YouthArts Mentorship
Mentors
Mohit Agarwal
Mohit Agarwal is a director, actor and a musician based in Mumbai, India. Mohit, who has been practicing theatre for the past 10 years, received his training from the National School of Drama, Barry John's Acting Academy and Anupam Kher's Actor Prepares. In his dynamic career, Mohit has performed in over 25 plays, and directed over 3 plays and 25 music videos.
Recently, he directed a musical dastangoi based on Ameer Khusro, which premiered at the Prithvi Theatre Festival, 2019. The musical play marked its success with performances at renowned cultural festivals, including Jashn-e-Rekhta in Delhi and the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa. Moreover, his second film ‘Agra’ premiered at Cannes, captivated audiences in Busan, and won the Best Actor in both New York and Melbourne.
Karan Khurana
Karan Veer Khurana is a stand-up comedian, actor and improviser. He has performed across Europe, including with the National Theatre, London and Prague Shakespeare Company. Now based in Mumbai, he has performed with The Company Theatre at Prithvi. He also regularly performs stand up with unique musical and clowning related acts.
Mentor
Aslam Saiyad
Aslam Saiyad is a social documentary photographer and educator from Mumbai who addresses environmental and community issues through his work. He lectures in mass media and communication at St. Xavier's College and Ecole French Design Institute, bringing academic depth from his master's degrees in Environmental Science and Anthropology.
He mentors photographers at Canon Training Center and curates street exhibitions like the "Mumbai Rivers Photo Project" and "The Last Bhistis of Mumbai," critically examining urban development's impact on Mumbai's environment and communities. As co-founder of walk tour company Hallu Hallu, he amplifies indigenous voices and fosters understanding of the complex relationship between urban growth, environmental degradation, and local livelihoods in Mumbai.
Mentors
Saniya MQ
Saniya Mistri Kaiyumuddin, popularly known as Saniya MQ, is a powerful rapper, poet, and storyteller emerging from the streets of Mumbai. She began her artistic journey in 8th standard and launched her YouTube channel in 2021 at just 16 years old, capturing hearts with her fearless expression and socially conscious lyrics.
Her work has been featured by BBC, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, India Today, and Rolling Stone, establishing her as one of India's most impactful young hip-hop voices. She has a loyal community of over 80,000+ Instagram followers and 18,000+ YouTube subscribers, recently appearing on Jio Hotstar's "Hafta Wasooli" hosted by Munawar Faruqui in a special Women’s Day episode. Her track, “Ek Hi Baat Hai,” was released under the banner of Tiger Baby Records.
Danish
Danish is a rapper, beatboxer, singer, shaayar/poet based out of Bombay70 Kurla West who started his journey with beatbox in 2011. He later joined a sufi hip hop band, developing skills in classical and sufi music.
In 2024, Danish was top 10 on MTV Hustle, an Indian hiphop reality show. He has worked for Qyuki, founded byShekhar Kapur, A.R. Rahman, and Samir Bangara. Danish has opened for notable artists like Kailash Kher, Akshith Aacharya, MC Altaf and KAAM BHARI. He has collaborated with BOBKAT, pioneer of Indian Reggae Hip-Hop, and worked with Major C. In 2023, Danish mentored aspiring rap artists for Govandi Arts Festival, helping create Code 43 - a rap group from Govandi, alongside DRJ Sohail and Tash. In the same year, he signed with TM Music, released an EP and singles, and is now working on multiple independent and mainstream projects.
Mateen Ansari
Mateen Ansari, popularly known as Ansari, has been into rap since 2020. Starting by listening to underground artists, he developed a passion for hip-hop and began recording YouTube covers of commercial songs. After a year of experimenting and learning, he created his own YouTube channel and started sharing original songs written, recorded, and performed by him. His first song, ‘Sukoon’, resonated deeply with audiences and earned family support, opening many doors and the chance to perform and judge at college events, which boosted his confidence.
He is also a part of CodeFourtyThree - a rap group from Govandi which emerged during the Govandi Arts Festival in 2023, under the guidance of Danish, DRJ Sohail, and Tash. Together, they have done many shows and written songs focused on the youth of Govandi.
The collaboration between Recanteur and Community Design Agency (CDA) is aimed at training local Kathakars (community storytellers) to document and amplify the authentic voices of residents of Govandi (Mumbai). Through this initiative, the teams aspire to foster deeper community engagement and contribute to the festival’s vision of creating climate-resilient, equitable, healthy, and vibrant communities.
Mentors
Pritha Chakraborty
Pritha Chakraborty is an independent filmmaker and a creative producer based out of India. Raised in small-town India, Pritha has a unique perspective on the politics of gender, geography, and class, which is often reflected in her works. Pritha enjoys working with simpler narrative forms with nuanced and layered complexities that make up our everyday lives. As the Lead Mentor at the filmmaking mentorship, she pushes curious young filmmakers from Govandi to explore and express what inspires them through the art of filmmaking.
Anisha Sharma
Anisha is an emerging documentary filmmaker with a background in storytelling, production, and community engagement. Over the past six years, Anisha has managed productions with Out of the Box Theatre Productions, worked as an Assistant Director in various production houses including The Viral Fever(TVF), and managed communities across diverse spaces in India. Currently, she serves as an Assistant Mentor at Recanteur, where she helps young storytellers in Govandi explore filmmaking as a tool for expression and change.
Aritra Basu Roy
Aritra Basu Roy is a driven visual storyteller, researcher, and community trainer with a strong academic foundation in Journalism and Mass Communication from Amity University. At Recanteur, Aritra plays a pivotal role as Assistant Mentor, where she trains and mentors young community storytellers—our Kathakars—to use mobile filmmaking as a tool for empowerment and change. At Govandi, she works to guide young filmmakers to explore and capture stories using the lens of climate change, gender and food.