The Peninsula Studios at a Glance
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Founded — 2009
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Musicians Recorded — Nearly 2,000
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Field Recordings — 1,000+
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Artists in Residence — 80
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Brains Trust Conversations — 100+
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Vision to Victory — 26 hours of primary-source recordings across 24 conversations
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Musicians Now Recognised Nationally — 60+, performing in over 80 countries
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National Award — Won for Best Album, for Mast Qalandars, in 2012
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Vision to Victory Presented At — National Defence College, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Army War College, Indian Naval Academy, and the Western and Southern Naval Commands
The Peninsula Studios Story
The Peninsula Studios began in 2009 by recording musicians across the Indian subcontinent. That work has since grown into five institutions: a music archive, Brains Trust, Vision to Victory, Music Theatre, and FootPrint Films.
Together, they form a single institution dedicated to preserving music, ideas, and performance before they are lost — and to training the people who will carry that work.
That work has earned recognition beyond the studio's own walls: the National Award for Best Album, and presentations of Vision to Victory at India's leading defence and administrative institutions.
Today, The Peninsula Studios works across music, ideas, theatre, and film, with government institutions, universities, artists, and audiences in India and abroad.
The Peninsula Studios’ Musical Theatre productions are available for presentation by cultural organisations, corporations, universities, clubs, festivals, and public institutions. Enquiries for Emperors of Melody, Divas Ke Deevane, or future productions, please contact us.
For enquiries: Narinder Tawakley Mobile No. +91 9899004393
What We Have Built
Brains Trust — the institution's lead programme, recording the judgement of leaders, diplomats, soldiers, scientists, and scholars before it is lost. [Enter Brains Trust →]
Vision to Victory — Brains Trust's flagship presentation, built from primary-source testimony on the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, and recommended alongside Subroto Chattopadhyay's book, Bangladesh: Humiliation, Carnage, Liberation, Chaos. [Learn more on the Brains Trust page →]
Music — an archive of nearly 2,000 field-recorded musicians across the Indian subcontinent. [Explore the Music Archive →]
↳ Music Theatre — returns that archive to the stage, restoring the stories and context behind the recordings. [Discover Theatre →]
Emperors of Melody — a Music Theatre production celebrating S.D. Burman, O.P. Nayyar, R.D. Burman, and Madan Mohan, performed live alongside the original recordings and archival footage. [Learn more on the Theatre page →]
Divas Ke Deevane — a Music Theatre production covering the leading ladies of Hindi cinema, in the same live format. [Learn more on the Theatre page →]
Mast Qalandars — an album and performing ensemble drawn from field recordings across Rajasthan, and winner of the National Award for Best Album, in 2012.
FootPrint Films — a platform for the next generation of young filmmakers. [Discover FootPrint →]
Meet Our Team
Subroto Chattopadhyay
Co - Founder, Chairman
The Peninsula Studios
Subroto Chattopadhyay began in market research in 1979 before spending three decades creating and nurturing brands and businesses at Brooke Bond, ITC and PepsiCo.
He worked across tea, coffee, tobacco, beverages and foods, helping build businesses served by some of the world’s most recognised brands — Lipton, Aquafina, Tropicana, Gatorade, Gold Flake, India Kings, Benson & Hedges, 555 and Sundrop.
Later as Managing Director of HMV Saregama, he led the digitisation of its music archive and helped turn the business around. Somewhere along the line he produced Japanese Wife, directed by Aparna Sen.
Then he defected.
He co-founded The Peninsula Studios to preserve what is rare. Through its work, the studio archived more than two thousand folk and classical musicians, produced Coke Studio Roots, and created Brains Trust India, recording conversations with soldiers, diplomats, intelligence officers and scholars who witnessed history from the inside, including officers who helped liberate Bangladesh in 1971.
That work evolved into Vision to Victory, now studied at the National Defence College, LBSNAA, the National Police Academy and India’s War Colleges, and led to the book Bangladesh: Humiliation, Carnage, Liberation, Chaos.
He speaks to senior military officers, civil servants and corporate leaders on strategy, resilience and decision-making under pressure — using the liberation of Bangladesh as a case study in judgement, improvisation and moral courage.
His grandchildren think it’s perfectly normal that Dada’s friends are soldiers, spooks, diplomats, travellers and musicians. They may be right.
None of it is really about music or war. It is about what people carry when the stakes are real and nobody is watching — courage, judgement and moral clarity.
The margins are pathetic compared to FMCG.
The conversations are riveting.
Sita Raina
Co-Founder & Director
The Peninsula Studios
Sita Raina has spent her life bringing legends back to life.
But her truest calling has always been the stage. As an actor, producer, and director with a rich body of work across theatre, television, and cinema including a role in Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj Ke Khiladi she has spent decades at the heart of India’s performing arts.
At The Peninsula Studios, which she co-founded, she produces the Chamber Theatre series and directs Emperors of Melody a musical theatre tribute to the great composers of Hindi cinema’s Golden Era, celebrating the lives and legacies of SD Burman, OP Nayyar, RD Burman and Madan Mohan.
Her production Divas Ke Deevane honours the iconic women of Hindi cinema, and Mast Qalandars brings the soul of Rajasthan to life through folk music, storytelling, and performance.
She anchors all production and marketing initiatives at The Peninsula Studios and is the creative force that ensures every performance is not merely watched, but felt.
“Creating experiences that celebrate our legends, our music and our heritage, and connect them with today’s world.”
Major General Anil Dere
Director & CEO
The Peninsula Studios
Anil Dere is the producer of “Vision to Victory”, an audio-visual chronicle of Bangladesh’s liberation war in 1971.
