Nirmal Chander

Nirmal Chander is an Indian documentary filmmaker and editor. The three-time National Award winner has also been credited for directing India’s official entry for the Oscars 2020. A native of Rajasthan, Nirmal Chander Dandriyal was born in Chennai and grew up in different cities as his father worked in the Air force. He completed his schooling in Delhi and pursued his Bachelor’s in Science from Rajasthan. Later, he moved back to Delhi and worked in a studio as an apprentice. Gradually, he learned video editing and joined Ten Sports channel to work as an editor and program producer. Besides, he also performed as an editor for several documentaries and short films. Nirmal Chander is happily married to Reena Mohan, who is also an acclaimed documentary filmmaker.

Nirmal Chander started as an associate director ad editor for a documentary named ‘Mother Teresa’s First Love Click to look into! >> Read More... .’ Following his debut in filmmaking, he edited many documentaries which include, From Dust, It’s Cricket, No?, Why Knot, Selling Children, Satyarthi, and more. In 2008, Nirmal Chander debuted as a director with the documentary ‘All The World’s A Stage,’ a story about the performing group called Sidi Goma of Gujarat’s Siddi community. The film won numerous awards, including The Indian Documentary Producers Association’s Gold prize for sound design, Jury special Mention Award for Sound design at International Documentary and Short film festival 2009, Best Documentary Film at the 4th Kabul International Documentary and Shirt film festival.

While working at Ten sports, Nirmal Chander got the opportunity to travel to Pakistan for the India-Pakistan series. That’s when he met Haider, a Pakistani who dreams of seeing the Indian monument Taj Mahal but is struggling to get an Indian visa. Fascinated by his story, Nirmal Chander shot it and made it as a documentary in the name ‘Dreaming Taj Mahal.’ He served as a director, editor, producer, and cinematographer for the movie. The movie won several accolades at film festivals and also bagged him two National Awards at the 60th National Film Awards The National Film Awards gets presented every year >> Read More... in the category Best Promotional Film. Being the producer and director, he fetched two awards. In 2016, Nirmal Chander worked on the documentary of the renowned ghazal singer Begum Akthar. Produced by Sangeet Natak Akademi, he directed the film ‘Zikr Us Parivash Ka.’

The movie fetched him his third National Award at the 64th National Film Awards for the Best Historical Reconstruction/ Compilation Film. Inspired by the story of his uncle, Vidyadutt Sharma, Nirmal Chander decided to make a film on him. The documentary named ‘Moti Bagh’ shows the life of the farmer living in the village called Moti Bagh, who is striving to keep the hills alive. ‘Moti Bagh’ won the Best Long Documentary at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival, Kerala 2019. Also, the movie won the highest honor of being India’s official entry at the Oscars 2020. Some of his other works are Sab Lila Hai, The Face Behind the Mask, On an express highway, and more.