Nandita Das

Her directorial debut Firaaq (2008), premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and travelled to more than 50 festivals, winning more than 20 awards. Her second film as a director was Manto (2018). Based on the life of 20th Century Indo-Pakistani short story writer Sadat Hasan Manto, the film was screened at Cannes Film Festival in the "Un Certain Regard" section. In September 2019, Das produced a two-minute Public Service Announcement music video India's Got Colour. The music video is about the issue of colourism and urges the audience to celebrate India's diversity of skin colour. Her first book, 'Manto & I', chronicles her 6-year long journey of making the film. She wrote, directed, produced and acted in a short film called, Listen to Her, that sheds light on the increase in domestic violence and overburden of work that women have been facing during the lockdown. Her third directorial venture, Zwigato, explores the life of a food delivery rider and his family. After premiering at various festivals, it was released in India and overseas on 17 March 2023. Das has served twice on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2005, she served on the main competition jury alongside Fatih Akin, Javier Bardem, Salma Hayek, Benoît Jacquot, Emir Kusturica, Toni Morrison, Agnès Varda, and John Woo. In 2013, she served on the Cinéfondation and short films jury with Jane Campion, Maji-da Abdi, Nicoletta Braschi, and Semih Kaplanoğlu. In 2011, she was made Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Government, one of the nation's highest civilian awards. She was commended for her "contribution towards the development of Indo-French cooperation in the field of cinema." In 2009, France released a stamp featuring Das, from artist Titouan Lamazou's project "Women of the World." Das was the first Indian inducted into the International Hall of Fame of the International Women's Forum in Washington, DC. She was recognized in 2011 for "her sustained contributions to the arts and to the world as one of the most gripping cinema arts leaders of our time." Her fellow inductees were Anna Fendi, Heidi Klum, and Madam Chen Zhili. Nandita speaks about her work with Mani Ratnam and her latest film 'Manto' on BBC Radio with Ashanti Omkar.

Nandita Das studied at University of Delhi and Miranda House. The recorded working language is Hindi, Malayalam and Odia. Distinctions recorded are Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Nandi Award for Best Actress and Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

• Born — 7 November 1969 • Birthplace — Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra, India • Occupation — * Actor, Director, Writer, Producer and Social Advocate • Children — 1 • Years Active — 1987–present • Honours — Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2011)

Das's father is the artist Jatin Das, and her mother is Varsha Das, a writer. She was born in Mumbai and grew up mostly in Delhi in an Odia family, where she attended the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya school. She received bachelor's degree in Geography from Miranda House and Master of Social Work from the Delhi School of Social Work, both affiliated with the University of Delhi. Das was a Yale World Fellow in 2014. She was one of 16 emerging global leaders chosen from nearly 4000 applicants. She has also taught at the Rishi Valley School.

Das has acted in over 40 feature films with directors such as Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shyam Benegal, Deepa Mehta, and Mani Ratnam. She began her acting career with the street theatre group Jana Natya Manch. She is best known for her performances in director Deepa Mehta's films Fire (1996) and Earth (1998; alongside Aamir Khan), Bawander (directed by Jagmohan Mundhra), and Naalu Pennungal (directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan). She has also acted in the movie Before the Rains, an Indian-British period drama film directed by Santosh Sivan. She has acted in films in ten different languages; English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Odia, and Kannada. The Tamil actor Sukanya provided Das' speaking voice in the Tamil classic Kannathil Muthamittal. • Illustration — Das in 2011 Das co-wrote, directed and acted in a play called Between the Lines (2014). She has also acted in Khamosh! Adalat Jaari Hai (2017), a Cineplay production directed by Ritesh Menon, which was based on the Marathi-language play written by Vijay Tendulkar, alongside Saurabh Shukla and Swanand Kirkire.

In 2008, she directed her first film, Firaaq. The film is a work of fiction "based on a thousand true stories" and is set a month after the 2002 Gujarat riots in India. It is an ensemble film that interweaves multiple stories over a 24-hour period, as the characters from different strata of society, grapple with the lingering effects of violence. Das said that the film "gave a voice to so much that remains silent". In 2018, Nandita directed Manto which is based on the life and works of Saadat Hasan Manto, the Urdu writer of the 1940's. It features Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rasika Dugal in the lead roles. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and then at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018. Das produced and directed a PSA music video, India's Got Colour in 2019. Her third directorial venture Zwigato explores the life of a food delivery rider and his family, starring Kapil Sharma and Shahana Goswami in the lead roles. It is also produced by her company Nandita Das Initiatives, in collaboration with Applause Entertainment. Zwigato was released in India in 2023 and is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The film has garnered much critical acclaim from critics and audiences.

