Roopa Rao (born May 18) is an independent Indian film-maker from Bangalore. She is the writer and director of India's first same-sex love story web series, ''

The Other Love Story ''The 'Other' Love Story'' is India's first televised same-sex love story, broadcast as a web series consisting of 12 episodes. The plot, set in the late 1990s/early 2000s, involves two girls in an era when there were no cell phones or internet. ...

'' (2016). Rao is also known for directing critically acclaimed award winning Kannada film ''

Gantumoote ''Gantumoote'' () is a 2019 Indian Kannada language coming of age drama film written and directed by Roopa Rao and produced by Rao and Sahadev Kelvadi. Having previously directed short films and web series', this is Rao's debut feature film. ...

'' (2019).

Early life

Rao completed Masters in Commerce with Personnel Management as a specialization and discontinued Masters in Finance. For a span of six Years, she worked at Infosys. Later, with a persistent desire to make movies, she quit her job to pursue film making. She completed a course in film direction and production from Asian Academy of Film and Television, Delhi. After this, she moved to London, UK to assist a documentary filmmaker.

Career

She returned to India, where she made documentaries and short films in order to improvise her craft. After co-directing '' Vishnuvardhana'', a Kannada feature film and ''Kurai Ondrum Illai'', an independent Tamil feature film, she began to work on her first big scale venture, ''

''. Being a writer at heart from her early teens, she had written the story of two young women falling in love during her college days but never took it further due to its unconventional story-line. Later, in 2015, she decided to work on it herself. Since the central theme of the story is a taboo topic in India, she had difficulties finding producers for her project and turned to

Wishberry Wishberry Online Services Pvt. Ltd. (Wishberry) is a Kickstarter-inspired crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a ...

, a crowd funding platform to raise an amount of Rs 4 lakh. ''

'', a love story between two young girls, came on air on 27 August 2016. The first season consists 12 episodes. Set in the late 1990s/early 2000s of Bangalore, ''

'', starring Spoorthi Gumaste and Shweta Gupta, explored the journey of two young women in love. Rao has won "Best Director" award at NYC Web Fest 2016 and "Best Story" award at TO Web Fest 2017. ''

'' has a total of 3 wins and 7 nominations from various National and International Film Festivals. After ''

, ''in 2017 Rao wrote and directed ''BFF (Breath Friend Forever),'' a short film where a 7-year-old, after learning about trees in class, tries to understand the importance of trees. The film was an official selection in Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and got screened at Ireland National Film Body in Kids Section. In 2018, ''Astu Studios'' released a travel short film ''Love Leh’tter'' starring Roopa Rao, written and directed by Surya Vasishta. Rao co-founded an independent production house, Ameyukti Studios, with a friend in 2018. In 2019, Rao's first feature film, ''

'' was up for a world premiere at New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) where it won the "Best Screenplay" award. An intense coming of age, high school drama set in Bangalore in the 1990s, it's a relatable story of a sixteen-year-old girl and her subtle journey from the life that she thinks exists just like in the movies to the actual life that unravels before her. Currently, she is working on producing her next venture while also writing a feature film inspired from a real life incident.

Filmography

; As Associated Director * '' Vishnuvardhana'' - 2011 Kannada *''Kurai ondrum Illai'' - 2013 Tamil

Awards

* 2016: New York Web Fest Award for Best Direction: ''

'' (2016) * 2017: TO Web Fest Award for Best LGBTQ Story: ''

'' (2016) *2017: Boston LGBTQ Film Festival Award for Best International Web Series: ''

''(2016) * 2016: New York Web Fest Nomination for Outstanding Writing: ''

'' (2016) * 2016: New York Web Fest Nomination for Best Webseries: ''

'' (2016) * 2017: Vancouver Web Festival Award for Best Drama: ''

'' (2016) * 2016: Miami Short Film Festival Semi Finalist: ''

'' (2016) * 2019: New York Indian Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay: ''

'' (2019) *2020: Critics Choice Film Awards Nomination for Best Director:''

'' (2019) *2020: Critics Choice Film Awards Nomination for Best Film:''

'' (2019) *2020: Critics Choice Film Awards Nomination for Best Writing:''

'' (2019) *2020: Critics Choice Film Awards Nomination for Best Director:''

'' (2019) *2020: Karnataka Film Critics Awards Nomination for Best Director:''

'' (2019) *2020: Karnataka Film Critics Awards Nomination for Best Writer:''

'' (2019) *2020: Karnataka Film Critics Awards Nomination for Best Film:''

'' (2019) *2020: Raghavendra Chitravani Award for Best Debudant Director:''

'' (2019) *2021: SIIMA Awards Nomination for Best Debudant Director:''

''(2019) *2023: Indo French International Film Festival for Best Indian Short Film:'' Asmin''(2023) *2023: Indo French International Film Festival for Best Director Critics Choice:'' Asmin''(2023)

References

7.https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/critics-choice-film-awards-2020-complete-nominations-list-6295588/ 8.https://www.cinisuddi.com/tag/raghavendra-chitravani-awards/ 9. https://siima.in/2019-nominations.php 10. https://filmyfocus.com/top-10-best-kannada-movies-to-watch-on-amazon-prime

External links