Madhureeta Anand

Madhureeta Anand is an Indian filmmaker, writer, and social activist. She was born on 22nd May 1973 in New Delhi. She has created award winning documentaries and feature films, writes articles for various websites and magazines, and promotes women and child rights. Madhureeta was born to Col. V. K. Pachauri and Sarita. She has an elder sister named Mandakini. After her father’s death, she studied at The Modern School at Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. When her mother remarried Major V. K. Anand, she enrolled at boarding school at The Lawrence School, Sanawar. She studied Sociology at Delhi University where she spent most of her time volunteering at The Spastics Society and in Orissa’s villages fighting for the rights of the villagers. She did a film course at AJK Mass Communication Research Centre at Jamia Milia Islamia.

Madhureeta’s Kumbh Mela documentary In Search of Salvation won her an award at the Damah Film Festival in Seattle for Excellence in 2001 and a nomination at the Commonwealth Film Festival in Manchester in 2002. She also received the Royal Television Society Craft Award for the documentary The Greatest Show on Earth – Kumbh Mela as the camera director. In 2002, her short film Sin was nominated at the Damah Film Festival while her documentary Education was nominated at the Zanzibar Film Festival. At the Mumbai International Film Festival 2006, she received the Silver Conch for Walking On A Moonbeam. In 2009, Madhureeta made her first feature film Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye. In 2015, her second feature film Kajarya was on female foeticide. It received critical acclaim and at the Silk Route Film Festival in Xian it received the Best Foreign Film Award.

It was listed in the Top Five Click to look into! >> Read More... films to see in Forbes India Magazine in 2014 and was nominated and screened at various film festivals including the Dubai International Film Festival, Elles Tournet in Brussels, The Lady Film Festival, La Femme Film Festival and many others. She found India’s first digital film festival, the UFO 0110 International Digital Film Festival. In 2015, she received the Karamveer award for her activism through filmmaking. She writes The Big M column at India Today’s website Daily-O. Madhureeta is working on a web series, consisting of five episodes, called Know Your Porn to raise awareness about indiscriminate viewership of porn among porn addicts. Her ongoing projects include a documentary on Naga Sadhvis and a film called Kotha no. 22.