Kanu Behl (born 1980) is an

Indian film The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on pr ...

director and screenwriter. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema. He assisted director Dibaker Banerjee on the cult hit ''

Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! ''Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! '' is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language crime comedy film starring Abhay Deol, Paresh Rawal, Neetu Chandra, Manu Rishi, Manjot Singh and Archana Puran Singh. It was directed by Dibakar Banerjee. The film won the National F ...

'' and co-wrote ''LSD: Love Sex aur Dhokha''. His directorial debut, ''Titli'', appeared at several international film festivals, including Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, Zurich, Filmfest Hamburg, and BFI London. The script of ''Titli'' was selected by NFDC for the Screenwriters' Lab 2012, later winning the Post Production Award at Film Bazaar's Work-In-Progress Lab. ''Titli'' was nominated for Caméra d'Or at 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Early life and education

Kanu Behl spent his early years in

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubar ...

, Punjab before moving to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

in 1990. Both his parents, Navnindra and

Lalit Behl Lalit Behl (15 August 1949 – 23 April 2021) was an Indian actor, director, producer and writer. Early life Lali Behl started acting as a college student and won inter varsity contest. He formed a theatre group at Kapurthala (Punjab) alon ...

are writer-actor-directors and also directed telefilms for the state-run

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

channel. He studied at Apeejay School, Noida and sought a bachelor's degree in Business from

Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS), previously known as College of Business Studies, is an institute for management studies under Delhi University, India. It is located at Sector 16, Rohini, Delhi. It is named after Sukhdev Thap ...

, Delhi University. In 2003, he joined the

Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) is a film and television institute located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Named after renowned Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, the institute provides higher and professional education and tech ...

and pursued a PG Diploma in Cinema. While at the Institute, he attended the

Berlinale Talent Campus The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

2007 and made his documentary 'An Actor Prepares', about a struggling actor, who after seven years decides to give himself 15 days to make it in the film industry or return home. The documentary entered competitively at

Cinéma du Réel Cinéma du réel (Lit. "Cinema of the Real") is an international documentary annual film festival held in Paris, France, since 1978. It is organised by the Bibliothèque publique d'information (BPI), and screenings take place at the Pompidou Cen ...

2007, a documentary film festival in France. In January 2019 Behl married music composer

Sneha Khanwalkar Sneha Khanwalkar (born 28 April 1983) is an Indian music director who works in Hindi films. She is best known for her score for the film, ''Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!'', and also for ''Gangs of Wasseypur Part 1, Part 2''. She had been nominated in ...

Career

After graduating from SRFTI, he produced and directed documentaries for the international channels

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

, Japan and

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

. He worked with

Dibakar Banerjee Dibakar Banerjee (born 21 June 1969) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and advertisement-filmmaker known for his work in Hindi films. Banerjee started his career in advertising, being a feature filmmaker, he still continues to ...

on the feature film ''

'' as an

Assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...

. In 2010, he co-wrote the critically acclaimed '' Love Sex aur Dhokha'' with Banerjee and was chief assistant director on the project. In 2012, the script of his first independent feature film '' Titli'', was selected by NFDC for the Screenwriters' Lab 2012, which later won the 'Post-Production Award' at Film Bazaar's ''Work-In-Progress Lab'' in 2013. ''Titli'', appeared at several international film festivals, including the

2014 Cannes Film Festival The 67th Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition. French actor Lambert Wilson hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Turkish filmmaker Nuri ...

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

, Rio de Janeiro International,

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, secon ...

Filmfest Hamburg FILMFEST HAMBURG is an international film festival in Hamburg, the third-largest of its kind in Germany (after Berlin and Munich). It shows national and international feature and documentary films in eleven sections. The range of the program stret ...

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

and the

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

. Written and directed by Behl and co-produced by ''Dibakar Banerjee Productions'' and

Yash Raj Films Yash Raj Films (YRF) is an Indian film production and distribution company founded by filmmaker Yash Chopra in 1970. Since 2012, it has been led by his son Aditya Chopra. The company mainly produces and distributes Hindi films. History In 19 ...

, ''Titli'' was selected to take part in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

* Nominated for

56th Filmfare Awards The 56th Filmfare Awards were held on 29 January 2011 at the Yash Raj Studios in Mumbai, honouring the best in film for the year 2010. The nominations were announced on 13 January. The date of the function was unusual because generally the awa ...

Best Screenplay This list of screenwriting awards for film is an index to articles on notable awards given for film screenwriting. The list is organized by region and country of the awards venue or sponsor, but winners are not necessarily restricted to people fro ...

Category for film ''Love, Sex Aur Dhoka''. * Nominated for

Apsara Awards The Producers Guild Film Awards, previously known as the Apsara Awards, is an award event hosted by the Producers Guild of India to recognize excellence in Hindi film and television. Originated by filmmaker and scholar Amit Khanna in 2004, th ...

in Best Screenplay Category for film ''Love, Sex Aur Dhoka''. * Nominated for

Caméra d'Or The Caméra d'Or ("''Golden Camera''") is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes selections (Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight or Critics' Week). The prize was created in 1978 Ca ...

* Critics Prize at Fifib, Bordeaux * Best Film at Seattle South Asian Film Festival * NETPAC Award at

Hawaii International Film Festival Hawaii ( ; ) is an island state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only state not on the North American mainland, th ...

* Best Film at SAIFF, New York * Best International Film at Malatya International, Turkey * Best Actress and Best Film,

Gijón International Film Festival The Gijón International Film Festival ( or ''FICXixón'') is an annual film festival held in Gijón, a city in northwest Spain. The festival is mainly concentrated on independent and auteur cinema. Gijón's International Short Film Competition ...

, Spain *Best Foreign First Film (Critics Award) at

French Syndicate of Cinema Critics The French Syndicate of Cinema Critics () has, each year since 1946, awarded a prize (":fr:Prix de la critique, Prix de la critique", English: "Critics Prize"), the Prix Méliès, to the best French film of the preceding year. More awards have bee ...

2016 *Special Jury Prize at Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Behl, Kanu Film directors from Punjab, India Living people 1980 births Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute alumni Indian male screenwriters Delhi University alumni Film directors from Delhi Writers from Delhi Hindi-language film directors Apeejay School alumni