“What inspires me about storytelling is capturing the moment and crafting cinematic experiences that resonate life.”

Aman Mahajan is a writer-director based in India, who discovered his passion for cinema while studying New Media at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. He later assisted renowned filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra for six years in Mumbai, where he learned the dynamics of big-scale film production in India and the US.

In 2013, Aman ventured out on his own, directing off-the-wall commercials and indie music videos while honing his craft in screenwriting. As an independent filmmaker, he has directed music videos in the jungles of Arunachal Pradesh as well as the streets of Mumbai, Amsterdam, and Marseille. One of his most successful and challenging projects was the campaign film for Ms. Vasundhara Raje, who was contesting the Rajasthan elections in 2013. The poetic yet hard-hitting film played a strong part in Ms. Raje’s victory. In 2018, as Chief Minister, she invited Aman to make another film, which he successfully delivered.

Deeply rooted in visual storytelling, Aman further developed his skills in Cambodia, where he was selected in the prestigious Angkor Photography Workshop and mentored with Magnum photographer Antoine D’Agata, who taught him to search for emotional truth in each image. Applying his visual skills to motion pictures, Aman has often performed as the cinematographer on certain films he has directed, and has also edited some of his own films.

In 2018, Aman felt ready to make his debut feature film and moved from Mumbai to Goa to dedicate himself to the craft of screenwriting. His script ONCE UPON A TIME IN MIRPUR was selected in the NFDC Screenwriters’ Lab 2019, and he has been developing the material over the last few years, with plans to shoot the film in the later part of 2023. The script is inspired by true-life incidents of the exodus of his family from Mirpur (PoK) in 1947.

Aman’s favourite filmmakers are Fatih Akin, Celine Sciamma, Hirokazu Koreeda, Werner Herzog, and Béla Tarr. In his free time, he enjoys riding motorcycles, playing tennis, and taking long drives with his beloved pet dog, Bonnie.