Nandita Das

Biography:

Nandita Das is an Indian film maker and actress. She has acted in 10 different languages in more than forty feature films. The movies Fire (1996), Earth (1998), Azhagi (2002), Bawandar (2000), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Kamli (2006), and Before The Rains (2007) featured Das. Firaaq (2008), her directorial debut, had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and went on to play in over 50 festivals, taking home over 20 accolades. Manto (2018) was her second film as a filmmaker. The movie, which screened in the “Un Certain Regard” section of the Cannes Film Festival, was based on the life of Indo-Pakistani short story writer Sadat Hasan Manto in the 20th century. Das created a two-minute music video for India’s Got Colour, a public service announcement, in September 2019.

The music video addresses the problem of colorism and exhorts viewers to appreciate the variety of skin tones found in India. Her six-year effort to make the film is chronicled in her debut book, “Manto & I.” Her short film, Listen to Her, which addresses the rise in domestic violence and the excessive workload that women have been dealing with during the lockdown, was written, directed, produced, and acted in by her. additionally filed a petition to have Ajmal Kasab’s death sentence commuted.

Das has served on the Cannes Film Festival jury twice. Alongside Fatih Akin, Javier Bardem, Salma Hayek, Benoît Jacquot, Emir Kusturica, Toni Morrison, Agnès Varda, and John Woo, she was a member of the main competition jury in 2005.