Ajay Saklani

Ajay Saklani is a well-known Hindi Cinematographer and Editor. He was raised in a remote village of District Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. He was fascinated by cinema since childhood when he first came across TV at age 11. His passion for films followed him to college and there he joined theatre. He started his career in acting but was unsure of it and left his city to go to Delhi where he joined the TV industry as a video editor. He worked with many different TV channels and developed his skills in cinematography, editing, and direction. He later pursued a master’s degree in mass communication and journalism. He started his career with independent documentaries that focused on sociocultural issues.

One such show worth mentioning is ‘Upaasmar,’ which shows the pitiful conditions of malnutrition among children in the tribal areas of Maharashtra. It received significant recognition at many film festivals worldwide. In 2018 he moved to Mumbai, the soul of Hindi Cinema and started working there for his future projects towards his dream goal. His debut feature film was called ‘Saanjh’ that was a first ever film in Himachali language. He is popularly known as Dada Saheb Phalke of Himachali Cinema.

He received several awards which include- the Himachal Excellence Award in 2016, Himachal Award of Excellence in Cinema in 2018, the Best feature Film Award at Brrego Springs Film Festival in 2017 for the movie ‘Saanjh,’ 'The Award of Merit' in 2016 at the Accolade Global Film Competition. ‘Saanjh’ was screened at the Los Angeles Women’s International Film Festival in 2017 and Cinema on the Byou Film Festival in 2017. His second film called ‘Googly Gumm Hai’ was another huge hit, which was released in OTT platforms such as Disney Plus Hotstar in 2021.