Nandita Das

Early life and education

Das's father is the artist Jatin Das, and her mother is Varsha Das, a writer. She was born in Mumbai and grew up mostly in Delhi in an Odia family, where she attended the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya school. She received bachelor's degree in Geography from Miranda House and Master of Social Work from the Delhi School of Social Work, both affiliated with the University of Delhi.

Das was a Yale World Fellow in 2014. She was one of 16 emerging global leaders chosen from nearly 4000 applicants.

She has also taught at the Rishi Valley School.

Career

Acting

Das has acted in over 40 feature films with directors such as Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shyam Benegal, Deepa Mehta, and Mani Ratnam. She began her acting career with the street theatre group Jana Natya Manch. She is best known for her performances in director Deepa Mehta films Fire (1996) and Earth (1998; alongside Aamir Khan), Bawander (directed by Jagmohan Mundhra), and Naalu Pennungal (directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan ). She has also acted in the movie Before the Rains, an Indian-British period drama film directed by Santosh Sivan. She has acted in films in ten different languages: English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Odia, and Kannada. The Tamil actor Sukanya provided Das' speaking voice in the Tamil classic Kannathil Muthamittal.

Das co-wrote, directed and acted in a play called Between the Lines (2014). She has also acted in Khamosh! Adalat Jaari Hai (2017), a Cineplay production directed by Ritesh Menon, which was based on the Marathi-language play written by Vijay Tendulkar, alongside Saurabh Shukla and Swanand Kirkire.

Direction

In 2008, she directed her first film, Firaaq. The film is a work of fiction "based on a thousand true stories" and is set a month after the 2002 Gujarat riots in India. It is an ensemble film that interweaves multiple stories over a 24-hour period, as the characters from different strata of society, grapple with the lingering effects of violence. Das said that the film "gave a voice to so much that remains silent". In 2018, Nandita directed Manto which is based on the life and works of Saadat Hasan Manto, the Urdu writer of the 1940's. It features Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rasika Dugal in the lead roles. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and then at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018. Das produced and directed a PSA music video, India's Got Colour in 2019. Her third directorial venture Zwigato explores the life of a food delivery rider and his family, starring Kapil Sharma and Shahana Goswami in the lead roles. It is also produced by her company Nandita Das Initiatives, in collaboration with Applause Entertainment. Zwigato was released in India in 2023 and is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The film has garnered much critical acclaim from critics and audiences.

Writing

Nandita Das’s writing work has evolved organically. She has written articles for various publications and used to write a monthly column for The Week, called the Last Word. In 2019, Das wrote Manto and I, a hardbound book that chronicles her 6 year long journey of making the film, Manto. It is a book of images and writings that explores the creative process from the inception of the idea to finally releasing the film. In addition, Das edited Jatin Das: A Retrospective 1963-2023, a book that was launched during the retrospective show of her father, who was an artist, at the National Gallery of Modern Art. The book traces his six-decade career, featuring his artwork, writings, and essays by art scholars and friends.

Through her writings, Nandita Das has blended her personal insights with artistic expressions, creating compelling narratives that extend beyond her cinematic work.

Voice Narration

Das narrated the children's audiobook series Under the Banyan, and Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography by Charkha Audiobooks, The Story of My Experiments with Truth. She was also a voice actor in the children's television series Wonder Pets, as the Bengal Tiger in the episode "Save the Bengal Tiger" (2007).

She also sang the song "Ramleela" for the movie Aks and "Jagya Sarsi" for the movie Bawandar.

Nandita Das Initiatives

Nandita Das Initiatives LLP (NDI) was set up in 2016 by Nandita Das. NDI’s first venture, Manto, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, NDI produced a music video called India’s Got Colour to celebrate diversity in skin tones and call out colourism. In 2020, during the pandemic, NDI made a short film, Listen to Her, that dealt with the rise in domestic violence and the workload that women suffered. It was supported by UNESCO and other UN bodies. The company produced her third feature film, Zwigato, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022.

