Kumararaja, the filmmaker who can write

Name: Thiagarajan Kumararaja
Better Known As: The Orambo scriptwriter.
Age: Perhaps under 32.
Gift: Fabulous characterization. Unusual point of view. A storyteller who can think beyond a story.
Fact you didn't know about him: His ad film outfit is called East India Company.
What he's capable of doing: Give Tamil Cinema a taste of things to come.
What he must watch out for: Detailing. Detailing. Detailing.

Samanth, the writer prodigy

Name: Samanth Subramanian
Better Known As: Ace quizzer, movie columnist & Chennai's brightest spark.
Age: Just 25.
Gift: Has more grey cells per square inch than the average tam bram. Can dominate any field he chooses. At ease writing about Dosas or Dostoevsky. Seems clear about what he wants out of life.
Facts you didn't know about him: He's directed plays. Acted in so many of them. Is a graduate in journalism from Penn State. Currently he's studying International Affairs at Columbia University.
What he's capable of being: The first Indian editor of Time magazine or New Yorker.
What he must watch out for: When you have loads of talent, you are tempted to try out too many things.

avi, the diehard maverick

Name: Avinash Subramaniam
Better Known As: Dopppsy the devil or the daily unusual.
Age: Sometimes he looks a thousand years old. When he shaves he looks 35.
Gift: Can defend anything. Can land jobs without trying. Can write. Can charm women. Can get attention when he wants.
Facts you didn't know about him: He's a great copywriter in the british sense. He's coined over 700 words. Tony Greig wrote the foreword for one his yet-to-be published books on cricket. He used to be a popular rediff columnist. He's worked for Sportstar, Worldspace and innumerable ad agencies.
What he's capable of being: He can be a Casanova, Osho or a literary Dali. Knowing him, he might choose to be none of these because I said so.
What he must watch out for: The ability to self destruct. The instinctive desire to play devil's advocate. And the lack of any beliefs whatsoever.

Shridhar, New Bollywood's Screenplaywriter

Name: Shridhar Raghavan
Better Known As: The guy who wrote Apharan, Bluffmaster & Khakee.
Age: Don't have much facts on him. But I guess he must be 30 plus.
Gift: Good characterisations. Sleek storylines. Powerful dialogues (credit here must be shared with Rajat Arora).
Criticism he must weather: He's yet to produce a sparklingly original screenplay.
What you didn't know about him: He's worked with Kundan Shah. And is the guy behind the SONY TV series CID.
What he's capable of being: Crafter of Bollywood 2.0.

Badri, the Tamil Gutenberg

Name: Dr. Badri Seshadri
Better Known As: The guy who also founded Cricinfo.
Age: 35 is what his blog says.
Gift: The vision to see opportunities that not many see. The passion to make it happen.
What he does for a living: Runs New Horizon Media, a publishing house that's in the process of revolutionizing the way regional books are written, designed and sold in India.
What he is doing that no one has done before: Has injected fresh content into the stagnant Tamil & Telugu market. Has created Kamadhenu, an amazon.com equivalent for regional books. Is trying to attract venture capital funding in regional publishing. Is in the process of creating a chain of regional bookstores.
What you didn't know about him: He is a Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University. And is from IIT Madras.
What he's capable of being: The rocket launcher of a zillion original minds who think and write in a regional language.

Kabeer, Writer & Director

Name: Kabeer Kaushik.
Better Known As: The guy who made Sehar.
Age: Dunno. May be thirty plus.
Gift: Authentic story teller. Got an eye for detail that not many possess in Bollywood. Very bold and smart in casting. And a decent writer.
What he does for a living: Makes commercials and audio visuals for Vainteya Communications.
What he must not bother about: About criticism that his debut film was not 'commercial' enough.
What you didn't know about him: He was an assistant to Shyam Benegal & Muzaffar Ali.
What he's capable of being: With the right financial backing, he can easily give the likes of Sudhir Mishra a run for their money.

Rajesh, the idea tap.

Name: Rajesh.
Better Known As: Thalaivar Rajesh.
Age: He pretends he is 15. But he's 35.
Gifts: Word wizard. Idea Tank. Talent Magnet. Effortless humour. Sensitive soul.
What he does for a living: Plays Atlas at McCann-Erickson, Chennai.
What he has forever postponed: Spending more than ten precious minutes on any creative pursuit.
What you didn't know about him: A foodie and a good cook, he always wanted to open a restaurant called Sandwichcraft.
What he's capable of being: The next David Abbott / Neville Cardus / Sigmund Freud.