele Parks. ‘When Jai Married Jeena’ is an adaptation of ‘The Marriage Market’ written by the hugely successful British/Asian writer Nisha Minhas.