Festival jury

In September 2025, Das served as a member of the Competition Jury at the 30th Busan International Film Festival.

Personal life

In 2002, Das married Saumya Sen. The couple began Leapfrog, a media organisation geared towards making socially conscious ad films. The couple divorced in 2007. After dating Subodh Maskara, a Mumbai industrialist, for a couple of months, she married him on 2 January 2010 and moved to Mumbai. Das and Maskara have a son named Vihaan. In January 2017, the couple announced that they have parted ways.

Nandita Das is an atheist. "If I align with anything it would probably be Buddhism," she said.

Activism

Das has master's degree in Social Work from the University of Delhi. She has worked for children's rights, HIV/AIDS awareness, to end violence against women, and she has spoken up in support of the JNU protests and MeToo movement on her official X (formerly known as Twitter). In 2009, Das was appointed Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India. In 2012, she was the guest of honor at the iVolunteer Awards, held in Mumbai. Das also donated to the launch of the investigative journalism magazine Tehelka, founded by Tarun Tejpal. In 2013, she participated in the Women of India Leadership Summit alongside other artists and women's activists.

India's Got Colour (Dark is Beautiful) Campaign

In 2013, Das became the face of the "Dark is Beautiful" campaign. Launched by Women of Worth in 2009, the campaign aims to draw attention to the effects of discrimination based on skin color in India. The campaign urges women and men to celebrate the beauty and diversity of all skin tones, using slogans such as "Stay UNfair, Stay Beautiful." Das said in 2014: In the [Indian film] industry a makeup man or a cinematographer would come and say can you lighten your skin a little, especially when you are playing the middle class educated character. In 2019, the Campaign was reinvented as India’s Got Colour. Along with Mahesh Mathai, Nandita Das has produced and co-directed a two-minute PSA for the campaign. The music video features several eminent artists from the Indian Film Industry.

Speaking Engagements

Das has been a featured speaker at various platforms in India and abroad, including at MIT (in 2007, after a screening of Fire), and at Tufts University.

International

National

Online

Accolades

In August 2018 Power Brands awarded Nandita Das the Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar for being a polymath with purpose, advocating issues of communal harmony, peace and social justice, especially for women, children and the marginalized "others" through various platforms, for her expressions of courage and compassion on celluloid and her steadfast faith in the power of cinema effecting social change for a better world.

For acting

For directing

Filmography

Actor

Films & Web Series

Theatre & Cineplay

Director

Voice Works

Books

• Manto and I. Aleph Book Company.
• Jatin Das: A Retrospective (1963-2023)

