Last you heard from me, I was headed to Sundance. It was January, 2015.
It's hard to believe that two years and a half years have passed since I was soaking up the...well, snow, in Park City. There aren't many words to describe experience of those ten days into words, but let's go with exhilarating, intimidating, adrenaline-packed, sleepless, and inspiring. I'm still grateful for everything about the opportunity--the films seen, the people met, and that boost of confidence I desperately needed to feel less like a film-reviewing imposter and more like a real writer.
While I haven't made it back to another Sundance, life's been busy on the film front since my first festival! 2015 was spent covering parts of the Tribeca Film Festival for RogerEbert.com, getting my first few bylines in Filmmaker Magazine, and representing Indiewire at the Tokyo International Film Festival. In 2016, I transitioned from being a critic for India.com, to becoming a current, regular contributor of South Asian film reviews for Indiewire, a position which has come with opportunities like interviewing Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, and Ajay Devgn. Pinching myself to make sure it's all real has happened on multiple occasions.
Next up, find me at the Lincoln Center in New York City on August 1, where I'll be participating as a panelist as part of its first-ever "Bollywood Boulevard: A Journey Through Indian Cinema" event. Come learn about the evolution of the biggest film industry in the world, and listen and I--along with NYU associate professor Tejaswini Ganti and screenwriter/producer Sri Rao--discuss how Bollywood has reflected, represented, challenged, and shaped Indian identities around the globe. Looking forward to seeing you there!
