 |
Hardik Mehta is a writer-director who works in both fiction as well as non fiction formats.
He won the National Award, in addition to several other awards and honors across international film festivals, for his documentary short Amdavad Ma Famous set against the backdrop of the kite-flying festival in Gujarat.
Mehta graduated from AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Milia Islamia, with a degree of M.A in Mass Communication. He spent the next few years working with some of the most renowned figures from the Indian film industry such as Dev Benegal, Vikramaditya Motwane and Vikas Bahl – as an Assistant director and script-continuity supervisor. [1]
In 2015, he went on to direct his own documentary, Amdavad Ma Famous (2015), set against the backdrop of the kite-flying festival in Gujarat that won him the Swarna Kamal, National Award for Best Non-Feature Film in 2016.
In 2017, Hardik wrote and directed a short film, The Affair which was presented by Drishyam Films. Prolonging his association with the Lootera director, Vikramaditya Motwane, Mehta also co-wrote the script for the 2017 survival-thriller, Trapped .
His debut feature film Kaamyaab premiered at the 2018 Busan International Film Festival and later it was picked by superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who co-produced the film under his production house Red Chillies Entertainment along with Drishyam Films. Kaamyaab released theatrically on March 6, 2020 to rave reviews and is now available on Netflix worldwide.
Mehta has also co-written the critically acclaimed Amazon Prime Video series, Paatal Lok .
His next directorial film Roohi , starring Rajkummar Rao, Varun Sharma and Janhvi Kapoor released in March 2021.
Recently, Hardik was the director and showrunner for Netflix series Decoupled starring R.Madhavan and Surveen Chawla.
Hardik is married to writer-producer Akanksha Tewari.
| Year | Film | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Decoupled | Director Web series |
| 2021 | Roohi | Director |
| 2020 | Paatal Lok | Writer |
| 2020 | Kaamyaab | Writer-Director |
| 2017 | The Affair (Short) | Writer-Director |
| 2017 | Trapped | Writer |
| 2015 | Amdavad Ma Famous | Director, producer |
| 2013 | Skin Deep (Short) | Director |
| 2010 | Chal Meri Luna (Short) | Writer, director |
Apart from the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Films, Amdavad Ma Famous has received a string of prestigious awards across the international film festival circuit . These include the Best Short Documentary Award at the 2015 Budapest International Documentary Festival, the Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary at the 2015 Al Jazeera International Documentary Festival, in Qatar July 2017, and the Golden Conch for Best Documentary (Up to 60 minutes) and Best Editor in the National Competition at the 14th Mumbai International Film Festival in 2016.
At the 63rd Belgrade Film Festival, it won the Golden Plaque in International Competition for Best Documentary Short. [2] It also won Best Foreign Documentary at the 2016 River Film Festival in Italy, as well as the 2016 All Sports Film Festival in LA. It also won the Special Mention Jury Award at the 2016 International Documentary and Shorts Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) and the 2016 Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth, New Delhi (SIFFCY).
The film was an official selection and in competition at the 2016 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the 2016 Palm Springs International Festival of Shorts, the 2016 Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI), and the 2016 Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa.
Amdavad Ma Famous was also selected by Académie des César (The French Academy of Cinema) for the PANORAMA DES NUITS EN OR where Mehta got an opportunity to represent India along with 30 other best films representing their countries. As a part of the tour, the film was screened in 9 European Capital Cities.
The film is also available on YouTube
The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) is a public trust that organises the annual international film festival in Mumbai famously known as the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Actor, producer and author Priyanka Chopra Jonas is the Chairperson while Anupama Chopra serves as the Festival Director.
Vikramaditya Motwane is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. He is known for films like Udaan (2010), Lootera (2013), Trapped (2017) and Bhavesh Joshi Superhero (2018).
Nalin Kumar Pandya, popularly known as Pan Nalin, is an Indian filmmaker, best known for directing award-winning movies like Samsara (2001), Valley of Flowers (2006), Angry Indian Goddesses (2015) and the semi-autobiographical Chhello Show (2021). His debut feature Samsara (Miramax) was worldwide critical and commercial triumph and went on to win awards like Best First Feature Film at Durban International Film Festival, "Grand Jury Prize – Special Mention" at AFI Fest, Special Jury Award at Santa Barbara International Film Festival and "Most Popular Feature Film" at Melbourne International Film Festival in 2002. Since then Nalin has been actively making fiction and non-fiction movies which have been coproduced with countries like India, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the USA. Nalin's movies have been distributed worldwide.
Agnieszka Lukasiak is a film director based in Los Angeles, Stockholm and London. She began her career directing cinema-released feature documentaries, and is now directing feature films.
