Shabnam Sukhdev

Shabnam Sukhdev is an award-winning filmmaker who is known for Earth Crusader (2016), Star Bestsellers (1999) and Parinda (1989). She was born in Mumbai, India and did her undergraduate degree at Mumbai University, followed by a B. Ed degree in Special Education. Shabnam’s interest in cinema made her complete a 3-year post-graduate Diploma in Cinema from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. She has worked in the Mumbai film and television industry for 15 years, and She made her first film at the age of 21, which was for the films division Government of India. In the Mumbai and Television industry, she worked as a writer, director and producer for various television shorts and serials. Shabnam Sukhdev won a National Award in India for a feature-length documentary on her father, a renowned documentary filmmaker, S. Sukhdev.

Her award-winning documentary “Earth Crusader” was about sustainable architecture and explored self-taught architect Didi Contractor’s work and passion for conserving the Earth’s resources. In 2018, she completed her film “Peacock Plume”, which explores the life and works of Odissi dance proponent Shubhada Varadkar Shubhada Varadkar is a well-known Indian classical >> Read More... . She has also made a thesis film, “Unfinished”, which is a first-person documentary told from a caregiver’s perspective. Her films generally revolve around issues of identity and culture, feminism and sexuality, migration and mental health. Discrimination and human rights problems deeply concern her, which is why her works are based around them. Shabnam Sukhdev will begin her PhD research in the Department of Theatre & Performance Studies in Fall 2022.