The festival committee of 15th International Short and Independent Film Festival Dhaka'19 recently arranged a master class which was conducted by the eminent Indian filmmaker Kumar Shahani. Centering on the subject 'Mise-en-scène', the class was held on December 10 at the Jatiyo Chitrashala Auditorium of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Segunbagicha in the city. In cinema, 'Mise-en-scène' is a French term used to refer to everything that appears before a camera and its arrangement-composition, sets, props, actors, costumes and lighting.

Shahani was born in Larkana, Sindh (now in Pakistan) in 1940. After the partition of India in 1947, Shahani's family shifted to the Mumbai city in India. He received honours degree from the University of Bombay in Political Science and History and studied screenplay writing and Advanced Direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, where he was a student of Ritwik Ghatak. He also studied under the renowned historian D. D. Kosambi. He was awarded a French Government Scholarship for further studies in France, where he studied at the Institut des Hautes études Cinématographiques (IDHEC) and assisted Robert Bresson on 'Une Femme Douce'.

He is best known for his film 'Maya Darpan' (1972), 'Tarang' (1984), 'Khayal Gatha' (1989), 'Char Adhyay' (1997), The Bamboo Flute (2000) and other works.