Pradip Krishen

Pradip Krishen (b 1949), is an Indian filmmaker and environmentalist. He has directed three films, Massey Sahib in 1985, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones in 1989 and Electric Moon for Channel 4, UK in 1991. His films have won significant Indian and international awards, and In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones acquired cult status in the years after it was made.

He subsequently gave up filmmaking, and since 1995, has worked as a naturalist and environmentalist.

Education
Pradip Krishen is born in New Delhi and educated at Mayo College and St. Stephen's College, then at Balliol College, Oxford. He taught history at Ramjas College of University of Delhi, New Delhi.

Film-making
Before becoming a documentary filmmaker (Krishen made popular science documentaries). Krishen began work on a 21 episode television series intended for Doordarshan called Bargad / The Banyan Tree, a project Krishen was forced to abandon before completion, due to interference from the production house he was working for.
 * Massey Sahib: 1985 Hindi movie of Francis Massey, who is the 'English Type Babu' at the Deputy Commissioner's office, in a small, tribal district town of Central India in 1929.
 * In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones: 1989 Indian English TV film, in which it captured the anguish among the students prevailing in professional institutions. It is based on the life of students of School of Planning and Architecture At the 1988 National Film Award it won the awards for Best Feature Film in English.
 * Electric Moon: A 1992 Channel 4 production, spoofed game-park tourists, erstwhile royals, social pretence, and ecology.

Environmental work
Starting in 1995, Krishen began studying trees and spending time in the jungles of Panchmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, with the help of a forester friend. Krishen taught himself field botany and began identifying and photographing Delhi's trees, extensively exploring the city's green habitat. In the course of his work, Krishen led numerous public "tree-walks" on Sunday mornings and became a keen ecological gardener. Krishen has created "native-plant" gardens in Delhi, west Rajasthan, and Garhwal, and is currently working on two projects - a large planting scheme around a fort in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, and a multifaceted eco-initiative in the Sunder Nursery in New Delhi.

Krishen's book Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide, published by Dorling Kindersley/Penguin Group in 2006, met with popular and critical acclaim, and became a bestseller in India.

Personal life
Pradip Krishen is married to the Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy. He has two daughters, Pia Krishen and Mithva Krishen from an earlier marriage.

Works

 * Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide, by Pradip Krishen. Published by Dorling Kindersley (India), 2006. ISBN 0-14-400070-9.