Udaan (transl. 'Flight') is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age drama film directed by Vikramaditya Motwane in his directorial debut. It was produced by Sanjay Singh, Anurag Kashyap and Ronnie Screwvala under their production companies Anurag Kashyap Films and UTV Spotboy respectively. Written by Motwane and Kashyap, the film stars debutante Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Aayan Boradia, Ram Kapoor, Manjot Singh and Anand Tiwari, and follows the story of a teen who is forced to live with his oppressive father back home after he is expelled from boarding school.
Phantom Studios is an Indian filmproduction and distribution company established by Madhu Mantena, Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, and Vikramaditya Motwane. It was founded in 2011 by all four of them, and was cited as the "directors' company". In March 2015, Reliance Entertainment picked up 50% stake in the company.
Dylan Mohan Gray is an Indian and Canadian filmmaker. His documentary feature film Fire in the Blood, premiered in competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and went on to enjoy the longest theatrical run of any non-fiction film in Indian cinema history . An official selection at over 100 leading film festivals which was honoured with major awards and accolades worldwide, Fire in the Blood altered the global conversation around access to essential medicine, and in 2018 was named one of "26 landmark documentary films of the past seven decades" in a major retrospective curated by legendary documentarian John Pilger.
Geetanjali Thapa is an Indian actress who primarily appears in Hindi films. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress (2013) for her performance in Liar's Dice.
Vikas Bahl is an Indian filmmaker, best known for directing and scripting the comedy drama film Queen (2013).
Neeraj Ghaywan is an Indian film director and writer who works in Hindi films. He is the winner of several accolades including a National film Award and two Filmfare Awards.
The 66th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2016, with American actress Meryl Streep as the President of the Jury. The Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement was presented to German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Hail, Caesar!, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, was selected to open the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Italian documentary Fire at Sea, directed by Gianfranco Rosi, which also serves as closing night film.
Amdavad Ma Famous is a documentary film about kite flying festival in Ahmedabad, India. The film is directed by Hardik Mehta and produced by Akanksha Tewari and Arya A. Menon. It was filmed with help of cinematographer Piyush Puty and Harshbir Singh. The film received the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film at 63rd National Film Awards for 2015.
The 67th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 18 February 2017 with Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven as President of the Jury. Django, directed by Etienne Comar, opened the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Hungarian film On Body and Soul directed by Ildikó Enyedi, which also served as closing film of the festival.
Jatin Sarna is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films and theatre. He is best known for his work in Meeruthiya Gangsters, Saat Uchakkey, Sonchiriya, Darbar, 83 and Sacred Games, an original Netflix series, Khakee: The Bihar Chapter. Jatin is known for his work with several Bollywood film directors such as Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, AR Murugadoss, Hansal Mehta, Abhishek Chaubey, Kanu Behl and Kabir Khan.
Trapped is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language survival drama film directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, who also co-produced it with Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl and Madhu Mantena under the banner of Phantom Films. The film stars Rajkummar Rao as a call centre employee who gets trapped in his apartment room without food, water, and electricity, and Geetanjali Thapa as his girlfriend.
The 69th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 7 to 17 February 2019. French actress Juliette Binoche served as the Jury President. Lone Scherfig's drama film The Kindness of Strangers opened the festival. The Golden Bear was won by Israeli-French drama Synonyms directed by Nadav Lapid, which also served as the closing film of the festival.
The 70th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 20 February to 1 March 2020. It was the first under the leadership of new Berlin Film Festival heads, business administration director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian. The festival opened with the opening gala presented by actor Samuel Finzi followed by the world premiere of the film My Salinger Year which was selected for the Berlinale Special section. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Iranian film There Is No Evil, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof.
Kaamyaab is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed and written by Hardik Mehta, and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Drishyam Films. The film stars Sanjay Mishra and Deepak Dobriyal with Isha Talwar, Nasirr Khan and Sarika Singh appearing in supporting roles. It is the story of a washed up “side-actor” of Hindi movies, who wants to make a comeback with a memorable role so that he can complete a record figure of acting in 500 films.
The Gujarat Literature Festival, also known as Gujarati Sahitya Mahotsav, is a literary festival which takes place annually in the Indian city Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The festival is held generally in December–January.
Ivete Lucas is a filmmaker, documentarian, producer, editor, and director based in Austin, Texas. Her work includes the documentary short films The Curse and the Jubilee, The Send-Off, Roadside Attraction, The Rabbit Hunt, Skip Day, Happiness is a Journey and the documentary feature film Pahokee.