Marathi, Indian, World Cinema

Chaitanya Tamhane is an independent filmmaker based in Mumbai. His debut feature Court premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2014, where it was awarded the Best Film – Orizzonti and the ‘Lion of the Future’ award. It went on to win over 30 awards at film festivals worldwide including the National Award for Best Feature Film and was India’s official entry for the 2016 Oscars. His second film, The Disciple, executive produced by Alfonso Cuarón, had its World Premiere at the 77th Venice Film Festival in competition.  It was awarded the ‘Golden Osella’ for Best Screenplay by the jury and the International Critics Prize for Best Film by FIPRESCI. The film was released worldwide in 2021 as a Netflix Original. In 2023 he was invited to be a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was recently awarded the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship in Italy and a fellowship by the NIPKOW Programme in Berlin.

Balaji Vittal is a National Award winning author/co-author of Bollywood books like RD Burman – The Man, The Music, Gaata Rahe Mera Dil – 50 Classic Hindi Film Songs and Pure Evil – The Bad Men of Bollywood. He is also a columnist, a TEDx speaker, a Bollywood commentator, book reviewer and an experienced moderator at prestigious literary festivals.