Hardik Mehta

Hardik Mehta is an Indian screenwriter and director, who has worked on Hindi feature films like Queen (2014) and Lootera (2013). His Gujarati-language documentary, Amdavad Ma Famous (2015), won the Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) at the 63rd National Film Awards for Best Non-Feature Film.^[1]

He has also co-written the screenplay for Vikramaditya Motwane’s most recent survival-thriller, Trapped (2017), alongside Amit Joshi.

He has written and directed his debut feature film Kaamyaab (2018) which premiered at the Busan Film Festival.

Career and filmography

In 2008, Mehta graduated from AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Milia Islamia, with a degree of M.A in Mass Communication. He spent the next few years working with some of the most renowned figures from the Indian film industry such as Dev Benegal, Vikramaditya Motwane and Vikas Bahl – as a script and continuity supervisor.^[2]

In 2013, Mehta directed a twenty-minute short film, Skin Deep, which was based on a short story by Vikramaditya Motwane. It explores the psychological ailment of a young man who undergoes circumcision, and was one of the four short films from the Char Cutting (2015) anthology.^[3] He went on to direct his own short documentary, Amdavad Ma Famous (2015), set against the backdrop of the kite-flying festival in Gujarat.

Recently, Mehta wrote and directed a short film, The Affair. Prolonging his association with the Udaan and Lootera director, Vikramaditya Motwane, Mehta also co-wrote the script for the 2017 survival-thriller, Trapped.

In 2013, Mehta had the opportunity to be a part of the documentary film on Sachin Tendulkar and covered the legendary sportsman’s last 15 days on field and the euphoria surrounding it. This footage was a part of the film Sachin: A Billions Dreams, which was recently released in May 2017.

Hardik also directs commercials, music videos and digital films.

Hardik has written and directed his debut feature film Kaamyaab (2018) which premiered at the Busan Film Festival.

Personal

Mehta is married to writer-producer Akanksha Tewari.

Awards

Apart from the National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Films, Amdavad Ma Famous has received a string of prestigious awards across the international film festival circuit . These include the Best Short Documentary Award at the 2015 Budapest International Documentary Film Festival, the Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary at the 2015 Al Jazeera International Documentary Festival, in Qatar July 2017, and the Golden Conch for Best Documentary (Up to 60 minutes) and Best Editor in the National Competition at the 14th Mumbai International Film Festival in 2016.

At the 63rd Belgrade Film Festival, it won the Golden Plaque in International Competition for Best Documentary Short.^[4] It also won Best Foreign Documentary at the 2016 River Film Festival in Italy, as well as the 2016 All Sports Film Festival in LA. It also won the Special Mention Jury Award at the 2016 International Documentary and Shorts Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) and the 2016 Smile International Film Festival for Children and Youth, New Delhi (SIFFCY).

The film was an official selection and in competition at the 2016 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the 2016 Palm Springs International Festival of Shorts, the 2016 Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI), and the 2016 Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa.

Amdavad Ma Famous was also selected by Académie des César (The French Academy of Cinema) for the PANORAMA DES NUITS EN OR where Mehta got an opportunity to represent India along with 30 other best films representing their countries. As a part of the tour, the film was screened in 9 European Capital Cities.

The film is also available on Netflix.

References