References

References

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2. "India's got colour". UNESCO.
3. (25 September 2019). "India's Got Colour".
4. Ians. (16 April 2011). "French honour for Nandita Das". The Hindu.
5. "Distinction conferred on Actor-Director Nandita Das, 2011".
6. "Philatelic issues related to Nandita Das issued by Foreign Countries".
7. Taber, Kimberly Conniff. (31 October 2007). "Titouan Lamazou: His vision of women around the world". The New York Times.
8. (5 November 2011). "Game for Fame -Nandita Das is first Indian to be inducted into the International Women's Forum Hall of Fame".
9. "The game changer".
10. (29 October 2011). "Nandita Das in IWF's International Hall of Fame {{!}} Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna.
11. "International Women's Forum Programs". International Women's Forum.
12. "International Women's Forum Brochure".
13. (29 October 2018). "BBC Asian Network - Ashanti Omkar, Actor & Director Nandita das, Actor & Director Nandita das".
14. (8 August 2013). "I am still searching for a place to call home". [[Open (Indian magazine).
15. (21 September 2009). "The Painter's Daughter".
16. Mendis, Isidore Domnick. (23 June 2003). "Independent stardom". [[Business Line]].
17. "Nandita Das {{!}} Yale Greenberg World Fellows".
18. (15 February 2003). "Chat with Nandita Das".
19. Sawant, Purvaja. (October 26, 2012). "Theatre Review: Between The Lines".
20. Bhaskaran, Gautaman. (November 29, 2016). "At Film Bazaar, Khamosh, Adalat Jaari Hai stirs your soul".
21. Saltz, Rachel. (4 June 2009). "The Variety of Life, Real and Imagined, in Movie-Mad India". The New York Times.
22. (21 September 2018). "Nandita Das and Nawazuddin Siddiqui bring Mantoiyat to JNU".
23. (7 October 2018). "Writing the writer". Deccan Herald.
24. "Anurag Kashyap's Manmarziyaan, Nandita Das' Manto to be screened at Toronto International Film Festival". Firstpost.
25. throh. "Beneath the Banyan boughs".
26. "Mahatma Gandhi Autobiography - Audiobooks free download".
27. "Music Review – Aks – A Haunting Melody". [[Rediff]].
28. Smriti Ananth. (2001-12-28). "A film album supervised by Vishwamohan Bhatt". The Music Magazine.
29. Young, Deborah. (2018-05-15). "'Manto': Film Review {{!}} Cannes 2018".
30. (2022-08-18). "Zwigato, a Nandita Das film, to have world premier at Toronto International Film Festival - CNBC TV18".
31. Shackleton, Liz. (September 2, 2025). "Na Hongjin To Head Busan's Competition Jury; Tony Leung Ka-fai & Nandita Das Among Jury Members".
32. (19 December 2004). "Her own person". [[The Hindu]].
33. Anand, Utkarsh. (24 May 2009). "Actor Nandita Das files for divorce". Yahoo! India News.
34. (21 November 2009). "Nandita Das is dating again". The Times of India.
35. (6 January 2010). "Nandita Das marries, moves to Mumbai by SUBHASH K JHA". [[The Times of India]].
36. (12 August 2010). "It's a baby boy for Nandita!". [[The Times of India]].
37. (3 January 2017). "Nandita Das and husband Subodh Maskara split after seven years of marriage. Here's all the details". [[The Indian Express]].
38. (17 December 2014). "Atheism is the religion for these filmi folk".
39. Garfinkel, Perry. (2 October 2009). "Beyond the Screen". The Wall Street Journal.
40. Gautam, Savitha. (27 September 2004). "Ms. Sense". [[The Hindu]].
41. "Profile of Chairperson". [[Children's Film Society of India.
42. "iVolunteer Awards Celebrates Volunteering by Recognizing Volunteers". indiacsr.in.
43. (28 November 2013). "Tehelka business: Murky deals, profits for Tejpal family, Shoma - Firstpost".
44. (24 September 2013). "Capital to host Women of India Leadership Summit".
45. Women, Respect. (30 December 2014). "Stay UNfair, Stay Beautiful!".
46. (30 September 2014). "The American Bazaar".
47. Rosario, Kennith. (3 October 2019). "Nandita Das brings out rap video to fight skin-tone discrimination". The Hindu.
48. "Struggles of Being a Woman in Society and Cinema: A Talk with Nandita Das {{!}} Yale Greenberg World Fellows".
49. (7 November 2015). "Naaree Interviews Actor And Director, Nandita Das".
50. (30 August 2018). "Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das receive Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar". Business Standard.
51. "Daily India media recognizes 13 Indian stalwarts with Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar 2018 | Central Chronicle - Central India's Premier English Daily".
52. Toh, Christopher. (13 December 2008). "THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL". [[Today (Singapore newspaper).
53. Oza, Nandini. (5 January 2018). "After 17 years, Gujarati film Dhaad starring Nandita Das set for release". [[The Week (Indian magazine).
54. Taran Adarsh. (6 March 2019). "Manav Kaul, Nandita Das and Saurabh Shukla... #AlbertPintoKoGussaKyunAataHai - an official remake of the cult classic by Saeed Akhtar Mirza - to release on 12 April 2019... Directed by Soumitra Ranade... The 1980 classic starred Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil. https://t.co/e3JaquzPMI".
55. Dasgupta. (16 August 2022). "Kapil Sharma sheds his comic image in Nandita Das' Zwigato, plays an orthodox husband. Watch first trailer".