Harmeet Basur

Harmeet Basur is a famous cinematographer and Director of photography. Harmeet earned his Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1996. He left his job as an engineer to pursue his passion for performing and the visual arts, which led to filmmaking and cinematography. He completed his Masters in Mass Communication in Cinematography from the Mass Communication Research Centre in 2001. He started his career as a lecturer at the Institute of Film and Television, Rai University for two years and conducted a three-month training in TV programming, in Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of the UNESCO project.

In his early days, he worked as a Facilitator & Resource person at the Centre for Education and Voluntary Action (CEVA)- Chandigarh for various participatory research projects, community programs, media campaigns, and sensitization programs with children and women. His first film as a director of photography is Hum Saya, shot in Afghanistan in 2008. Among his award-winning work are documentaries about social change, human interest, wildlife, and the environment, such as " No Problem Click to look into! >> Read More... ," "India's Daughter," "Looking for Sultan," and "3 Seconds Divorce," as well as short films like "Here and Away" and "Villari".

Besides that, he has worked for many TV stations and news networks, including BBC UK, PBS US, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel, VH1, CNBC UK, Star TV, Channel News Asia, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). His film, 'Chasing the Light,' made during covid lockdown, won the Gold Award at the PSBT Film Challenge 2020-21. He is also a freelance photographer who has done work for newspapers, magazines, and non-profits on a variety of projects. In Afghanistan, he took publicity and production stills for Siddiq Barmak's movie "Opium War." His pictures have been in Time, The Hindu, Discover India Discover India is a series of documentaries commis >> Read More... , DNA, and Timeri N. Murari's book The Taliban Cricket Club.

He has also performed in theatre productions including Akh Di Dehleez, directed by G.S. Chani and choreographed by Navtej Johar at the International Festival of Theatre and Dance, Lahore, Pakistan, and Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit under the aegis of Alliance Francaise's Theatre de Poche. He has been a guest facility at I.P. University and conducted workshops as part of the Greenhub fellowship with the youth from remote areas and marginalized communities. In his spare time, he pursues his passion for birding.