Anand Gandhi: A person of multiple interests

Anand Gandhi

Anand Gandhi is a filmmaker, playwright and artist, deeply interested in philosophy, evolutionary psychology and sci-fi. His work in theatre, television and short cinema has won him several prestigious awards in the past decade. 

Ship of Theseus, his first feature, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was touted "the hidden gem of the year". The film has received accolades the world over. Gandhi is the only contemporary film-maker whose film has been short-listed by the Critic's Circle (UK), as being one of the 15 life-changing films of all time. 

He is now engaged in producing cutting edge, contemporary world cinema under his banner Recyclewala Films. 

Besides writing, directing and producing his films, Anand illustrates, writes songs, plays chess and attempts to invent new events as a magic enthusiast.

Anand Gandhi's writing career began in 2000 with the emergence of the daily soap opera genre in India. He wrote dialogue for the first eighty-two episodes of a popular show calledKyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Kyunki... and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, for which he wrote screenplay, are the longest running TV shows in the history of Indian Television. He is often quoted for his disgust over the aesthetics of Indian television, including the shows he wrote for.^[2]

He moved away from his television career to write and direct highly acclaimed award-winning plays like Sugandhi, Pratyancha, Kshanotsav, Na and Janashtaru. Almost all his work has been produced for the alternative one-act theatre. He has written only one mainstream play, Chal Reverse Ma Jaiye. It achieved moderate success commercially and won the Transmedia Best Play award for 2005.