Roopa Rao

• Name — Roopa Rao • Birthplace — Bangalore, Karnataka, India • Education — Asian Academy of Film & Television • Occupation — Filmmaker • Known for — The Other Love Story Gantumoote

Rao began writing at an early age. She had written the story of two young women falling in love while in college but did not pursue it further due to concerns about the reception of its story-line, as same-sex love between women was a taboo subject in India.

Rao completed a Masters in Commerce with Personnel Management as a specialization and discontinued Masters in Finance. She worked at Infosys for six years. She later resigned her position to pursue a career in filmmaking. She completed a course in film direction and production from Asian Academy of Film and Television, Delhi. After this, she moved to London, UK to assist a documentary filmmaker. Rao returned to India, where she created documentaries and short films. She co-directed Vishnuvardhana, a Kannada feature film, and Kurai Ondrum Illai, an independent Tamil feature film. In 2015, she began to work on her own project, The Other Love Story, building on her early writing. Since the central theme of the story is a taboo topic in India, she had difficulties finding producers for her project and turned to Wishberry, a crowd funding platform to raise an amount of Rs 4 lakh. Rao has won "Best Director" award at NYC Web Fest 2016 and "Best Story" award at TO Web Fest 2017. The Other Love Story has a total of 3 wins and 7 nominations from various National and International Film Festivals. In 2017, Rao wrote and directed BFF (Breath Friend Forever), a short film where a 7-year-old, after learning about trees in class, tries to understand their importance. The film was an official selection in Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and was screened at Ireland National Film Body's Kids' Section. In 2018, Astu Studios released a travel short film, Love Leh'tter, starring Rao, written and directed by Surya Vasishta. Rao co-founded an independent production house, Ameyukti Studios, with a friend in 2018. In 2019, Rao's first feature film, Gantumoote had its world premiere at the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), where it won the "Best Screenplay" award. The film is a coming of age, high school drama set in Bangalore in the 1990s. In 2024, Kenda, the Kannada feature film, was released, produced by Rao's production house, Ameyukti Studios. The film was directed by her long-time associate Sahadev Kelvadi. The movie was written and directed by Kelvadi, and it is Rao's third project as producer under Ameyukti Studios. In 2025, Rao announced a new featurette film, Asmin, was planned for release on her YouTube Channel in the last week of January. It premiered January 27th, 2025. The film won awards at the Indo French International Festival.

• Year — Film — Director — Writer — Producer — Language(s) — Notes • 2009 — Let Live — English- Hindi — Short Documentary; Also Editor • 2011 — Hot Seat — Kannada — Short Film • 2014 — The Night of all Nights — Line Producer — German — Documentary Feature length • 2015 — The Century Of Women — Line Producer — German — Documentary Feature length • 2016 — The 'Other' Love Story — English Hindi Kannada — Web series • 2017 — BFF (Breath Friend Forever) — English — Short Film • 2018 — Love Leh'tter — Kannada — Short Film; Actor • 2019 — Gantumoote — Kannada — Debut feature film • 2020 — Silent Passage (Pandemic Tales) — English — Short Film • 2020 — Year of Silence (for Arte TV) — Line Producer — German English — Television Series • 2021 — Naked (For Arte TV Series) — Line Producer — German English — Television Series • 2024 — Kenda — Kannada — Feature Film • 2024 — Coromandel Coast (For Arte TV Series) — Line Producer — German English — Television Series • 2025 — Asmin — Kannada English — Mini-Feature Film • 2026 — Bhayankara Preeti — Kannada, Tamil Telugu — Feature Film (Post Production) • 2026 — Gochara — Kannada — Feature Film (Pre Production) • As Associated Director • Vishnuvardhana - 2011 Kannada • Kurai Ondrum Illai - 2013 Tamil

Roopa Rao is recorded with the occupation film director. Recorded with the occupation filmmaker. Recorded as filmmaker and film director.