He was commissioned into 62 Cavalry, in June 1981 and later commanded the same Regiment.
He is a graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, the Higher Command Course, Army War College, Mhow, the National War College, Washington DC, USA and the National Defence College, New Delhi. He has held important command, staff, and instructional appointments. His command appointments include command of an Independent Brigade, Commander of the Senior Command Wing, Army War College, Mhow and Senior Faculty at the National Defence College.
He retired after a distinguished career spanning over 36 years in January 2018.
Post his retirement, he provided leadership at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He is a keen sportsman and is credited with creating financially robust properties in sports, in particular golf and was the Captain of the Delhi Golf Club.
‘Vision to Victory is not a presentation. It is a leadership lens on power, strategy and decisive action’
Ratan Batliboi
Ratan conceptualised and designed The Peninsula Studios, which allows us to record music, produce TV programs and host theatre in the presence of over 200 guests. RJB is an eminent architect and designer.
Co-Founder, Independent Director - Architect
Bidisha Roy Das
Executive Vice President
The Peninsula Studios
Bidisha is the Co-Founder of the FootPrint Film Festival, a platform that screens films made by teenagers & young adults to share their distinct perspectives and empower them to take the lead.
A visual communicator she has been a broadcast journalist and independent filmmaker for over 2 decades. She has set up film archives and been a festival director. She designs frameworks, courses and facilitates students of all ages to learn the arts, the art of storytelling and content creation.
She is a semi classical vocalist.
Anil Srinivasan
Co-Founder, Independent Director-
Musician
Anil is a concert pianist and is passionate about introducing good music to new audiences, particularly young adults and children. An alumnus of Columbia University, he designed the idea of Live @The Peninsula Studios and Maestros in The Peninsula Studios as a producer.
Aneesh Jain
Independent Director
Aneesh is an engineering graduate from
IIT Kharagpur. He is a social entrepreneur.
Priyanjana Dutta
Executive Vice President
The Peninsula Studios
Priyanjana is the Co-Founder of the FootPrint Film Festival, a one-of-a-kind festival that offers teenagers and young adults to engage and learn from domains of filmmaking, Podcasting & Journalism.She is a freelance journalist, Chief of Bureau at CNN IBN and award winning filmmaker for more than 20 years ranging from politics, water, waste management and ecology, gender disparities, sustainability, environment and special investigation reports among many others.
Ananya Rane
Co-Founder, Filmmaker -
The Peninsula Studios
Ananya has driven audiovisual content creation
as Head Films in the early years of the studio.
She studied at the Film School in Prague.
She has worked with some of the best filmmakers
in Hollywood and India. Her latest work has been with Oscar-winning directors Ang Lee and Kathryn Bigelow. In India, she works with Ram Madhvani, Sooni Taraporewala and Homi Adajania.
M K Raina
Theatre Actor, Director and Producer
Maharaj Krishna Raina, popularly known as M.K. Raina presents Chamber Theatre @The Peninsula Studios. MK is one of India's best-known theatre actors and directors. In 1970, he graduated from the National School of Drama with a Best Actor award. Since 1972, he has been a freelance theatre worker and film person, working all over India in many languages and with many traditional forms.
He was also awarded one of India's highest theatre awards, the B.V. Karanth award for lifetime achievement in 2007.
Mohan Guruswamy
Mentor Brains Trust
A graduate of Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, he is President of the Center for Policy Alternatives. He curated the initial seasons of Brains Trust Live @ The Peninsula Studios.
Amitrajit Adhikari
Music Producer
Amitrajit Adhikari (Miti) has played the guitar arranged and programmed music for all our Discovering the Peninsula albums. He has a strong understanding of folk music traditions as well as modern-day songwriting, composing and arrangement techniques.
Neel Adhikari
Musician, Music Director
Neel has been an outstanding contributor to the music from The Peninsula Studios that has made a mark in the industry. He is responsible for mentoring all our artists in Discovering the Peninsula program and arranging / composing music for these projects. He has also played the guitars, ukulele and has given vocals in the Coke Studio Roots.
Avinash Chordia
Co-Founder Head Music
All our music content production has been led by Avinash.
As a professional musician, he regularly plays the drums with some of the best musicians in the country. He performs with the Saturday Night Blues band and The Supersonics, which he co-founded. He also does music production and arrangements.
Avinash has recently relocated to Sydney.
Narinder Tawakley
Co-Founder General Manager -
Head events & Artist Management
Narinder Tawakley has been a part of The Peninsula Studios from the very beginning. He was earlier the production planning manager at HMV.
Letter from the Studio
Dear Reader,
Thank you for spending time with our work. If something here moves you, or if you have suggestions for us, do write in — we read everything. You can also find us on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
With good wishes
From:
Subroto Chattopadhyay, Sita Raina, Anil Srinivasan, Avinash Chordia, Narinder Tawakley, Zahid Khan, Ananya Rane, Neel Adhikari, Anil P. Dere, Ratan J. Batliboi and Aneesh Jain
Zahid Khan
Head of Production & Post-Production
Hard-working with a keen eye and always ready to learn.
Zahid believes every story deserves the right rhythm, and he ensures that from the first shot to the final cut, nothing is left to chance. Known for his collaborative spirit and problem-solving mindset, he thrives on new challenges and constantly explores fresh ways to push creative boundaries. That’s Zahid!
Here's how you can reach us
Phone:
Events: +91 9899004393 Narinder Tawakley
Discovering Artists
Bring in your passion — we will take it to the world
We are always looking for new voices to add to the archive. If you are a musician working outside the mainstream — recording where the industry doesn't usually go — we would like to hear you
Find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Musicians selected for our Artist in Residence programme get access to our studio and team.