Nandita Das

Nandita Das has acted in more than 40 feature films in 10 different languages. Her directorial debut in 2008 was Firaaq. She has been twice on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival, among others. She has a master’s degree in Social Work and is a strong advocate for social justice and human rights. She was conferred the ‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters’ by the French Government. Nandita was the Chairperson of the Children’s Film Society and wrote a monthly column for 8 years in the magazine, The Week. Manto, Nandita’s second directorial film premiered in 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival and can be watched on Netflix. Her first book Manto & I chronicles her 6-year long journey of making the film. She has been supporting the campaign, ‘Dark Is Beautiful’ and to further the conversation, she produced a short in 2019, called India’s Got Colour. During the lockdown, Nandita wrote, directed, produced and acted in a 7min. a 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 pandemic.