Nandita Das is a critically acclaimed award winning actress, director and a social activist. Known to have appeared in Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Kannada, Oriya, Urdu, Rajasthani and Bengali films, Nandita has been honored at a number of national and international film festivals.
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Nandita Das was born on 7th November, 1969 to a painter father Jatin Das and writer mother Varsha. Her father is a native of Orissa while her mother is a Gujarati Hindu Jain. Known for her intellectual abilities, Nandita attended the Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in New Delhi and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the reputed Miranda House College, New Delhi. Nandita pursued her Masters in Social Work from Delhi University’s School of Social Work.
Nandita initially acted with a street theater group ‘Jannatya Manch’ and later taught at the Rishi Valley School started by J. Krishnamurti. Nandita also worked for NGOs like Ankur and Alarippu for the betterment of underprivileged children.
Nandita Das first appeared in a short film ‘Pariniti’ in Oriya directed by notable filmmaker Prakash Jha. The film was appreciated at the film festivals and Nandita got noticed. Nandita won immense critical appreciation for the controversial English film ‘Fire’ alongside Shabana Azmi directed by Deepa Mehta. Based on the controversial subject of homosexuality, the film stirred a lot of fury in India.
Nandita Das was next seen in acclaimed films like Deepa Mehta’s ‘Earth’ alongside Rahul Khanna ana Aamir Khan, Jagmohan Mundhra’s Rajasthani film ‘Bawandar’, Govind Nihalani’s ‘Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa’ and Mrinal Sen’s Bengali film ‘Aamaar Bhuvan’.
Nandita received the Best Actress Award for ‘Bawandar’ at the coveted Santa Monica Film Festival in the year 2001. She also won the Best Actress Award for her Bengali film ‘Aamaar Bhuvan’ at the Cairo Film Festival and Zee Cine Awards.
Besides playing the lead roles in award winning parallel cinema ventures, Nandita Das has narrated Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography in its audio book version. She also plays the narrator in "Under the Banyan", an educational audio series for kids. Moreover she lent her voice as the Bengal Tiger for the children's series, ‘The Wonder Pets’.
Nandita made her directorial debut with the 2009 release ‘Firaaq’ made in Hindi, Gujarati and Urdu. ‘Firaaq’ is based on the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat violence. The film stars exemplary actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Paresh Rawal, Raghuvir Yadav, Sanjay Suri, Tisca Chopra and Shahana Goswami. ‘Firaaq’ received several awards at the international film festivals including Best Film and Best Screenplay at Asian Festival of First Films, Purple Orchid Award for Best Film at Asian Festival of First Films, Special Jury Award at International Film Festival of Kerala, Special Prize at International Thessaloniki Film Festival. ‘Firaaq’ also won Filmfare Best Movie Critics Award and The Maverick Spirit Award at 19th Cinequest Film Festival San Jose, USA.
Nandita Das is the chairperson of the Children's Films Society of India and a member of the South Asians for Human Rights (SAHAR). She works for social causes like AIDS awareness, violence against women, and education for underprivileged etc. Nandita has worked on ‘Cricket for Peace’, an Indo-Pak peace initiative and was nominated as a Spokesperson for (UNDP) United Nations Development Programme.
After dating Saumya Sen for a few years, the two got married in the year 2002 and later divorced in 2009. Nandita recently married industrialist Subodh Maskara and is now settled in Mumbai.
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