Aparna Sanyal


Aparna Sanyal is a multiple award-winning director and producer based in India.
She has directed multiple films, and produced several international documentary-series. She runs Mixed Media Productions, a production house based in Delhi, and is one of the co-founders of The Carbon Union, a creative collective.

Filmography and contributions

She directed 'A Drop of Sunshine', a film about Reshma Valliappan's journey with Schizophrenia. Her other films include 'Tedhi Lakeer - The Crooked Line', a film about 2 gay men in Indi;; 'The Monks who won the Grammy', about the history, mythology and philosophy of Vajrayana Buddhism; 'Shovana', about the celebrated Kathak dancer and guru, Shovana Narayan and 'One Mustard Seed', on death and dying.
She has also directed 'Shunyata - When Kathak met Cham', a film about a performance in 2014 called 'Shunyata', where monks of a Buddhist monastery, Palpung Sherabling Monastic Seat, and the doyen of Kathak, the Indian classical dance form, Shovana Narayan came together to create a ballet on popular stories from Buddhist mythology.
She was also the programming head of the Delhi bureau of Times Now for about three years, from 2005 to 2008.
Read more at: https://yourstory.com/2011/01/aparna-sanyal-co-founder-oasis-television-and-mixed-media-productions-on-the-journey-of-creative-entrepreneurship
She has been a Producer & Line Producer for several international documentary series filmed in India, including IRT - Deadliest Roads, a 10 part series for History, and The Real Marigold Hotel, a series for BBC 2.
Aparna was part of a group of filmmakers who ran 'FD Zone' in Delhi, a monthly screening of documentaries at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi.

Awards and recognitions

  1. She received the National Award for directing 'A Drop of Sunshine'.
  2. She won the National Award for the Best Educational Film in 2012.
  3. A Drop of Sunshine also won 5 awards at the Indian Documentary Producers' Assoaciation Awards in 2010.
  4. She was recognised as a 'Creative Entrepreneur' by the British Council in 2010.