Sujata Kulshreshtha amplifies the impact of NGOs through visual storytelling under the banner Wide Angle Films 

In1979 when Noida based filmmaker Sujata Kulshreshtha enrolled in National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad (NID), she had no idea how her career would unfold. However, in the third year of her design college, when she attended a workshop she developed an interest in social impact storytelling. Since then she has been amplifying the impact of non-profit organizations through  visual storytelling.

63-year-old Sujata Kulshreshtha shared her journey of making social films with D 4 Change Life.

After schooling at the Welham Girls School in Dehradun, Sujata Kulshreshtha was figuring out a college to pursue  architecture in Ahmedabad. She eventually got to know about the visual communication course in National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad (NID) and with this, her college hunt was ended. Because Visual Communication covered multiple skills- photography, graphic design, illustration etc.

“When I found out about NID, I said that I’m not going to go anywhere else but here. Because I had a very keen interest in photography and that course had photography training also,” said  Sujata.

She further added, “My father and I had a lot of interest in photography. From my school time, I had one small camera.” Her father was in the Indian Army. 

It was 1984 when she was in her last year of NID college that she attended a workshop. Which she believes made a huge impact on her career. Talking about the workshop,  the award-winning  filmmaker Sujata Kulshreshtha  said that the workshop was about making films for social impact. The workshop was called ‘Are you Listening’ by a lady called Martha Stuart. It was being conducted for SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) and Sujata was selected for filmmaking training under the workshop.

“The medium of visual communication and its social impact excited me a lot. The fact that, through this medium, there is a possibility of a very large social impact that you can create. Because it’s a medium that excites everybody. Everybody enjoys watching,” Sujata expressed her excitement.

That exposure to social impact made Sujata keen to pursue social impact films later in her career.

After the Visual Communication course from NID, she joined Film Addicts which was a film making company ran by Raj Kumar Kapoor. He was an Indian actor, producer and director. He was also a colonel in the Indian Army.  Sujata worked there for 2-3 years and helped Raj Kumar build the company. 

For a short period of time, Sujata also worked as a freelancer with NDTV. She worked very closely with the founders of NDTV Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy.

In 1988, Sujata founded Wide Angle Films to take up films that excite her most. Since, she was very keen on pursuing social impact films ever since she attended the workshop in NID college, she began doing non-profit organizations (social impact) films alongside corporate films.

“I do social impact films despite the fact that social Impact films pay less as compared to corporate films. Because, I enjoy working on social impact films and I find huge gratification since such films create a huge impact,” said Sujata, founder of Wide Angle Films. Now, apart from corporate films and social impact films, it also makes discoveries.

Over the last 35 years, Wide Angle Films has made over a 100 films, wherein 50% of them are social impact films. To name a few, Sujata and her team worked on films like Breaking Barriers for UNICEF, Roshan’s Story for Room to Read,  Girl’s Do Math for Khan Academy, She Breaks Barriers for ADIDAS, Empowering Communities (a set of 8-films for World Bank) and 6-films on Mental Health for Adolescents (UNICEF).

“As a filmmaker, we have to figure out how we can make a film’s story impactful for the audience. Because, through the films, the impact of the non-profits’ works get amplified,” said Sujata. Apart from amplifying the impact of the NGOs, social impact films help the NGOs raise funds and seek donations for the work they are doing.

She went on explaining how she and her team make films impactful and said, “we try to identify the main character of the story and make the story as such that can change the perception of people towards certain things happening in the society. Character of the story makes the story more impactful.”

Wide Angle Films has also shot the recent highly acclaimed film- Legends of the Ramayana with Amish on Discovery. The idea of shooting the film was to geographically map the Ramayana in today’s day and age, tracing the exile period from Ayodhya to Sri Lanka. The show aims to engage the audience by introducing unfamiliar parts of the story and bringing them to life. The show was well-received on Discovery.

The film was a success across economic areas, attracting people of all ages and backgrounds. The show’s success is attributed to its engaging visuals and the ability to engage audiences across various economic backgrounds.

Sujata along with her team of Wide Angle Films have won various awards for making films impactful for corporates and non-profits.