The nation that is primarily known for its Uber commercial celebrations has a well-kept secret!
India is known for its vibrant and star-studded industries that produce features. It is the nation that makes the most feature films each year compared to any other nation on planet earth. But due to this, many projects that are actually gems in the medium are missed by the larger audiences and also sometimes by the critics. These are independent works made outside the constraints of the industry so they are made with the utmost sincerity towards the medium and also the creative factor is extremely potent as they are not bound by the stringent values of profit and loss that the larger projects have to abide by. Many of these works are also made in different parts of the country and are highlighting their separate cultures which becomes extremely important as it is also a form of an anthropological study on the region. A lot of these artists use non-actors to play most parts and shoot in their native language which also helps to showcase the diverse nature of India as a country.
This list contains artists working in the medium who have been doing great and extraordinary work in the art form from the last decade and have carved a niche for themselves in the world of cinema. Most of these artists are independent artists who shoot their projects locally and with a small crew and a minimal budget.
In the last decade one of the most innovative auteurs to have come out of the country, Aditya hails from Calcutta and his first feature won a lot of acclaim abroad, it was unique as it had no dialogues and focused only on sound and images to explain the full scope of its narrative. He followed this up with an autobiographical work about his grandmother called Jonaki and then in his latest effort he teamed up with the director of photography of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the Turkish Master.
The youngest in the list, Achal Mishra is creating a new language in the region of Darbhanga in Bihar where the language of Maithili is being highlighted. His debut feature Gamak Ghar and his sophomore effort Dhuin are both master works in independent cinema. His works have also been acclaimed internationally and have been shown in a lot of important spaces such as the museum of modern art.
