The distinguished documentary film maker Rakesh Sharma spent an evening with the  students of Whistling Woods to discuss the creation of his two award winning films: Aftershocks- The Rough Guide to Democracy and Final Solution. Mr Sharma previously worked on various documentaries including Democracy in Crisis for Channel 4 UK, Beaches of India for the Ministry of Tourism and Seeds of plenty, Seeds of sorrow for BBC 1, The session attempted to ignite the spirit of expression within the future filmmakers in the audience.

Known for his unique style of documentary filmmaking, he does not believe in deadlines and revisits the edits often till he finds the right tone for the film.  Documentaries are all about capturing spontaneous moments and the right expression to get the message across to viewers, which is why, he does not believe in writing a script or a structure for the interview. Instead he often goes with the flow of the shoot and creates the film structure during the edit stage.

Two golden rules of interviewing for documentaries that he shared with students are

Rule 1: Clearly state that the intention of the interview will not benefit the interviewee materialistically but will make their voice heard.
Rule 2: Using devices like a palm recorder for certain interviews instead of a camera will help create comfort with the interviewee while addressing sensitive topics.