Nandita Das (born 7 November 1969) is an Indian actor and director.
She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das
won accolades for numerous performances, including in Fire (1996),
Earth (1998), Bawandar (2000), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Azhagi
(2002), Kamli (2006), and Before The Rains (2007). Her directorial
debut Firaaq (2008), premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and
traveled 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 was '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.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
KaplanoÄŸlu.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."
She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das
won accolades for numerous performances, including in Fire (1996),
Earth (1998), Bawandar (2000), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Azhagi
(2002), Kamli (2006), and Before The Rains (2007). Her directorial
debut Firaaq (2008), premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and
traveled 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 was '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.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
KaplanoÄŸlu.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."
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