Founders of TOSS: Bridging Cinema, Art & Culture in Jaipur

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While Hitesh Adwani comes off as a calm and composed fellow, Shilpi Batra Adwani has a bubbly personality and is a master of words. Together, they have created TOSS (The Open Space Society); a place where art, culture, and cinema intersect. They are not only building a beautiful community of like-minded creative people in Jaipur but are also working towards imparting knowledge in the field of filmmaking, photography, and creative writing.

Cinema and movies are like their children; they inhale documentaries and exhale quality cinema. While they have together watched and critiqued thousands of movies, they always felt like these movies failed to reach the masses. To bridge that gap, the couple started screening some tastefully selected films. The tiny intimate hall meant for 20-30 people had almost 40-50 people showing up at every screening.

Hitesh and Shilpi

Shilpi’s life has been rather interesting, from a career in journalism to becoming a filmmaker; her story is full of ups and downs. She finds her roots in Afghanistan and is well-versed in Pashto. After working for some time in Delhi, she went to Afghanistan and worked as a Journalist in the war-torn country for a few years. Shilpi says, “I realized the power of media during my time in Afghanistan. I have also worked in India, but I felt we were making a direct impact there.”

She has been featured in several publications and has been interviewed countless times. She got famous for her documentary– ‘Sheenkhalai- The Blue Skin,’ a work-in-progress documentary that traces her roots as a Pashtun Hindu woman and the agonizing tales of the Hindu-Pashtuns’ displacement from Quetta in 1947.

 

Shilpi with her grandmother (image credits: Shilpi Batra Adwani)

While Hitesh, who is originally from Jaipur, was into photography. “I used to work till four at night and then head straight out to the streets for photography.” He co-founded the Jaipur photography club out of his passion for photography, which is now a community of more than 10K like-minded people. He also runs a successful business in Jaipur and divides his time between TOSS and his company.

 

Hitesh Adwani (image credits: TOSS)

The couple met during an event in Delhi and immediately hit it off. Shilpi, at the time, was covering the event for a film she was working on, and Hitesh was a budding photographer passionate about capturing whatever pleased his eyes. They dated for quite some time before deciding to marry eventually.

While they were still dating, Shilpi decided to move to Afghanistan to explore mass media, journalism, and filmmaking in the country. And Hitesh continued to work in Jaipur, looking after his business. But the gripping stories from Afghanistan convinced Hitesh to visit Shilpi there.

In 2013, the couple organized several photography workshops in the region, trying to create awareness and impart knowledge. That’s when the duo realized that many young people in the region were very keen on learning about photography and filmmaking but lacked the resources to go for a bachelor’s or masters in it. And that’s when it struck them,

“Whenever we used to meet with people, we used to feel that everyone has a story, but they don’t have the time or the resources to go for a two-year course. Which is why we thought that in just two weeks we could teach them the basic skillset they’ll need to express themselves, and that’s what we are trying to do with these courses,” says Hitesh

Except for these workshops and courses, the couple also hosts regular screenings of different movies and documentaries at the TOSS theatre– a small, intimate theatre with state-of-the-art technology. However, the best part about these screenings is the post-screening discussions and the Q&A with the director of the films.

Despite being a tier two city, Jaipur was the first choice for Shilpi and Hitesh, as they wanted to give something back to their hometown. Today, TOSS has partnered with esteemed organizations such as the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to impart knowledge through a series of workshops and courses. Follow them on Instagram to stay updated with their latest ventures.