Ritesh Batra (born 12 June 1979) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. Batra's Hindi-language debut feature film ''

The Lunchbox ''The Lunchbox'' is a 2013 Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Ritesh Batra. Produced by Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap and Arun Rangachari, ''The Lunchbox'' is an international co-production of studios in India, the US, Germany a ...

'' premiered at the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and ...

and won the Rail d’Or (Grand Golden Rail). Batra also won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best First Feature Film in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. ''The Lunchbox'' was the highest-grossing foreign film in North America, Europe and Australia for 2014 grossing over US$25 Million. The film was also nominated for a

BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 36th British Academy Film Awards, rec ...

in 2015. He then directed the English-language film '' The Sense of an Ending'' (2017), an adaptation of

Julian Barnes Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with '' The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with '' Flaubert's Parrot'', ''England, England'', and '' A ...

’ Booker Prize-winning novel. 2017 also saw the release of Batra's ''

Our Souls at Night ''Our Souls at Night'' is a 2017 American romantic drama film directed by Ritesh Batra and written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. It is based on the novel of same name by Kent Haruf. The film stars Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Matt ...

'' on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

. Batra's latest film is '' Photograph'', released in 2019.

Early life and background

Ritesh grew up in a middle-class family in Mumbai, India. His father Joginder Batra, worked in the Merchant Navy of India and his mother Manju Kapoor Batra, is a house wife. His elder sister Radhika Batra Shah runs a tea business. Ritesh completed his high school from AVM High School in Mumbai and later went to the United States to complete his higher studies. Ritesh worked as a consultant at Deloitte after graduating from Drake University, Iowa in Economics. But after three years of working he went back to school to chase his childhood dream of filmmaking. He attended New York University but dropped out of the film school.

Career

Batra began his filmmaking career by writing and directing shorts. His Arab language short ''Café Regular, Cairo'', screened at over 40 international film festivals and won over 12 awards including Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) Best Film at International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and Best Film at German Star of India. Batra was part of the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors lab with his project "Story of Ram" in 2009. He subsequently was made the Time Warner Story Telling Fellow at Sundance Film Festival and Annenberg Fellow at Sundance Film Academy. In 2011 Batra returned to India to make a documentary on the lunchbox delivery system in Mumbai. It was this venture of Batra's which conceptualized his first feature film ''

'' (2013). He developed this project through the

TorinoFilmLab TorinoFilmLab (TFL) is a Turin-based laboratory that primarily supports persons working on their first and second fiction feature films. Its four main fields of involvement are training, development, funding and distribution. TorinoFilmLab runs se ...

Framework programme in 2012. ''The Lunchbox'' premiered at the Cannes Critics Week 2013 and won Rail d’Or (Grand Golden Rail). At Cannes the movie prompted a bidding war. Sony Pictures Classic acquired the North American rights to the film. ''The Lunchbox'' has been nominated for 33 Awards and won 25 so far. In 2014, Batra founded his own production company PoeticLicense Motion Pictures and is currently developing a slate of films.

Filmography as director

Awards

* Time Warner Storytelling Fellow – Sundance Film Festival * Annenberg Fellow – Sundance Film Institute ''The Lunchbox'', 2013 * (Nominated) " Film not in the English Language" – BAFTA 2015 * Rail d’Or (Grand Golden Rail) –

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

* Best First Feature – Toronto Film Critics Association Award * Best Director Award – Odessa International Film Festival * Church of Iceland Award – Reykjavik International Film Festival * Best Screenplay – 7th Asia Pacific Screen Awards * Best Screenplay – Asian Film Academy * Best Screenplay – Asia Pacific Film Festival * Jury Grand Prize – 7th

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

* Best Screenplay – 7th

* Muhr AsiaAfrica Special Mention – Dubai International Film Festival * Best Film – Amazonas Film Festival, Brazil * Canvas Audience Award – Ghent International Film Festival, Belgium * Audience Award – World Cinema Amsterdam * Best Director – International Festival Young Filmmakers of Saint-Jean-de-Luz * Audience Award – Belfast Film Festival, UK * Best Feature Film – Zagreb Golden Pram Award ''Cafe Regular Cairo'', 2011 * Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) Best Film – International Short Film Festival Oberhausen * Jury Special Mention – Tribeca Film Festival * Jury Special Mention – Chicago International Film Festival * Best Short Film – The Warp * Best Short Film – German Star of India * Clipagem Trophy – Kinoforum – Brazil ;Honours * Chief guest at 8th

Filmsaaz Filmsaaz is an international short film festival began in 2008 by the University Film Club, Aligarh Muslim University. Until the fifth edition of the festival in 2012, it was a national-level competition, but beginning with the sixth edition ...

where he was given lifetime membership of the prestigious University Film Club, Aligarh Muslim University.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Batra, Ritesh Film directors from Mumbai Living people Hindi-language film directors Tisch School of the Arts alumni Indian documentary filmmakers Filmfare Awards winners 1979 births 21st-century Indian film directors