Ismat Chughtai was an Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker. Beginning in the 1930s, she wrote extensively on themes including female sexuality and femininity, middle-class gentility, and class conflict, often from a Marxist perspective. With a style characterised by literary realism, Chughtai established herself as a significant voice in the Urdu literature of the twentieth century, and in 1976 was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.
Anushka Manchanda aka Kiss Nuka is a singer, music producer, composer, creative entrepreneur, actor, activist, and former VJ of Indian origin. She came to prominence as a member of the Indipop girl group Viva!. Manchanda and the winner of Khatron ke khiladi 2 and one of the lead actors of the international award-winning film Angry Indian Goddesses. She announced she has adopted the artistic name Kiss Nuka – which stands for Natures Universal Kinectic Attention, with a new vision for a better world She is the music head of Ranveer Singh and Navzar Eranee’s music label IncInk Records along with her younger brother Shikhar Yuvraj Manchanda aka Rākhis.
Niharika Singh is an Indian actress, producer and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Earth India 2005 and represented her country at Miss Earth 2005. She made her acting debut with the critically acclaimed drama Miss Lovely which competed in Un Certain Regard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Niharika was selected for Berlinale Talents in 2016.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is known for his roles in Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), The Lunchbox (2013), Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), and Manto (2018), among others. As many as eight films in which he features have been screened at the Cannes Film Festival. He has won numerous awards, including a National Film Award, a Filmfare Award, and two Filmfare OTT Awards.
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.
Rasika Dugal is an Indian actress known for her roles in several Indian movies and television productions.
Angry Indian Goddesses is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Pan Nalin and produced by Gaurav Dhingra and Pan Nalin under the banner Jungle Book Entertainment. It stars Sandhya Mridul, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Sarah-Jane Dias, Anushka Manchanda, Amrit Maghera, Rajshri Deshpande, and Pavleen Gujral with Adil Hussain. It was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, where it finished second for the People's Choice Award.
Haraamkhor (transl. Scoundrel) is a 2015 Indian romantic drama black comedy film directed by Shlok Sharma. It stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shweta Tripathi. Jasleen Royal is the music composer. The film was shot in just 16 days.
Sanal Kumar Sasidharan is an Indian poet, lawyer, and filmmaker.
Mom is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film directed by Ravi Udyawa, with a screenplay by Girish Kohli. The film stars Sridevi as a vigilante who sets out to avenge her stepdaughter after she is sexually assaulted at a party. The film co-stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Akshaye Khanna, and Pakistani actors Sajal Aly and Adnan Siddiqui. The music of the film was composed and produced by A. R. Rahman.
Sexy Durga is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language indie horror film directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan. The film is about the religious divide in the society of Kerala and its effect on marriage between two people from two different religious backgrounds.
Manto is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film based on the life of the prominent Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto, written and directed by Nandita Das. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the title character of Indo-Pakistani, author and writer Saadat Hasan Manto. Tahir Raj Bhasin plays the 1940s Hindi film superstar Shyam Chadda. Shyam was Manto's friend, confidant, and inspiration for a number of stories. Rasika Dugal plays the role of Manto's wife, Safia. Manto is based on the 1940s post-Independence period of India. Manto earned seven nominations at 64th Filmfare Awards including Best Film Critics, Best Actor Critics for Siddiqui.
Ajji (transl. Granny) is an Indian Hindi-language crime-drama film directed by Devashish Makhija. The film stars Sushama Deshpande, Sharvani Suryavanshi, Abhishek Banerjee, Sadiya Siddiqui, Vikas Kumar, Manuj Sharma, Sudhir Pandey, Kiran Khoje, and Smita Tambe in major roles. "Ajji" has been positioned as a dark take on the classic fairy tale, "Red Riding Hood". The film is backed by Yoodlee Films, a production venture of Saregama.The film won the Fresh Blood competition at the Beaune International Thriller Film Festival, France 2018. Sushama Deshpande, who played ‘Ajji’ won The Flame Award at the UK Asian Film Festival and received a special jury mention for her performance in the film at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA). Ajji was officially invited to compete at the 2017 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and was showcased in the New Currents section of the 22nd Korean film extravaganza. Ajji was also a part of the Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI) which took place 12–18 October and was played as a part of the India Gold category. Other official selection for festivals include Dharamshala International Film Festival, Singapore International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The film was nominated for the Netpac Award at the 2018 Rotterdam International Film Festival. The film was released on 24 November 2017. Ajji is now available on Netflix.
Sacred Games is an Indian neo-noir crime thriller streaming television series based on Vikram Chandra's 2006 novel of the same name. India's first Netflix original series, it was produced and directed by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap as Phantom Films. The novel was adapted by Varun Grover, Smita Singh, and Vasant Nath. Kelly Luegenbiehl, Erik Barmack and Motwane were the series' executive producers.
Thackeray is a 2019 Indian biographical film written and directed by Abhijit Panse and made simultaneously in Marathi and Hindi. The film follows the life of Balasaheb Thackeray, the founder of the Indian political party Shiv Sena. The film stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Thackeray and Amrita Rao as his wife. The film released on 25 January 2019, right after the 93rd birthday of Bal Thackeray.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is an alumnus of the National School of Drama. Siddiqui's feature film debut was alongside director Prashant Bhargava in Patang (2012), and his performance was appreciated by cinema critic Roger Ebert. He also gained international recognition for his work with director Anurag Kashyap in Black Friday (2007), the Gangs of Wasseypur (2012), duology and Raman Raghav 2.0.
Niv Art Movies is a film production company in New Delhi state, India established in the year 2008. Shaji Mathew, a Delhi based Malayali is the proprietor of the firm. It has produced 6 Malayalam films 5 out of the 6 films produced by the company are directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan
Motichoor Chaknachoor is a 2019 Indian comedy drama film directed by debutante Debamitra Biswal and produced by Rajesh Bhatia and Kiran Bhatia under Woodpecker Movies Private Limited in association with Viacom 18 Studios. Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Athiya Shetty in the lead roles. The film also stars Vibha Chibber, Navni Parihar, Vivek Mishra, Karuna Pandey, Sanjeev Vats, Abhishek Rawat, Sapna Sand and Usha Nagar in supporting roles.
