Shabnam Virmani

Shabnam Virmani is a film director specializing in documentaries. At Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology, Bangalore, she is an artist in residence since 2002. Shabnam was born in Punjab and studied in Delhi while worked in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. She has a son. She currently lives and works in Bangalore.

She studied journalism at the Times Research Foundation School, New Delhi. She also studied Development Communication and got a Masters Degree at The Cornell University, USA. She got a scholarship from Cornell University. It was the first time here, that she tried film-making. She started working with The Times of India, Jaipur in the year 1987. She wrote an article, ‘Roop Kanwar’s Sati.’ It took place in a village of Rajasthan called Deorala. It became very famous and historical. It led to a women movement. The practice of Sati was banned due to her article as well as the movement. She decided to quit journalism and take up film-making as the main job.

Her first documentary was ‘Have a Nice Day.’ It was a 20-minute long documentary based on her own experiences of trying to fit in the American Culture being an Indian student. She has directed various films such as When Women Unite which was based on the Anti-Liquor movement that was successful in Andhra Pradesh started by women. Tu Zinda Hai was another film about the women social activists that were famous in Madhya Pradesh. Apart from these films, various one-minute documentaries on TV were telecast. They covered all the major networks of television across India. They have been critically acclaimed.

Most of her works have won prestigious awards and honors. Drishti Media, Arts, and Human Rights were co-founded by Shabnam in the year 1993. It was established in Ahmadabad, Gujarat. It uses different communication aids to create social awareness and human rights awareness. It tries to strengthen grassroots communication. A number of well-known organizations are partners with Drishti. They are Unicef, Centre for Social Justice, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, SETU Abhiyan and Bharatiya Pratishthan (National Foundation for India). In 2002,

Shabnam created the Kabir Project on one of the most cherished saints and poets, Kabir Das. There are four documentaries covering the life of Kabir Das. They are Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein, Chalo Hamara Des, Koi Sunta Hai, and Had Anhad. She was very inspired by the music curated by Kabir. This inspiration led her to sing after learning from Prahlad Tipanya, her guru, and many other singers

. She is also learning Sufi music. She is now a folk singer and has done many concerts along with different singers and artists.

Shabnam Virmani got a chance to perform live in The Wire Dialogues. She presented Kabir's songs here. During the performance, she also told the people the meaning of all the songs. This program is held at St John's Auditorium in Bangalore. She sang many songs of Kabir, which were appreciated by the people.