Exec Lifestyle?s Weekend Watch recommends and previews television shows, films and live events that you simply cannot miss! Check out our recommendations for this weekend (25 - 27 September).

About Town:

Those who love art to tell their own story rather than look for captions should head to the unique exhibition this weekend by artists Veer Munshi and Amit Mehra.

'Insider / Outsider' is an interplay of two distinct perception of the land by Veer Munshi and Amit Mehra in photographs and video. They are unified by their insistence to avert from the conventional representations of the valley. Munshi, living in exile from Kashmir, chronicles the loss and decay that has descended in places once alive. On the other hand, Mehra, a frequent visitor to the valley, captures the tense activity and anxiety in the contemporary context. Catch the exhibition displayed at Sakshi Gallery in Colaba, South Mumbai till 17 October from 11 am to 7 pm.

Television:

IBN7

This week?s Shabaash India episode will feature innovative ideas like the Nano Bike ? a two feet high, gearless bike designed for dwarf people, a drone created by a farmer in Raipur to spray insecticides and pesticides on the farm land and a posture correcting chair ? developed by a student from Lucknow, this special device rings an alarm until one sits in the correct posture.

Don?t forget to watch this inspiring episode this 26 September at 8:30 pm exclusively on IBN7.

By Jigar Ganatra

Aspiring filmmakers across the globe come together to celebrate filmmaking with country?s most prolific cinematic names.

Steven Spielberg once said, ?You shouldn?t dream a film, you should make it.? We understand that a lot of people who dream about it, somehow do not get a platform to make and showcase their filmmaking ability.

This concern is what turned into the concept of Asia?s largest film making challenge ? India Film Project (IFP). Ahmadabad based Ritam Bhatnagar, the man behind the initiative who also dons several other roles of being a producer, distributor and an entrepreneur, shares some excerpts in an interview about the project.

Read on...

Tell us about the idea behind IFP.

India Film Project (IFP) began as a simple idea where we wanted filmmakers to meet and make a film, as an activity over the weekend, in just 50 hours. The basis behind this initiative was to provide a platform to thousands of budding filmmakers and technicians, thereby helping them showcase the talent.

We are currently in the fifth edition, but initially when we conceptualised it, we thought it would be a one-time event. The response we have received in our previous editions has helped us grow year after year.

Can you share the experience from previous editions?

In the first edition, the idea was to spread the word and bring together the talent we discovered across Ahmedabad. We found from our research that Ahmedabad had a lot of filmmaking talent. During the registrations, we expected around 200 entries, but were surprised to receive 600 entries in total. We realised that there was a massive talent pool in search of a platform. Thus, the project was planned year after year with increasing number of entries. In the third edition, IFP went national and that?s when we knew what they all were looking for.

What is special about this edition?

This year, the event has gone international. We are proud to have received around 640 entries from 182 cities and 18 countries, and we are expecting around 15,000 filmmakers this year. We work hard on deciding the theme every year, so as to make the films interesting.

'There is a Twist in the End? is the theme we decided this year. The participants were asked to submit their entries with a compulsory element of dance.

Have you received any support from the film industry?

We are pleased that the industry has been very supportive. Every year we have been lucky to get renowned members from the movie business. This year too, we have critically acclaimed jury from the film industry on board, which includes the famous filmmaker Ketan Mehta, Onir (from Anticlock Films), Guneet Monga of Lunch Box fame and film critic Raja Sen.

Tell us more about your association with Gujarat Government.

The success we have seen with this event made us believe that the event could be very unique to the state of Gujarat. Surprisingly, the response we received from the government was also the same. We were told that the government was looking for an initiative that becomes an identity for the state. Further, the winners will be given an opportunity to shoot an ad film for Gujarat Tourism, which according to us, is a big opportunity for any filmmaker.

What prizes do the winners get every year?

The team at IFP do not believe in cash awards. We have always wanted to give them an opportunity to work on a big project, so that they create a mark and the event holds a big place in their career. This has helped the participants to take up film and ad making as a career. Many are now associated with certain production houses too.

The selection of the winners would happen on different criteria, most importantly content, concept and writing. The winners this year would be registered as wild card entries at IFFI, Goa. Other prizes would include gadgets and few film making projects too.

More details about the event can be found here: http://indiafilmproject.co/#

By Papri Das

Ever felt the jitters right before you travel to a new place -- be it for work or leisure? And if it's a last minute trip, the planning, hotel reservations, ticket bookings, researching for places to see, all the while keeping the budget in check, complicates things further.

Add to that a huge group of people, each with their quirks and you have yourself a recipe for a pounding headache that will probably last your entire trip. This experience isn?t new to Snehal Dhruve, who was in the corporate world in the US for 10 years before deciding to follow his passion as an entrepreneur. His answer to the travel woes is GoHeroGo, a one stop app for all travel solutions.

?I am an avid traveller and no one app or website could ever help me in the research, plan and booking of my next outing. I?ve always been dependent on different tools and spent a lot of time on it. The intention to solve a real problem faced by travellers i.e. inconvenience while researching, planning and booking a travel activity became my inspiration to build this app,? shares Dhruve.

For his partner Jason Menezes, however, it was all about giving back something to the travelling community, which he has had been part of for several years. Although in line with Dhruve?s plight, Menezes had been personally hassled with the customer experience while booking across channels. ?It seemed as if no travel service provider cared about it while building a platform on mobile, online or offline,? he adds.

These collective discomfort with the way travellers have to plough through several apps and websites to plan a decent trip inspired the two to come up with GoHeroGo, which was launched to the Android and iOS marker on 1 September. ?It took two months to come up with an app powered with artificial intelligence technology. Our initial challenge was to find the right market fit for our product,? adds Dhruve.

So how does the app function? It's quite simple actually. You just have to chat. ?GoHeroGo is a chat-based travel concierge app, which uses artificial and human intelligence to fulfil customer requests across multiple categories like researching, planning and booking,? explains Menezes.

Simply put, just chat with the GoHeroGo team and ask whatever you need for your next travel plan. This includes flight or bus or rail tickets, a to-do itinerary, a cab or auto (subjective to city), trip essentials, restaurants of choice and more. ?Our trained team is standing by 24/7 to handle every request. We simply save you time and money by using artificial + human intelligence to process your request and order via chat,? assures Dhruve.

What sets this app apart from the collective pile of travel apps is the contextual travel information that the app provides 24X7. ?The app completes the booking on the customer?s behalf from the convenience of chat with real humans. Compare this to any travel app in India and you won?t see these offerings. Our app allows users to share their travel service provider preference for smarter response along with responses in beautifully created information cards,? Menezes explains.

Powered by their smart backend engine, the app effortlessly curates through many options and chooses the most relevant for users. ?We also have some tie-ups with selective online travel and product aggregators to provide the lowest price guarantee.?

With so many features, one would wonder how much the app costs. ?The app is free to download and so are its services on iOS and Google Play Store. There are no service charges from us or hidden fees. When you book things through us, you pay lesser than the price if you did it yourself,? comes Dhruve?s surprising response.

Fresh in the market since its launch at the Android and iOS stores, the app has garnered some patronage as well. ?We?ve got 1000 app downloads on Google Play and 1000 on iOS. We get 20 requests a day with 100 per cent response rate and purchase conversion ratio of five per cent per day,? informs an excited Menezes before signing off.