• Illustration — Das in 2016 Nandita Das’s writing work has evolved organically. She has written articles for various publications and used to write a monthly column for The Week, called the Last Word. In 2019, Das wrote Manto and I, a hardbound book that chronicles her 6 year long journey of making the film, Manto. It is a book of images and writings that explores the creative process from the inception of the idea to finally releasing the film. In addition, Das edited Jatin Das: A Retrospective 1963-2023, a book that was launched during the retrospective show of her father, who was an artist, at the National Gallery of Modern Art. The book traces his six-decade career, featuring his artwork, writings, and essays by art scholars and friends. Through her writings, Nandita Das has blended her personal insights with artistic expressions, creating compelling narratives that extend beyond her cinematic work.

Das narrated the children's audiobook series Under the Banyan, and Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography by Charkha Audiobooks, The Story of My Experiments with Truth. She was also a voice actor in the children's television series Wonder Pets, as the Bengal Tiger in the episode "Save the Bengal Tiger" (2007). She also sang the song "Ramleela" for the movie Aks and "Jagya Sarsi" for the movie Bawandar.

Nandita Das Initiatives LLP (NDI) was set up in 2016 by Nandita Das. NDI’s first venture, Manto, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, NDI produced a music video called "India’s Got Colour" to celebrate diversity in skin tones and call out colourism. In 2020, during the pandemic, NDI made a short film, Listen to Her, that dealt with the rise in domestic violence and the workload that women suffered. It was supported by UNESCO and other UN bodies. The company produced her third feature film, Zwigato, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022.

• # — Festival Name — year • 1 — Cannes Film Festival — 2005 • 2 — Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — 2007 • 3 — Marrakech International Film Festival — 2009 • 4 — Cannes Film Festival — 2013 • 5 — San Sebastián International Film Festival — 2015 • 6 — Regina International Film Festival — 2018 • 7 — Shanghai International Film Festival — 2023 • 8 — Busan International Film Festival — 2025

In 2002, Das married Saumya Sen. The couple began Leapfrog, a media organisation geared towards making socially conscious ad films. The couple divorced in 2007. After dating Subodh Maskara, a Mumbai industrialist, for a couple of months, she married him on 2 January 2010 and moved to Mumbai. Das and Maskara have a son named Vihaan. In January 2017, the couple announced that they have parted ways. Nandita Das is an atheist. "If I align with anything it would probably be Buddhism," she said.

Das has master's degree in Social Work from the University of Delhi. She has worked for children's rights, HIV/AIDS awareness, to end violence against women, and she has spoken up in support of the JNU protests and MeToo movement on her official X (formerly known as Twitter). In 2009, Das was appointed Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India. In 2012, she was the guest of honor at the iVolunteer Awards, held in Mumbai. Das also donated to the launch of the investigative journalism magazine Tehelka, founded by Tarun Tejpal. In 2013, she participated in the Women of India Leadership Summit alongside other artists and women's activists.

In 2013, Das became the face of the "Dark is Beautiful" campaign. Launched by Women of Worth in 2009, the campaign aims to draw attention to the effects of discrimination based on skin color in India. The campaign urges women and men to celebrate the beauty and diversity of all skin tones, using slogans such as "Stay UNfair, Stay Beautiful." Das said in 2014: In the [Indian film] industry a makeup man or a cinematographer would come and say can you lighten your skin a little, especially when you are playing the middle class educated character. In 2019, the Campaign was reinvented as India’s Got Colour. Along with Mahesh Mathai, Nandita Das has produced and co-directed a two-minute PSA for the campaign. The music video features several eminent artists from the Indian Film Industry.

Das has been a featured speaker at various platforms in India and abroad, including at MIT (in 2007, after a screening of Fire), and at Tufts University. In March 2026, she presented the CASI Spring 2026 Saluja Global Fellow Lecture "My Journey from Social Work to Cinema" as part of her week-long fellowship at UPenn.

