S.M.M. Ausaja
- Production Manager
- Production Designer
Film historian, author and memorabilia archivist S M M Ausaja, has been researching cinema since 1989. It began in his hometown Lucknow for Lucknow City Magazine, reviewing the latest releases during graduation studies. After graduating in management he began a stint in TV Software production, joining Plus Channel India Ltd in Mumbai under Amit Khanna and Mahesh Bhatt on India's first English daily A Mouthful of Sky in 1996. He went on to produce several TV shows in the years to come. Concurrently, his columns on cinema continued in various journals viz. G-magazine, Movie, tehelka.com, Screen etc. His stint with TV software production continued in companies like Plus Channel India Ltd, Integral Productions, HFCL Nine Broadcasting and Gemini Studios where he executed various popular projects. He has also directed documentaries on Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hema Malini which were telecast on prime-time television.
His cinema memorabilia archive is considered to be the single largest private archive in the country! For almost four decades, he has tirelessly collected rare first print posters of films released in the last 100 years, helping preserve an art form that has been forgotten in the digital era. Besides the posters, archive includes a formidable collection of photographs, lobby cards, hand bills, glass slides, postcards and film magazines. His debut book Bollywood in Posters released in 2009 and was rated a bestseller by India Today. The book, with a Foreword by Amitabh Bachchan (who also released it at the IIFA awards, Macau, as well as in India) got two nominations at the prestigious Vodafone-Crossword Book Awards under the Best Non-Fiction and Best Popular Book categories. He was featured on CNN International's Icons show (2011) on Poster Art. He is also consulted frequently on the film industry issues by various media outlets on various programs, features and reports. As part of superstar Amitabh Bachchan's 70th birthday celebrations event B-70, Ausaja held an exclusive preview of vintage posters of his collection to great appreciation. The event was hosted by Mrs Jaya Bachchan and inaugurated by Mrs Kokilaben Ambani.
Ausaja's second book 'Bollywood: The Films! The Songs! The Stars!' co-authored with eminent writers was released by Amitabh Bachchan in December 2017. The book published by DK Books, a division of Penguin Random House, also had a Foreword by Amitabh Bachchan. In 2018, to celebrate superstar Amitabh Bachchan's 75th year, Ausaja curated a unique exhibition on the life and times of Amitabh Bachchan at St Regis Mumbai. The exhibition was inaugurated by the superstar himself, praising the event on his social media handles the next day. In 2019 Ausaja was a consultant on the prestigious Oral History Project on Amitabh Bachchan, commissioned by the The Academy of Motion Picture, Arts & Sciences in collaboration with the Film Heritage Foundation. In January 2020, he curated an exhibition on the life and times of celebrated writer Javed Akhtar, which was opened by Farhan and Zoya Akhtar. Ausaja's next book The Bachchans, an ambitious coffee-table project by Om Books International, is due in 2021. It's a career chronicle of five celebrities in a family with rare visuals and extensive research.
Ausaja is working as Senior Vice President at Osianama in Mumbai - India's premier research Centre and auction house for art and cinema.
His cinema memorabilia archive is considered to be the single largest private archive in the country! For almost four decades, he has tirelessly collected rare first print posters of films released in the last 100 years, helping preserve an art form that has been forgotten in the digital era. Besides the posters, archive includes a formidable collection of photographs, lobby cards, hand bills, glass slides, postcards and film magazines. His debut book Bollywood in Posters released in 2009 and was rated a bestseller by India Today. The book, with a Foreword by Amitabh Bachchan (who also released it at the IIFA awards, Macau, as well as in India) got two nominations at the prestigious Vodafone-Crossword Book Awards under the Best Non-Fiction and Best Popular Book categories. He was featured on CNN International's Icons show (2011) on Poster Art. He is also consulted frequently on the film industry issues by various media outlets on various programs, features and reports. As part of superstar Amitabh Bachchan's 70th birthday celebrations event B-70, Ausaja held an exclusive preview of vintage posters of his collection to great appreciation. The event was hosted by Mrs Jaya Bachchan and inaugurated by Mrs Kokilaben Ambani.
Ausaja's second book 'Bollywood: The Films! The Songs! The Stars!' co-authored with eminent writers was released by Amitabh Bachchan in December 2017. The book published by DK Books, a division of Penguin Random House, also had a Foreword by Amitabh Bachchan. In 2018, to celebrate superstar Amitabh Bachchan's 75th year, Ausaja curated a unique exhibition on the life and times of Amitabh Bachchan at St Regis Mumbai. The exhibition was inaugurated by the superstar himself, praising the event on his social media handles the next day. In 2019 Ausaja was a consultant on the prestigious Oral History Project on Amitabh Bachchan, commissioned by the The Academy of Motion Picture, Arts & Sciences in collaboration with the Film Heritage Foundation. In January 2020, he curated an exhibition on the life and times of celebrated writer Javed Akhtar, which was opened by Farhan and Zoya Akhtar. Ausaja's next book The Bachchans, an ambitious coffee-table project by Om Books International, is due in 2021. It's a career chronicle of five celebrities in a family with rare visuals and extensive research.
Ausaja is working as Senior Vice President at Osianama in Mumbai - India's premier research Centre and auction house for art and cinema.