Devashish Makhija is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, graphic artist, fiction writer and poet. He is best known for writing and directing the full-length feature films: '' Ajji'', '' Oonga'', and ''

Bhonsle The Bhonsle (or Bhonsale, Bhosale, Bhosle) are a prominent group within the Maratha clan system of kunbi origin. They claimed descent from the Sisodia Rajputs but were likely Kunbi tiller-plainsmen. History Earliest members The earliest a ...

''. He also authored the bestselling children's books, '' When Ali Became Bajrangbali'' and '' Why Paploo was Perplexed'', along with a series of 49 short stories published as an anthology, '' Forgetting'', published by HarperCollins. He has also worked on the films '' Black Friday'' and '' Bunty Aur Babli''.

Early life

Born and brought up in Park Circus, Devashish spent the first 24 years of his life in Kolkata. He completed his schooling at Don Bosco High School and pursued a degree in Economics at St. Xavier's College. Following a brief stint in advertising with McCann Erickson and

Mudra A mudra (; sa, मुद्रा, , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ,) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As wel ...

Kolkata after his graduation, Devashish arrived in Mumbai to pursue filmmaking.

Career

Devashish Makhija began his career in the Indian film industry as a researcher and assistant director on the critically acclaimed film '' Black Friday'' (2004), a film based on the namesake book by Hussain Zaidi about the

1993 Bombay bombings The 1993 Bombay bombings were a series of 12 terrorist bombings that took place in Bombay, Maharashtra, on 12 March 1993. The single-day attacks resulted in 257 fatalities and 1,400 injuries. The attacks were coordinated by Dawood Ibrahim, le ...

, the feature-film directorial of

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France a ...

. In the following year, he was also the chief assistant director to Shaad Ali on the blockbuster '' Bunty Aur Babli''. Since then, he has written numerous screenplays, notably Avik Mukherjee's ''Bhoomi'' in the year 2008 and Anurag Kashyap's upcoming superhero project ''Doga''. In addition to writing its story, screenplay and dialogue, Devashish made his feature-film directorial debut with the highly appreciated Hindi-Oriya film '' Oonga'' in 2013, starring

Nandita Das Nandita Das (born 7 November 1969) is an Indian actress and director. She has acted in over 40 feature films in ten different languages. Das appeared in the films ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth'' (1998), ''Bawandar'' (2000), ''Kannathil Muthamittal'' ...

, Seema Biswas, Salim Kumar and Raju Singh (as Oonga). ''Oonga'' made its world premiere at the

New York Indian Film Festival The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in New York City, and screens films relating to India, the Indian Diaspora, and the work of Indian filmmakers. The festival began in November 2001 and was ...

on 3 May 2013 and was screened in the 'India Gold' competition section at the 15th Mumbai Film Festival, the 13th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival and the Indian Film Festival at Melbourne in 2014. Oonga was also a part of the international competition at the International Film Festival of Kerala in 2014. He has written and directed two acclaimed short films, ''Rahim Murge Pe Mat Ro'', starring Piyush Mishra as the voice of ''Rahim Murga'' in 2008, followed by the film ''El'ayichi'' in 2015, starring

Nimrat Kaur Nimrat Kaur (born 13 March 1982) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films and on American television. She began her career as a print model and went on to act in theater. After brief appearances in a few films, Kaur starred in Anurag Ka ...

and Divyendu Sharma, which was chosen among the 5 short films exclusively screened at the 1st edition of the 'Terribly Tiny Talkies' initiative. He has also written and directed the short film ''Absent'' in 2015, starring Vikas Kumar which was produced by 'Pocket Films' and had an official selection at ''International Film Festival of South Asia (IFFSA), Toronto, Canada'' and

Apart from writing and directing films, he also made his debut as a graphic-poet in 2008 with ''Occupying Silence'', a book of graphic verse. He has authored

Tulika Publishers Tulika Publishers is a South Indian Multi-lingual Children's Books publishing house. It often uses the imprint Tulika Books, but is separate from the New Delhi-based publisher Tulika Books. History ''Tulika'' was founded in 1996 as an indepe ...

' bestselling children's books ''When Ali became Bajrangbali'' and ''Why Paploo was Perplexed''. ''By Two'', a crime noir story written by him, was featured in the omnibus ''Mumbai Noir'' which Akashic Books published in 2012 as part of their award-winning international Noir series. In early-2015, HarperCollins published a collection of 49 short stories written by Devashish across a variety of genres in the acclaimed anthology ''Forgetting''. His most recent feature film ''

'' had its world premiere at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival and is now streaming on SonyLiv. He was recently a co-writer Pavan Kriplani's '' Bhoot Police'' , a horror-comedy starring Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, and Yami Gautam. His upcoming feature, title ''Joram,'' stars Manoj Bajpayee and is being co-produced under his production house Makhijafilm.

Reviews of his work

Of ''By Two'', Kankana Basu of

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

said "'By Two' by Devashish Makhija, where the fates of twin brothers, Rahim and Rahman, resonate with the paradoxical nature of life in the teeming metropolis. The unique place of the humble auto-rickshaw in the bigger scheme of things could not have been driven home more exquisitely, as in this story". Aditi Seshadri wrote for the DNA, "..the stories that stand out are the ones that have the most authentic voice (like) 'By Two' by Devashish Makhija, a gritty story about twin auto-rickshaw drivers and what they do to survive in Mumbai." About his anthology ''Forgetting'', one review said, "Infused with every aspect of emotion, big and small, this book is a complete eye opener that throws light on the reality of human lives that we sometimes tend to ignore." His debut as a graphic-poet with ''Occupying Silence'' was celebrated as "Brave and fresh", to quote Aparna Sen from the Indian Express. Among the positive reviews his award-winning short film ''Rahim Murge Pe Mat Ro'' received, Kishore Budha from the Wide Screen Journal said, "Rahim Murge Pe Mat Ro is a fast, witty short with a great voiceover. And there's a message on animal welfare somewhere in there. A lesson in short filmmaking."

Filmography

References

External links

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Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makhija, Devashish Film directors from Kolkata Living people Screenwriters from Kolkata Don Bosco schools alumni Year of birth missing (living people)