• Month/Year — Topic — Moderator — Organiser • March, 2026 — My Journey from Social Work to Cinema — Fellowship — CASI, University of Pennsylvania • May, 2024 — All for Health, Health for All — John-Arne Rottingen — WHO, Geneva, Switzerland • April, 2023 — Film Screening of Zwigato, followed by Q & A — Prof. Abhijit Banerjee — MIT, Cambridge, USA • Zwigato Film Screening followed by Q & A — Smriti Mundhra — Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, LA, USA. • July, 2015 — Stories of Wellbeing — Conversation with Jo Confino — Institute for Leadership and Sustainability and Brathay Trust, University of Cumbria Ambleside, UK • October, 2014 — Struggles of Being a Woman in Society and Cinema — Centre for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies, Tufts University Massachusetts, USA • Infinite Identities — Asian American Cultural Centre and La Casa, Yale University Connecticut, USA • September, 2014 — The Role of Arts in Social Change — Conversation with Cara Moyer-Duncan moderated by Mukti Khaire — Harvard South Asian Institute, Harvard University Cambridge, USA • March, 2014 — Changing Minds and Mindsets- Social Inclusion Through Arts — Conversation with Maitreyi Das — World Bank Head Quarters Washington DC, USA • Art and Social Change, — Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, Brown University Rhode Island, USA • May, 2013 — EL- SOMNI (The Dream) — A gastronomy event with 12 courses & 12 eminent guests from around the world — City Council of Barcelona and the Celler de Can Roca Barcelona, Spain • May, 2011 — Role of Art/Cinema in Transforming the World — Rome Cornerstone Conference International Women’s Forum Rome, Italy • March, 2011 — Bollywood and Beyond — Maximum India Festival Kennedy Centre Washington DC, USA • June, 2008 — Identity and the Notion of the Other — Eranos Tagung 2008 Ascona, Switzerland • September, 2005 — A Personal Journey- Social Work and Cinema — Rietberg Museum for Lange Nacht Der Museen (long night of the museum) Zurich, Switzerland • October, 2004 — What Creates Change? — Annual Gala of SAKHI, a South Asian women's organization New York, USA • September, 2004 — Building Youth Leadership — Pan-Asian Youth Leadership Summit Hiroshima, Japan • May, 2004 — Child Rights and Our Responsibility — The Children's World Congress on Child Labour Florence, Italy • 6 March 2004 — Domestic Violence — The Capital Women's Conference London, UK • August, 2003 — What is it to be an Indian? — Festival of India Atlanta, USA

• Month/Year — Topic — Moderator — Organiser — Link • May, 2024 — Fireside Chat with Deepa Mehta — Moderated by Dhamini Ratnam — Kashish Pride Film Festival Liberty Cinema, Mumbai • September, 2023 — Cinema with a Conscience: A Choice — Fire-side chat with Shrinivas Dempo — 50th National Management Convention AIMA, New Delhi • November, 2022 — Unconscious Bias — Keynote Speaker — Gartner IT Symposium Kochi • January, 2020 — Disability and Inclusion — Conversation with VR Ferose — India Inclusion Summit Bangalore — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gjC7uVfQfo • June, 2019 — A Mother’s Journey with Anger — TEDx Shiv Nadar University Greater NOIDA — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eAie89tAhg • October, 2018 — Can Art Change India? — TEDx St. Xaviers Mumbai — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_DA7Zew1QE • May, 2018 — Women at Work — Conversation with Anupama Chopra — LinkedIn and Film Companion — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-3T60l2FLo&t=20s • March, 2016 — The Biggest Hypocrisy of our Times: Our Attitude to Poverty — TEDx Walled city New Delhi — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1JeS7MtRpE • September, 2011 — Transformation in Education — TEDx Nariman Point Mumbai — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLtvxhhRk50

• Month/Year — Topic — Moderator — Organiser — Link • May, 2022 — Break The Bias — Conversation with Sanjay Menon — Publicis Sapient India — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=65SKLR6dxfs • June 2020 — From the Other Side, Fire to Freedom — Raga D’silva — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m4Ea_sV2IM • Interrogating Caste Privileges — Conversation with Mauktik Kulkarni hosted by Suraj Yengde — Suraj Yengde presents Dialogics — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILrwlufQTdw • May, 2020 — Behind the Camera: Being a Woman Director — Conversation with Kaveree Bamzai — Women in Art & Culture, MAP Bangalore — https: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIEKr5xCN2c

In August 2018, Power Brands awarded Nandita Das the Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar, for being a polymath with purpose, advocating issues of communal harmony, peace and social justice, especially for women, children and the marginalized "others" through various platforms, for her expressions of courage and compassion on celluloid and her steadfast faith in the power of cinema effecting social change for a better world.

