Director

Anand Patwardhan

Anand Patwardhan is a Mumbai-born documentary filmmaker who's spent decades tackling India's thorniest social and political issues through his camera lens. Since the mid-1980s, he's built an impressive body of work exploring religious fundamentalism, caste discrimination, nuclear nationalism, and the human cost of so-called "development." His films like *Bombay: Our City*, *In the Name of God*, and *A Narmada Diary* have earned serious recognition both at home and on the international festival circuit, establishing him as one of India's most fearless and committed documentarians. What sets Patwardhan apart is his unflinching commitment to human rights storytelling in a medium that rarely gets mainstream attention in Bollywood circles. His style is intimate yet investigative—he doesn't shy away from confronting uncomfortable truths about sectarianism, casteism, and state power in India. Recent works like *Jai Bhim Comrade*, *Reason*, and *The World is Family* show he's lost none of his edge, continuing to provoke conversations about social justice and individual dignity in contemporary India. While he operates in the documentary space rather than commercial cinema, his influence on socially conscious Indian filmmaking is undeniable.