Ashim Ahluwalia

Ashim Ahluwalia studied film at Bard College, New York. His directorial debut, JOHN & JANE, premiered at the Toronto and Berlin Film Festivals in 2006. It was the first Indian film to be released theatrically by HBO Films. His second feature, MISS LOVELY, had its world premiere in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival. His third film, the true-life gangster epic DADDY opened on 2000 screens worldwide on Sept 8th, 2017. His short film EVENTS IN A CLOUD CHAMBER (2016) made on Super 8 with famed Indian modernist painter Akbar Padamsee opened at the 73rd Venice Film Festival in the Classics section and has gone on to show at the BFI London Film Festival and at the Museum of Modern Art in New Directors/ New Films, amongst numerous others. His newest project, the anthology folk horror film, THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL, had a world premiere at South by Southwest (SXSW) on March 16th, 2018, after which it opened theatrically in the US (distributed by Neon) and on Netflix. In May 2013, he received the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters from Bard College, his alma mater. The award is "given in recognition of a significant contribution to artistic or literary heritage.” In November 2013, he was selected to be on the Jury of the 8th edition of the Rome Film Festival for the CinemaXXI section. Ahluwalia is the only Indian director to have had his work premiere in the official selections of the Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and SXSW festivals. Sight and Sound’s Jonathan Romney has described Ahluwalia as “a very impressive talent”. He was named "one of the ten best emerging film directors working today" by Phaidon Press in "Take 100: The Future of Film."

Works

Miss Lovely

A Hindi feature film set in the lower depths of Bombay's "C" grade film industry. Miss Lovely follows the devastating story of two brothers who produce sleazy horror films in the mid-1980s.

Release Date:2014-01-17

Department:Writing

Job:Story

Vote Count:14

HUM

When the wedding takes place the hijras (third gender role in India) arrive to bless the shifting tides of minds in a swirl of colours and identities.

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Class

Three students from a poor neighborhood join an exclusive high school for Delhi elite where dark secrets and rumors ultimately lead to murder.

Release Date:2023-02-03

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Episode Count:8

Vote Count:28

Cinema Marte Dum Tak

Jaspal Neelam, Vinod Talwar, Dilip Gulati and Kishan Shah directors of the golden age of 'B-movies' take you for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of their films.

Release Date:2023-01-17

Department:Crew

Job:Creative Consultant

Episode Count:6

Vote Count:2

Tales of the Uncanny

A detailed look at the history of horror anthology films.

Release Date:2020-10-31

Character:Self

Vote Count:10

The Field Guide to Evil

A feature-length anthology film. They are known as myths, lore, and folktales. Created to give logic to mankind’s darkest fears, these stories laid the foundation for what we now know as the horror genre.

Release Date:2018-10-11

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:109

Daddy

This is the gritty and sensational true story of Arun Gulab Gawli, a mill worker’s son who grew up in Mumbai’s impoverished Dagdi Chawl, to become an infamous don, politician and chief rival of the most powerful crime boss of the day, Dawood Ibrahim. Daddy realistically charts Mumbai’s true crime history from the 1970s and 1980s until 2012, when Gawli was finally sentenced to life imprisonment.

Release Date:2017-09-08

Department:Writing

Job:Screenplay

Vote Count:10

Events in a Cloud Chamber

In 1969, Akbar Padamsee, one of the pioneers of Modern Indian painting, made a visionary 16mm film called Events in a Cloud Chamber. This was one of the only Indian experimental films ever made. The print is now lost and no copies exist. Over 40 years later, filmmaker Ashim Ahluwalia worked with Padamsee, now 89 years old, to remake the film.

Release Date:2016-09-08

Department:Directing

Job:Director

John & Jane

A new form of observational documentary that borders on science-fiction, John & Jane follows the stories of six Call Agents that answer American 1-800 numbers at a Mumbai call center.

Release Date:2005-09-14

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Vote Count:7

Thin Air

An extremely rare and hard-to-find documentary short by director Ashim Ahluwalia. Thin Air chronicles the lives of three magicians against the backdrop of contemporary Bombay and offers a refreshingly complex vision of urban life through three illusionists who have little option but to confront reality.

Release Date:1999-10-13

Department:Directing

Job:Director

Unidentified Actress

Ashim Ahluwalia offers a disturbing glimpse into the dark side of Indian cinema and the broken lives it left behind with Unidentified Actress, on an ex-child star turned sex-worker.

Department:Directing

Job:Director