In the city of Kolkata in India, Tanmay Chowdhary grew up watching Bollywood and Hollywood movies and found himself transported by the universal language of film. He always was an expressive child, brewing up stories and playing pretend, and as he grew his imagination transformed into artistry, experimenting with photography as a young teenager. The more he learned, the more enthralled in the technical aspects of moving images he became, and when he first picked up a video camera, he knew exactly how he was meant to spend his life.
“I started working in the film industry as a cinematographer, but my interests were broader than that. A lot of times, I could imagine the scene playing out in a specific manner, but since I wasn’t the director of the film, I could not make those calls,” said Chowdhary. “I wanted to direct because I wanted to see my vision play out in its entirety and not just be a part of the creative process. I wanted to make my own films and have a signature language as a director. Hence, I started working on my craft as a director about 10 years ago, simultaneous to my practice and profession as a cinematographer.”
Chowdhary is now living his childhood dream each and every day as an industry leading Cinematographer and Director in his home of India and abroad. His work has been appreciated by fans all over the world, exemplified by his film Craftsman, which made its way into over 15 prestigious international film festivals and was nominated for Best Cinematography at Camerimage in Poland, the world’s renowned cinematography festival. He also took home the award for Outstanding Cinematography at both First Look Film Festival and Tide Film Festival for his work on Craftsman, and his docu-fiction film Color of November had its world premiere at the 47th Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Quebec and its European premiere at the 31st Filmfest Dresden in 2018.
More recently, Chowdhary’s film Madhu has been impressing and captivating worldwide audiences. The film is currently at the tail end of its festival cycle, where it has gone on to play in over 30 international film festivals including Edinburgh International Film Festival, the world’s oldest continually running film festival, Leeds International Film Festival, one of the largest film festivals in the UK, and the Oscar-qualifying Uppsala International Film Festival. The film has also been awarded Special Recognition at Lago Film Festival in Italy and Palm Springs International Shortfest, and won the Air Canada Film Award for best short film at the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival. On top of awards and accolades, Madhu has received considerable media attention, and was even labeled as one of the “5 films to see” in 2022 by Criterion. As both the director and cinematographer on the project, Chowdhary was pivotal to this continued success and is proud to see what his latest film has achieved.
“Madhu was a great follow up to my film Color of November. It dealt with the same themes but was set in my home country so it felt closer culturally to me and I wanted to expand on my theme as a director on works relating to identity and memory. The film was conceived because of an experience that I shared with my sister, and we were able to translate that on a very short turnaround because of my ability to shoot as well as direct,” said Chowdhary.
Once Chowdhary had come up with the idea behind the film, he brought together a team in India to bring it to life. During pre-production, he planned diligently and created a seamless timeline where he anticipated everything that they needed to achieve in addition to potential problems that could arise. By the time filming began, he had a very solid grasp of how he wanted to technically execute the film, therefore working at blazing fast speed, often combining camera and theater in a way that made it possible to make the film feel very raw yet professional. Chowdhary has a tremendous ability to lead the film and the characters in an effective way to get the maximum production value out of it.
“I liked having the freedom that the project was made with. We had a solid plan but we improvised a lot in terms of dialogues and scenes and that came out of inspiration because we kept the process of the film making very lean and it allowed for a greater sense of flexibility on set,” he described.
Madhu tells the story of Satakshi and Madhu, who went to school together, reuniting after years of being apart on a night of festivities during the ‘Durga Puja’ in Kolkata. As the night progresses, we find out that both of them have feelings for each other, but they are not able to express it. Their secrets are preserved in a notebook entry by Madhu from her school days, and a postcard that Satakshi sends Madhu six years from this night.
“I like that the story focuses on one primary emotional theme but uses three significantly different time periods to convey the length and span of life lived. The story is important because it tells the story of two women in India who might have feelings for each other that they can never communicate due to the social taboo revolving around the LGBTQ community. It is a film that is socially and culturally relevant for change to happen in this direction,” he concluded.
Chowdhary will soon be presenting his film Fascinasian at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Calgary New Central Library in May as part of the FascinAsian Film Festival, and he has also teamed up with the award-winning band Young the Giant on their upcoming documentary series American Bollywood, which will dive into the concept of the South Asian diaspora in the United States. Keep an eye out for the many exciting projects that Chowdhary has on the go, as we can continue to expect great things from this extraordinary filmmaker.
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