Vinta Nanda is a writer, producer, and director best known for writing Tara and other popular Hindi television shows in the 90s like Sheila, Miilie, and Papa.
In Oct 2018, Nanda alleged that actor Alok Nath had spiked her drink and then ra*ed her. This was almost 19 years when she was a writer for the TV serial Tara. Vinta’s accusation gave steam to Tanushree Dutta initiated Metoo movement in Bollywood, after which a lot of women came up to speak up, against workplace harassment.
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Early Life and Education
Vinta was born on 8th July 1970, in Chandigarh, Punjab. As a kid, she did not like to attend school and had a rebellious attitude against all that did not seem natural. She read a lot of non-fiction and fiction books, history, biographies, literature, and drama, all of which were not a part of the syllabus.
After school, she attended Punjab University and passed out with a degree in Political Science and English. She was supposed to pursue MBA, but dropped out in order to make a career in writing.
Vinta Nanda – Young Pictures
Vinta Nanda -Now
Career
After graduation, Nanda got involved in theater. She also began working as AD (assistant director) to many well-known Indian movie directors. At the same time, she was also writing for several Hindi shows on TV. Her first big hit as a director was Tara which got her fame and recognition as a writer.
At age 24, Vinta launched Tracinema, a production company, which was involved in the making of Tara. Subsequently, she wrote, produced, and/or directed different Hindi serials such as Shatranj, V3 Plus,Umeed, 10 Civil Lines, Raahat, Cafe 18, Agnichakra, Raahein,Miilee, and Sansaar, etc., as well as several documentaries, talk shows, and telefilms, etc. She was the director and write of Kabhie Kabhie and the co-producer of Aur Phir Ek Din.She was also the director, writer, and co-producer of the movie White Noise which starred Rahul Bose and Koel Purie.
Nanda later worked as Director Ideation at Zee Network and saw the channel’s growth from just 1 channel to 16 channels. As Director Ideation, she was responsible for development of content strategies for Zee in conjunction with the marketing department.For the years 2009 and 2010, she was the curator for the film section of Kala Ghoda Festivals.
Vinta is the co-founder and the current Managing Director at ACEE (Asian Centre for Entertainment Education). The firm, also known as The Third Eye, works along with studios, networks, creative communities, and producers for enrichment of content via ensuring that the information shown on different major issues like social problems and health, etc., are accurate and real. She has also founded a media company called The Daily Eye. She has nearly stopped working as a writer and devotes most of her time with these two companies.
Trivia
- Personal life: She used to be in a live-in relationship with fashion designer Salim Asgarally. She is currently married to a businessman from Pune.
- NGO: Nanda is the co-founder of Project Smita, an NGO, with the idea of exploiting popular media and its power for the purpose of bringing about social change. It is first such organization to have used popular TV and film stars to commit to causes like endorsement of children, women’s, and other health problems in the country as well as other forms of social change.
- The NGO has produced a lot of great content for theatre and TV. It has also carried out research and noted down the effect of all such content produced by the NGO. It has produced telefilms like Nazariya, Anant, and Paigham, and serials like Kasbah and Sheila, and documentaries like The Distant Thunder and Vaastav.
Controversy
In October 2018, during the #MeTooIndia movement, Nanda held a press conference and recounted her story of alleged se*ual misconduct by Alok Nath. She had accused the actor of ra*e and recounted the ordeal that she had to undergo in a Facebook post.
Subsequently, film actors Deepika Amin andSandhya Mridul also accused Nath of sexual misconduct and posted their allegations on social media.
CINTAA (Cine and TV Artistes’ Association) and IFTDA (Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association) have since then issued notices to Alok Nath for clarification on the allegations of rape and sexual harassment. The allegations were denied by Nath and his lawyer.
On Oct 14, 2018, Alok Nath filed a civil defamation suit against Nanda and asked for INR 1 compensation and a written apology. Vinta’s lawyer has stated that they will legally fight the case and also confirmed that the defamation notice has not been served to them as yet. Alok Nath’s wife has also served legal notices on Nanda.
