FESTIVAL JURY - STUDENT SHORTS

Widely known for penning Bollywood’s most progressive, inclusive, and unflinching stories, screenwriter Atika Chohan won immense critical acclaim for co-writing Chapaak, a film based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi. Her stellar work includes Margarita with a Straw (2015) and Waiting, with the former bagging a National Award, among many other laurels. She worked for Guilty, a Netflix original produced by Karan Johar. Her trademark filmography makes use of powerful plots and exceptional characters to give life to human stories. Her upcoming projects include Agra, selected to be screened in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes 2023, and Knot, an Indian International project coproduced by Dev Patel.

Rucha Pathak

Rucha Pathak, joined Excel Entertainment as a Producer after her 6-year stint as Chief Creative Officer at Fox Star Studios in 2020. She set up a robust film and development pipeline at Fox Star Studios with Neerja, Jolly LLB 2, Phillauri, India’s Most Wanted, Chhapaak and Panga among other films. Her recent films include Lootcase and Dil Bechara which aired on Disney + Hotstar in 2020. She has a list of extremely successful and critically acclaimed films to her credit, Barfi, ABCD - Anybody Can dance, Paan Singh Tomar, Chillar Party, No One Killed Jessica, Dev D, Welcome to Sajjanpur among others.

Samarth Mahajan

Samarth Mahajan is a non-fiction filmmaker, passionate about telling human stories that remain invisible to the mainstream. His work includes two national award-winning films - the latest feature Borderlands explores lives defined by India’s borders, and the 2017 film The Unreserved captures stories from the general compartments of Indian Railways. Recognized by IIT Kharagpur as a Young Alumni Achiever, Samarth’s commercial collaborations include brands like Vice Studios, Applause Entertainment, and Discovery+.

Festival Juryriyad Wadia Award

Nargis Wadia was the first woman to launch a full–service Advertising Agency in India – Interpub, and was also a Founder Member & Chairperson of Media Monitoring Services which preceded the establishment of Media Research Users Council. In 1991, she became the first woman President of the Advertising Agency Association of India. Nargis Wadia is the mother of late filmmaker Riyad Wadia in whose memory the Riyad Wadia Award for Emerging Indian Filmmaker has been instituted at KASHISH by Wadia Movietone.

Roy Wadia hails from the Wadia Movietone family. His brother was the late filmmaker and gay activist Riyad Wadia (Fearless: The Hunterwali Story, BOMgAY ). Roy worked at CNN for 12 years, and then switched careers by joining the World Health Organisation’s China office as its communications and advocacy officer. From 2010-2013, he was Executive Director of Heroes Project, the Bombay-based HIV NGO. Roy currently is with the United Nations in Denmark. He is the brother of Riyad Wadia.