Anu Malhotra

Anu Malhotra is one of India's top filmmakers, having won over 16 National and International awards. But for Anu, filmmaking is not just a profession; it is a passion- a passion with a cause - to create meaningful and uplifting television content.

Over the past decades, Anu has transformed the lives and minds of people across India and the world, through her insightful documentaries, trend setting television programming and revolutionary awareness campaigns, that are a tribute to India and her infinite diversity.

In 1993, Anu set up AIM Television as a boutique production house and went on to create over 600 hours of quality non-fiction television programming, for premiere Indian television channels (Zee TV, Sony and DD) and a range of infotainment series for reputed international channels (BBC, Discovery, Travel Channel U.K., France 5 et al.)

A pioneer of the travel show genre on Indian television, Anu was the mastermind behind the presenter-based reality format for travel shows, with her multiple award-winning programmes, Namaste India, and Indian Holiday, setting trends that most travels shows still ape today.

Anu also successfully formatted and showcased pioneering lifestyle programming (Khubsoorat, Jhatpat Khana, Take 5, Peoples Club, Breakfast with Zee et al) which became household names and their dynamic, glamorous and funky style defined a whole generation of Indian audiences.

AIM Television’s global appeal was garnered with high-quality shows such as Tribal Wisdom, Yatra- Indian Travels and Holistic Healing, that were aired internationally (Discovery, Travel Channel UK, France 5, et.al.)

Anu has also consulted for the BBC World Service Trust as the Creative Head for its India Project, with the specific mission of raising awareness about HIV/AIDS in India. For this campaign, she designed and directed a hugely successful and impactful ‘Behaviour Change Communication Project.’ Haath Se Haath Milaa which won the UNAIDS Global Award (2007).

With her incisive vision, Anu turned her experiences into several captivating commercials and promotionals, for the Department of Tourism, including the first series of the Incredible India films - a slogan, that was coined by her! She also penned a column, Travels With My Camera, for HT city in 2003, besides writing travel articles for various magazines.

But despite her remarkable repertoire of work, Anu's first love has always been her insightful documentary films which have showcasing unique cultures and wisdom traditions of India, which were documented for the first time by her.

Her path-breaking films, The Apatani of Arunachal Pradesh, The Konyak of Nagaland and The Maharaja of Jodhpur, redefined the landscape of documentary cinema in India. Anu’s latest docu-series and docu-film, Shamans of the Himalayas, which she filmed over 2008 and 2009 was premiered in Delhi, in October 2010. Worldwide Distribution by Behr Entertainment Ltd.

“I have always sought to capture India’s rich cultural heritage and vibrant living traditions through my films. My mission is to document cultures that are fast disappearing and remind viewers of the importance of learning from and sustaining, their traditional wisdom.”

Today, we are in urgent need of spiritual sustenance. Our urban existence has slowly swallowed our ability to find happiness in simplicity, and we find ourselves on the brink of a moral and ecological implosion. Anu’s docu-work thus becomes especially pertinent to contemporary audiences and younger generations as she has the foresight that only great artists have, to find and focus on essence and capture on camera, worlds, that have practically disappeared from our maps and most importantly, worlds that can help us heal the damage caused by urban decay.

Anu has showcased an exclusive exhibition of her captivating photographs, titled “Soul Survivors” which were taken over the course of her journeys across India.