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IMDbPro

Ashim Ahluwalia

  • Director
  • Producer
  • Editor
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Ashim Ahluwalia photographed by Stephanie Cornfield
Watch Miss Lovely Trailer (India)
Play trailer2:01
Miss Lovely (2012)
2 Videos
29 Photos
Ashim Ahluwalia studied film at Bard College, New York. His directorial debut, John & Jane (2005), 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 (2012), had its world premiere in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival. His third film, the true-life gangster epic Daddy (2017) 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 (2018), 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."
BornJanuary 1, 1972
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BornJanuary 1, 1972
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Awards

Photos29

Ashim Ahluwalia
The 8th Rome Film Festival ROME, ITALY - Jury President Larry Clark with Jury Members Ashim Ahluwalia, Yuri Ancarani, Laila Pakalnina and Michael Wahrmann, on the Red Carpet during the 8th Rome Film Festival at the Parco Della Musica on November 16, 2013 in Rome, Italy.
Photographed by Stephanie Cornfield
Ashim Ahluwalia, Arjun Rampal, Anand Ingle and Rajesh Shringarpure, on set, Daddy (2017)
Ashim Ahluwalia and DOP K.U. Mohanan on set, Miss Lovely (2012)
Ashim Ahluwalia and Arjun Rampal on set, Daddy (2017)
Ashim Ahluwalia, Mumbai, 2018
Ashim Ahluwalia, Mumbai, 2018
Photo by - Stephanie Cornfield
Ashim Ahluwalia and Laila Pakalnina at the Rome Film Festival, 2013.
Ashim Ahluwalia on set, Miss Lovely (2012)
Ashim Ahluwalia on set, Miss Lovely (2012)

Known for

Miss Lovely (2012)
Miss Lovely
7.7
  • Director
  • 2012
John & Jane (2005)
John & Jane
7.5
  • Director
  • 2005
Arjun Rampal in Daddy (2017)
Daddy
6.4
  • Director
  • 2017
Events in a Cloud Chamber (2016)
Events in a Cloud Chamber
7.2
Short
  • Director
  • 2016

Credits

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IMDbPro

Director

  • Class
    • Completed
  • The Field Guide to Evil (2018)
    The Field Guide to Evil
    • (segment Palace of Horrors)
  • Arjun Rampal in Daddy (2017)
    Daddy
  • Events in a Cloud Chamber (2016)
    Events in a Cloud Chamber
  • Miss Lovely (2012)
    Miss Lovely
  • John & Jane (2005)
    John & Jane
  • Thin Air

Producer

  • Class
    • Completed

Editor

  • Events in a Cloud Chamber (2016)
    Events in a Cloud Chamber
  • Miss Lovely (2012)
    Miss Lovely
  • John & Jane (2005)
    John & Jane

Videos2

Tales of the Uncanny
Trailer 2:06
Tales of the Uncanny
Miss Lovely Trailer (India)
Trailer 2:01
Miss Lovely Trailer (India)

Personal details

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    • January 1, 1972
    • Mumbai, India

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    In 2005, the filmmaker formed an independent production company, Future East, providing an infrastructure to work outside mainstream film channels.
  • Quotes
    John & Jane (2005) was technically a "documentary" because the characters in the film and their spaces were all real. And yet it feels like science fiction. Those are real call centre employees but they are kind of performing themselves. This hybrid mix of documentary and science fiction comes from certain formal choices, like shooting on 35mm rather than video, or having every shot be static and highly composed. That immediately breaks the feeling that it's a "documentary" and evokes an uncanny sensation; it makes you question what you're watching. Is this real? Is this all made up?
    • A pivotal director of Mumbai cinema, he is noted for his atmospheric style, vivid cinematography and unique story structures that merge gritty realism with genre tropes.

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