Shanker Raman

Biography:

Shanker Raman is an Indian filmmaker, cinematographer, screenwriter, and producer. He is recognized for his contributions to Hindi cinema as well as for his films released through streaming entertainment. Raman pursued his education at St. Stephen’s College and graduated in cinematography from FTII in 1995.

He started his career making documentaries and moved to feature films thereafter as a cinematographer and screenwriter who had a special interest in socially relevant and visually unique storytelling. Among his early movies are Frozen (2007) and Harud (2010). He was the cinematographer and screenwriter of the first movie and cinematographer, co-writer, and co-producer of the second one. Frozen earned him recognition in Indian National Film Awards and at Durban International Film Festival, while Harud was awarded the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Urdu.

Raman made his directorial debut with the neo-noir crime thriller Gurgaon (2017), which he had also written. The movie features Akshay Oberoi, Pankaj Tripathi, Ragini Khanna, and Aamir Bashir in leading roles. The film depicts the themes of family, ambitions, greed, and violence, taking place in the context of Gurgaon. He further directed episodes of Netflix’s dystopian series Leila and directed the crime thriller Love Hostel (2022) starring Vikrant Massey, Sanya Malhotra, and Bobby Deol. In addition to direction, Raman continues to be a cinematographer for Rocky Handsome, Mukkabaaz, and Laal Kaptaan among other movies.