Ish Amitoj

Ish Amitoj Kaur is a renowned filmmaker, writer, and theatrician who resides in the U.S. She is the founder of Theatre Factory and Fiery of Blossom creations. Mrs Kaur is a theatre and film professional with over eighteen years of experience working with children of all ages. Best known for her movies Chhevan Dariya (The Sixth River) and Kambdi Kalaai (Trembling Wrist), she is the first-ever woman to write, direct, and produce a Punjabi Feature Film. Mrs. Kaur grew up in the Punjab, in the city of Shimla. She has a professional background and training in the performing arts. She earned a Master’s in theatre at Panjab University in Chandigarh and a fellowship from the National School of Drama. She was involved in numerous productions and went on to work on several films. Later, she carried on with her creative journey in creative writing at Stanford.

After having assisted in Urdu sitcoms she worked as an assistant director in the famous film, Pinjar, based on a novel on Partition, Mrs Kaur’s first film, ‘Kambdi K is a tribute to Bhai Vir Singh Ji.it is a film focused on the state of oscillation of the human mind, which makes it difficult to grasp the truth. The title song, ‘Supne vich Tusin Mile Assanu’ is the creation of the master metaphysical Punjabi Poet Dr. Bhai Vir Singh. The song depicts his spiritual experience. The same has been used for ethical righteousness, which we find difficult to attain due to a lack of steadfastness. She worked with Literacy India which encouraged thousands of kids to be a part of theatre workshops. Ish uses a Brechtian approach in her teachings.

Though she has evolved her methodology her works reflect Epic theatre and alienation effect. Kaur develops her plays while improvising with the characters. The plays gradually evolve through live conversations with characters and their reactions to various subjects. She has successfully dealt with problems like bullying, failure, digital dementia, empowerment, and innovation in her plays. The didactic element is the keynote of her scripts. These kids later bagged main leads in Bollywood films. She later assisted in films including Asan Nu Maan Watna Da. Kaur later opened her own production company, Noor Nissan Productions, and pioneered the direction of movies made in the Sikh diaspora. Presently, she is working on an untitled book to be made into a Hollywood movie.