List of film acting awards and nominations received by Nandita Das • Year — Award — Film — Category — Result • 2000 — 45th Filmfare Awards — 1947 Earth — Best Debut • 2001 — Santa Monica Film Festival — Bawander — Best Actress • 2002 — Cairo International Film Festival — Amaar Bhuvan • Tamil Nadu State Film Awards — Kannathil Muthamittal — Special Prize • 2006 — Nandi Awards of 2006 — Kamli — Best Actress • 2007 — Madrid International Film Festival — Maati Maay (A Grave-keeper's Tale) — Best Actress|Best Actress • 2013 — 8th Lux Style Awards — Ramchand Pakistani — Best Film Actress • 60th Filmfare Awards South — Neerparavai — Best Supporting Actress – Tamil • 2024 — 68th Filmfare Awards South — Virata Parvam — Best Supporting Actress – Telugu

List of film directing awards and nominations received by Nandita Das • Year — Award — Film — Category — Status • 2008 — Asian Festival of First Films — Firaaq — Best Film — Won • Best Screenplay • Foreign Correspondents Association Purple Orchid Award for Best Film • 2009 — Kara Film Festival — Best Film • International Film Festival of Kerala — Special Jury Award • Thessaloniki International Film Festival — Special Prize (Everyday Life: Transcendence or Reconciliation Award) • Golden Alexander • 2010 — Filmfare Awards — Special Award • 2018 — Cannes Film Festival — Manto — Un Certain Regard Award • Toronto International Film Festival — People's Choice Award • Asia Pacific Screen Award — FIAPF (Films in the Asia Pacific region) • 2019 — Filmfare Awards — Best Film (Critics) • Best Screenplay • Best Dialogue • 2024 — Filmfare Awards — Zwigato — Best Film (Critics)

• Year — Title — Role — Language — Notes • 2024 — White Rabbit Red Rabbit — English — An unrehearsed play written by Nassim Soleimanpour • 2017 — Khamosh! Adalat Jaari Hai — Leela Benare — Hindi — Cineplay • 2014 — Between the Lines — Maya — Hindi, English — Cineplay • 2013 — Gates to India Song — Anne-Marie Stretter — English — Play by Marguerite Duras and directed by Eric Vigner • 2002 — The Spirit of Anne Frank — Anamika — English — An improvised play directed by Roysten Abel • Equus — Jill — English — Play by Peter Shaffer and directed by Barry John • Heads ya Tails — Madhvi — Hindi — Play by Prashant Dalvi and directed by Chandrakanth Kulkurni • Mother — The Christian Woman — Play by Maxim Gorky and directed by M K Raina • Street plays on social issues — Various characters — Hindi — Play by Jana Natya Manch and directed by Safdar Hashmi

List of film directing credits • Year — Title — Language — Notes • 1993 — Imprint in Clay — Hindi, English — Documentary on the father of Studio Pottery in India, Sardar Gurcharan Singh • 2003 — Rain Water Harvesting — Public Service Ad • Education Spots — Public Service Ad • 2004 — Beyond Boundaries - Cricket for Peace — Hindi — Documentary on Indo-Pak street children initiative • | 2008 — Firaaq — Hindi Urdu Gujarati — Best Film and Best Screenplay at Asian Festival of First Films Purple Orchid Award for Best Film at Asian Festival of First Films Special Jury Award at International Film Festival of Kerala Special Prize at International Thessaloniki Film Festival Filmfare Special Award Nominated—Golden Alexander at International Thessaloniki Film Festival • 2012 — Between the Lines — Hindi, English — Theater Play — She wrote it too • | 2017 — In Defence of Freedom — Hindi — Short film • | 2018 — Manto — Hindi Urdu — Premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2018 Toronto International Film Festival 2018 Busan International Film Festival 2018 • 2019 — India's Got Colour — Hindi — Music Video • 2020 — Listen to Her — Hindi — Short film • 2021 — The Cuber — Hindi, English — Short film • 2023 — Zwigato — Hindi — World premiere at the TIFF 2022 Premiered at Busan International Film Festival Premiered at International Film Festival of Kerala

• Year — Title — Language — Notes • 2004 — Karadi Tales — English — Audiobook • 2005 — The Story of My Experiments with Truth — English — Audiobook • 2008 — Wonder Pets! — English — Voice of Bengal Tiger