Initiated by the well-known TV commentator and documentary film-maker Rajiv Mehrotra, the trustees of PSBT include well-known film-makers Mrinal Sen and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, actress Sharmila Tagore and managing director of Discovery Communications India, Kiran Karnik.

The trustees have been chosen on the basis of their commitment to good cinema, standing in society and obvious lack of vested interests, said Mr Karnik. The activities of the trust will be completely transparent and its accounts will be put up on the Net, he said. To enable impartial evaluation and to avoid aspersions of nepotism, the trust has decided that no relative of the trustees will be entertained, he added.

According to Mr Karnik, the trust has been set up to address the scarcity of short film production houses in India, lack of objective evaluation process in the existent funding mechanism and to encourage good film-makers who are forced to compromise on quality for paucity of funds. Also, many good films do not find broadcasters and if at all aired they are given midnight slots when nobody watches them. So, DD's guarantee to air them at a reasonable time is sure to attract a lot of talent, feels Mr Karnik. The trust will also promote film-appreciation through books and talks on the subject by eminent persons in the field.

Though the trust expects to keep its doors open for all creative people in the future, at present it will finance only those who have won some national award and graduates of FTII (Film & Television Institute of India), Jamia Millia etc who've shown commitment to film-making by taking those courses.